Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns
Our Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns are the best buns we've ever made at home. With swirls of sweet cinnamon, lovely and moist dough that's infused with juices from the apples cooking and vanilla-scented icing, these buns are to die for! Extra soft, with juicy bits of apple bursting with flavour, these buns will be gone before they've had time to fully cool down!
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 115 g active sourdough starter
- 120 ml milk luke warm
- 280 g plain white flour
- 1 large egg 2 tablespoon of it set aside for brushing
- 40 g caster sugar
- 35 g butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Filling:
- 1 large apple
- 60 g brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon milk for brushing the top
For the Icing:
- 100 g icing sugar
- 15 g butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
- 3-4 tablespoon milk
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
Day 1:
- In the morning, feed your starter. You will need an active starter that's doubled in size after feeding. I mix 40g of starter with 40ml of water and 40g of flour and leave at 21-25°C for 4-5 hours to double in size.
- When your starter reaches its peak, in a bowl of your standing mixer, combine starter, milk and half of the flour. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.
- Lightly whisk a large egg in a small bowl. Take out about 2 tablespoon of it and reserve for later. Add the sugar, melted butter, salt and the beaten egg. Using a dough hook attachment, knead on low speed, adding 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour at a time. Once all flour is incorporated, knead for another 3 minutes.
- In the meantime, lightly grease a shallow dish. Tip the dough into the bowl and turn once to cover the dough in oil. Cover with a teatowel.
- Over the next 3 hours, perform a set of coil folds (or stretch and folds) every 30 minutes (see more details regarding the methods in the text above). After 6 sets of folds, leave the dough to rise for another hour. It should be lively and elastic by now.
- Generously grease an ovenproof dish with butter (I used an 18cm (7in) cake tin, to get more of a tear & share bread effect, but you can use a bigger tin for the buns that are just touching).
- Prepare your filling. Peel, core and chop a large apple into small cubes. Squeeze half a lemon over the apple cubes and mix to coat. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Scoop the dough out onto a well-floured surface taking care not to knock too much air out. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 40x25cm (16x10in) rectangle. Brush the surface with the reserved egg.
- Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar mixture and use your hands to press it in, so that it sticks to the surface. Then spread the apple cubes all over.
- Working from the short side, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut it into 8 equal rounds. Arrange them snuggly (or not, depending on the tin you're using) in the ovenproof dish. If you use a smaller tin, they will rise upwards, if you use a large one, they will spread sideways and slightly upwards.TIP: if you're using a springform cake tin, you may want to thightly wrap some foil around the bottom of your tin. Apples will release juices and sugar will sissolve creating a syrup. Foil ensures the syrup cannot escape and make a mess in your fridge or oven.
- Brush the top with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cold-prove overnight.
Day 2:
- In the morning, take the buns out of the fridge and place in a warm spot for 2 hours. They should increase in size by about a third.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan. Brush the top of the buns with some milk and bake for 25-30 minutes. Individual separate buns will cook much quicker than buns that are snuggly arrange in a tin (like mine).
- When cooked, leave them in the tin to cool down for 20 minutes before transferring onto a cooling wrack.
- In the meantime, prepare the icing by mixing melted butter, icing sugar, vanilla paste, a pinch of salt and milk together and stirring to a smooth paste. If you cannot get your icing smooth, I have some tips in the text above.
- Drizzle the buns with the icing. We love them slightly warm!
Nutrition
Calories: 269kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 6gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 208mgPotassium: 119mgFiber: 2gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 226IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!