Caterpillar Pesto Buns
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour rising time
Cooking time: 23 minutes
Makes 9 buns
- 40g/1.4ozs. flour
- 125ml/4flozs. water
- 90ml/3flozs. milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 30g/1ozs. butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 280g/10ozs bread flour plus extra for rolling
- 1.5 teaspoons instant dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 200g/7ozs. pesto
- Egg wash
For Thermomix directions see here
Step 1 - Make the tangzhong first. Take the first lot of flour (40g/1.4ozs) and place in a saucepan with the water. Whisk until smooth and then heat it up until it reaches 65ºC/149ºF. Remove from heat, whisk in the milk, sugar, egg and butter and salt and cool to 45ºC/113ºF.
Step 2 - In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook stir the rest of the flour and yeast. Add in the tangzhong and the milk mixture. Knead with the dough hook until you can gently pull the dough apart without it breaking-this is called the window pane effect and can take up to 10 minutes. Roll into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Allow to double in size in a warm area - around 1 hour.
Step 3 - Preheat oven to 170C/340F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Punch the dough down and flour a surface. Roll the dough into a log and cut into 9 equal pieces. Form a piece into a ball then roll out into a circle around 10cms/4 inches in size. Spoon a tablespoon of pesto in the centre and bundle up the sides to close. Gently press down to make a flat disc and roll out to a 18x10cms (7x4 inches) long oval or rectangle.
Step 4 - Take a sharp knife (I use a serrated knife) and slice the dough vertically 5 or 6 times on the best looking side. Then turn the dough over and start rolling it up on the shorter side so that the cuts show on top. Repeat with the remaining dough and pesto.
Step 5 -Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Bake for 16-17 minutes or until lightly golden.
Optional: You can stick eyes on them. I used royal icing and black edible gel.