After recently making spice buns using the recipe for "multipurpose sweet dough" on page 130 of Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart with so-so results I tried a modified version of the recipe. Others almost universally include eggs in recipes for similar doughs, but Reinhart does not. Assuming eggs might have have been inadvertantly left off Reinhart's ingredient list, I included 2 eggs (~100g) in my latest batch. This resulted in a much nicer dough, soft and kneadable where the previous by-the-book dough was so dry it wouldn't come together in the mixing bowl.
The unmodified ingredient list is in my previous post at http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/29929/spice-buns-ala-reinharts-crust-and-crumb.
In my latest bake with the modified recipe I included 2 eggs, used a tablespoon of "mixed spice" (aka pudding spice) instead of the allspice/ginger mixture Reinhart calls for, and reduced the raisins down to 200g. I formed the dough into 9 rolls (instead of 18 as in my first trial) and let them rise a couple hours before baking for 20 minutes at 350F.
The result was very nice, and 3 of the rolls didn't survive long enough to be photographed. The crumb was very tender, more so than anything I've baked before - I really don't have a good way to describe the texture since I've never had anything similar. The crust of the was thin and slightly crispy when eaten hot. The british style "mixed spice" was more pleasing to me than the simpler allspice/ginger mix Reinhart calls for but I think using a teaspoon of it rather than a tablespoon might have been wiser.
I sent Peter Reinhart an email pointing out what seems to be a typo in his recipe.
Here's a photo of this latest bake.
