Strawberry Cinnamon Buns
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 45 minutes plus 1 hour 20 minutes rising time
Cooking time: 30 minutes
For the bread:
- 525g/18.5ozs. bread or plain flour
- 125ml/4flozs. water
- 50g/1.7ozs butter, softened
- 190ml/6.4flozs. milk
- 65g/2.3ozs. sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon/8.5g yeast
For the filling:
- 50g/1.7ozs butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 250g/8.8ozs. strawberries, hulled and halved
- 90g/3.2ozs. sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
For the glaze:
- 40g/1.4ozs. butter, melted
- 65g/2.3ozs. cream cheese, softened
- 75g/2.6 oz icing or powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup/60ml/2flozs. milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
Step 1 - First make the tangzhong roux. Take out 20g/0.7ozs of flour from the total weight of flour and mix with the 1/2 cup of water. Heat in a small saucepan until it reaches 65C/149F and the whisk in the butter, then the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until smooth.
Step 2 - Place the remaining flour and the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and then stir in the tangzhong roux. Then knead for around 10 minutes or so or until you get the window pane effect where you can gently pull apart the dough so that you can see through it without the dough breaking.
Step 3 - Place in a large oiled bowl and cover and allow to rise until 2-3 times the size (around 1 hour).
Step 4 - In the meantime while it is rising make the strawberry filling as it will need to cool completely before using it. Blend the strawberries, sugar and cinnamon together and then place in a small saucepan on medium high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes or so and allow the berries to soften and release all the juices. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the cornflour slurry mix and allow to thicken and become jammy. Place in a shallow bowl and cool completely (I pop it in the fridge after about 20 minutes).
Step 5 - Line a 22x30cm/8.6x12inch baking tin with parchment and flour a large surface. Punch the dough down and then roll it out to become around 50x40cms or 20x16inch rectangle. I find it easiest to stop halfway and rest the dough for 5 minutes once I stretch it out to a certain size as the gluten won't allow you to stretch it further.
Step 6 - Brush the dough with the melted butter and then spread with 3/4 of the strawberry filling. You won't use it all. Roll the dough up from the longest side (the 50cm/20inch side) to form a log. The dough and filling will be quite soft but that's ok.
Step 7 - Using a serrated knife, cut the ends off (cook's treat!) and then cut the rest into 12 slices. Place in the prepared tin. Now the rolls will look a bit misshapen at this stage because the strawberry filling is soft so I reshape them back into the round shape using my hands and use the reserved strawberry filling to refill the layers. Allow to rise for a second time for 20-30 minutes. Bake in a 180C/350F oven for 25 minutes or until lightly golden.
Step 8 - To make the glaze, blend the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar, milk, vanilla and lemon zest. Pour the glaze over the warm buns and serve. These buns also freeze well for 3 months. Store the buns in the fridge as the cream cheese icing requires refrigeration.