Sugar-Crusted Raisin Walnut Buns
current situation: raisin walnut buns
Six big buns rather than a dozen small ones. They stay soft inside for two days instead of drying out by lunchtime, and they look like something.
Soak the raisins first. Dry raisins in a dough pull water out of the crumb around them and leave hard pebbles with dry rings round them. Ten minutes in hot water or tea and they go plump and stay that way.
The sugar on top is coarse — nibs, pearl sugar or crushed sugar cubes — not caster. Fine sugar dissolves into the glaze and disappears; coarse crystals survive the oven and crunch.
- Makes
- 6 large buns
- Hands-on
- 35 minutes
- Rise
- 2 1/2 hours
- Sugar
- Coarse, not fine
What you need
The dough
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1 1/4 cups warm whole milk
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp soft butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Zest of 1 orange
Folded in
- 1 1/2 cups raisins, soaked in hot water 10 minutes and drained
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
The top
- 1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk
- 1/3 cup coarse pearl or nib sugar
How it goes
1 — Soak the raisins and dry them off
Ten minutes in hot water, then drained and patted dry. Plump and no longer thirsty. Wet raisins going into dough will make it slack, so dry them properly.
2 — Knead the dough eight minutes before anything goes in
Soft, smooth and slightly tacky. Orange zest and cinnamon in with the flour — the zest is subtle and it is what makes people ask what is in them.
3 — First rise until doubled, 90 minutes
Covered, somewhere warm.
4 — Raisins and walnuts folded in after the rise
Dough pressed flat, fruit and nuts scattered over, folded in on itself four or five times. Added at the start they tear the gluten as it forms.
5 — Six pieces, rolled tight against the counter
Weighed into six, each one cupped under your palm and rolled in circles against an unfloured surface until the top goes smooth and tight. That tension is what makes the dome.
pro tip — Any raisin sticking out of the surface will burn black. Push the stray ones back in and pinch the dough over them.
6 — Second rise, well spaced, one hour
On a lined tray with plenty of room — they will nearly double. Covered loosely.
7 — Egg wash, then coarse sugar
Brushed all over, then the sugar scattered on from a height so it lands evenly rather than in clumps.
8 — 375°F for 22 to 25 minutes
Until deep gold and hollow-sounding underneath. Cooled on a rack — left on the tray the bottoms go damp.
Current situation. Split one while it is still warm and put butter on it. LFG.