Buns | Bark Time = everything and nothing

This is a special request recipe.

A good friend of mine (Paul yes that would be you), saw one of my posts in which I described what we were cooking when Iwona from Smakowite Jadlo was here… one of the items on the menu were Breakfast Cheese and Onion Rolls. Apparently he searched for the full recipe in hope of baking some, but the recipe was nowhere to be found… not surprised really as I never actually posted it… ooops. Anyway when I saw him last time he was clearly not impressed with me or my omission, so here you go Paul – this is especially for you 🙂

Breakfast Cheese and Onions Rolls

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2tbsp flour
1tbsp sugar
20g fresh yeast
125ml milk

Additional:

300g flour
2tbsp melted butter
2 eggs
1tsp salt
1 egg yolk for egg wash

Stuffing:

2 large onions
100g cheese
Pinch of marjoram
Pinch of thyme
Pepper to taste
Butter for frying

Method:

Combine the fresh yeast with sugar, 2tbsp of flour and 125ml of milk and mix well in order to remove all lumps. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place to begin to rise for 15-20 minutes.

Gently melt the butter and combine with the eggs and whisk.

Into a large bowl put 300g of flour, the lightly beaten egg/butter mix, a pinch of salt as well as the starter dough and start to combine to form a ball of dough.

Knead the dough in the bowl until it doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. Form a nice ball, cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for around 1 hour to rise.

Whilst the dough is raising this is the perfect time to prepare the stuffing.

Chop the onions into small pieces and fry slightly in some butter on a low heat. Do not let them change colour we just want to soften them.

Grate the cheese. The cheese will define flavour of your rolls so pick something you like and enjoy. We went for a lovely Swedish cheese from Västerbottensost.

Chop the herbs if you are using fresh ones.

Go make a cup of tea and relax for a while.

When the dough has doubled in size remove from the bowl and place on a lightly dusted surface and work it a little with your hands. When ready roll out to achieve a thin flat base, ideally in the shape of a rectangular. Spread your onions evenly on top of the dough and then sprinkle with grated cheese. Add spices/herbs to taste but be very careful with the salt. If your cheese is quite strong tasting I would advice to skip the salt all together.

Now you need to roll everything up into a log. Starting with the long side, use a palette knife to raise the edge so you can grab it. Fold it over on top and then with flat hands gently roll it all up.

With a sharp knife cut the log into small slices roughly a couple of cm wide and place into a baking frame. Again cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise for another 15-20 minutes.

Paint all the tops with some egg wash and bake in the middle of the oven you preheated earlier to 180C, for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm.

*Pictures credit: Iwona from Smakowite Jadlo

Cinnamon Swirls

Guest post by Mark :-)… again

The other night for some inexplicable reason I awoke at 3am, you know the one where you feel like you have had 8 hours sleep and could take on the world even though you have only been asleep for a couple of hours. So the dilemma unfolded, stay in bed and try to return to the land of nod or get up and do something. What to do if I did get up, stumped I lay there and thought. Then it occurred to me, I’ll cook up a treat for breakfast. Instantly I was consumed with a burning desire to munch on a cinnamon swirl, don’t ask me why as I have no idea, I have not had a cinnamon swirl for years, all I knew now was “I want one NOW”.

So off to the kitchen we go. The dogs looked at me like I had lost the plot, but undeterred I carried on. Rummaging around in the pantry the ingredients started to form up on the island worktop. The final collection included the following items:

150ml of warm milk
150ml of warm water
1tsp heaped of honey
Fresh yeast about 25g
500g strong bread flour
1tsp salt
3tbs of Olive oil
2tbs of ground cinnamon
50g butter melted
100g Raisons
1 Shot of espresso coffee
Shot of brandy
100g of flaked almonds
1 pack of course ground natural brown sugar
Some butter and grease proof paper for greasing your baking tray

So how do we make them…

Put your oven on at 180C and place a shelf in the middle position.

Put your milk and water (300ml total) into a beaker and microwave for 1 minute, or heat up in a small saucepan. When warm but not burning to the touch mix in the honey and then crumble in your yeast, give it all a good stir and place somewhere warm.

Make your espresso coffee by whatever method you would normally, we are after a single but strong shot. Put your raisons into a bowl and pour the hot coffee over and add the brandy. Place this bowl with your yeast cocktail.

Melt the butter gently, again in the microwave or a small saucepan. When almost melted remove from the heat and add your cinnamon and stir to make a nice thick paste. Add this to your growing collection of bowls.

Take a large baking sheet and with your butter give it a good greasing all over, don’t miss anywhere out. Now place a large handful of your sugar in the middle and with a 70’s disco dance move shake the tray all around so that the sugar sticking to the butter ends up forming a nice even layer all over. Tip out any excess sugar into a bowl, we will use that later. If there are any gaps repeat until you have them all filled in.

Now if you have a food mixer this next bit is easy, if you don’t then prepare for your early morning workout. Measure out your flour and sift it into your mixing bowl, add the salt and olive oil.

By now hopefully your oven is up to temperature, place the almonds on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes till they are a nice golden brown. This as it goes is just enough time to add your yeast mixture to your mixing bowl and mix until a dough has formed. Now either with a dough hook kneed your doe in your food mixer, or alternatively tip out onto a floured work surface and hand kneed. Remember you cannot stop until the almonds are toasted, so keep going. When done rub some olive oil over you dough ball and around the inside of you mixing bowl, put your dough in the bowl and cover with cling film and a spare tea towel and leave somewhere warm for an hour, or at least until the dough has doubled in size..

Take your almonds out of the oven and leave to cool.

Ok, you can now go and have a cup of tea, or coffee and relax for a while, you are ahead in this game.

When the dough has doubled in size remove the cling film and punch the dough to flatten it down. Grab your dough and place on a floured worktop and kneed for another minute or two. Then with a floured rolling pin roll out your dough gently. You want to try as hard as possible to keep a rectangular shape to your dough and it should be about half a cm thick.

Take your almonds and roughly smash them up to get a range of sizes in the pieces.

Finally we can start building. Spread your cinnamon/butter mix all over the dough, like your buttering a slice of bread. Drain your raisons and sprinkle them over the top, and then the almonds. Now sprinkle half the remaining sugar from your dusting remains to complete the toppings.

Use a large knife or preferably a pallet knife to lift up the short end of your dough and start to roll gently till you end up with a large sausage roll. With a very sharp knife cut into slices about 2cm thick and place on your sugared baking sheet. Don’t fret a small degree of reconstruction will inevitably be required at this point. Place your swirls close to each other so they almost tough their neighbours. When your tray is full, lay a sheet of cling film over the top and return to a warm place for another 45 minutes to an hour.

They should now be all puffed up and starting to look tasty, but resist! Sprinkle the last of the sugar over the top and a dusting of cinnamon powder and pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are a nice golden brown. Remove and let cool on the tray for 10 minutes, you can use this time to fully appreciate just how amazing your house smells at this moment.

Straight from the oven

Now the sugar from the tray and what you sprinkled on top should have caramelised so you may need a knife and a fish slice and a degree of delicate persistence to get them out but trust me it’s worth all the effort .

Serve with a nice homemade latté (boil some milk and add a shot or two of espresso or just a spoonful of instant coffee), or if you have the equipment make a proper one!