Basic sweet dough

I’d like to share my basic sweet dough recipe which I’ve found really reliable and versatile. I bake a lot of buns and tea breads as that’s the preferred breakfast fodder in my house... And before you say they are best from the oven – of course, but I freeze them as soon as they cool down and – though not warm – they are as good as defrosted. Show them the oven if necessary.

There is an excellent basic sweet dough recipe by Andrew Whitley, from his book ‘Bread Matters’. It has, interestingly, high content of wholemeal flour so you actually feel quite virtuous hovering up the buns, thinking it’s not cake! That recipe serves me to make hot cross buns for Easter, and ‘not cross buns’ as we call them throughout the year. I’ve upped the white flour content though for my HCBs, for festivity.

The second best, below, is my own concoction. 

Basic sweet bun dough:

350g flour

60g sugar

2 tsp fast action or 13g fresh yeast (and I’ll always recommend using fresh)

80ml (1/3 cup) milk

60ml (1/4 cup) water

½ tsp salt

55g butter

2 large eggs

And then – easy. Heat up the butter with milk and water, throw all the dry ingredients together including yeast, including fresh, mix roughly, add eggs one at a time and beat in – hard to do without a mixer with a paddle as the dough is sticky central. It gets better of course after a while and eventually it starts bouncing off the sides of the bowl. Prove in bulk, then divide and shape as you like.

The flavourings are your choice: I’ve used cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, citrus zest or rose water.

The filling, should you go that way, is your fancy: here are my apricot buns and cherry buns, and classic cinnamon and raisin swirls. I’ve made it also into a ‘tear and share’ loaf, brushed with lots of butter and lemon zest.

And I’d be guilty of the sin of omission if I didn’t mention the Christmas Stollen, made from equally versatile and lovely sweet dough.