Old Fashioned English Chelsea Bun

Chelsea bun is a great little sticky bun, soft and rich, packed full of fruit with a gentle warmth from the mixed spice. Easy to make by hand and rewarding. The first step is to warm the wet ingredients in your saucepan; add 150 ml of milk and 150 ml of buttermilk, followed by 60 grams of sugar and 10 grams of sea salt. Place the pan on medium-low heat and gently stir until the milk is warm and the sugar and salt are well dissolved. When that is done, add a few drops of vanilla essence and mix it in, then pour the wet ingredienst into a large mixing bowl. To that, add one egg that is lightly beaten.

Add 500 grams of flour, one poached of dried yeast, and one teaspoon of mixed spices in a medium-sized bowl. Give that a quick mix, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and bring the ingredients together into a dough until everything comes together. Cover the dough and let it sit for 30 minutes. While the dough is proofing, prepare your honey glaze; measure 75 grams of honey into a jar, then add just enough boiling water to make a solution, depending on the thickness of your honey.

Measure 150 grams of icing sugar for the icing, then add enough room temparature water to make it thick. Add the water very slowly; it doesn’t take a lot of water to make the icing thick. For the spiced butter, measure 100 grams in a mixing bowl, add two heaped teaspoons of the mixed spices, and quickly mix with an electric mixer until light and pleasant. Then, set it aside. When your dough has chilled for enough time, bring it onto your work surface, add 50 grams of room temparature butter, top the dough and fold that into the dough to incorporate. Stretch, bring it back together and repeat until the dough is soft and smooth. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and leave it to proof until double in size.

This may take about 60 minutes. After proofing, flour your surface well, turn the dough out and roll the dough into a rectangle. Don’t roll the dough out too thin; otherwise, you will struggle with the next stage. Once you have rolled it out the right size, spread the prepared butter as evenly as possible, then grate the lemon and orange zest over the layer, followed by a sprinkle of golden brown sugar. You can adjust the sugar to make your buns sweeter. Next, add 200 grams of dried fruits or whatever fruits you prefer.

Even them out over the dough as much as possible. Begin to roll the dough out making sure its nice and tight, when you get to the end, wet the seam with a little bit of water then roll the douygh and pressit firmly to make sure its nicely sealed. Brush the outside with melted butter, which will further enrich the buns. Using a serrated knife, cut into 12 equal pieces. Into a tray lined with parchment paper, place the buns and space them equally, then cover them and let them proof at room temparature for about 2 hours until they puff up.

Brush the top with egg wash, then bake in a preheated 350F/175C oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Glaze them well with the prepared honey mixture when out of the oven. After they have cooled for about 15 minutes, please give them a drizzle of the icing. Pull them out of the tray onto a wire rack and let them cool, then serve and enjoy.