Cinnamon Buns

These buns were made using one quantity of enriched dough from the Pain an Chocolat Fingers recipe we blogged earlier

For the filling of the buns we used -
80g soft brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
40g unsalted butter, melted (or use melted dairy free spread)

First of all, we greased a 19cm square baking tin well (we used old butter wrappers for this but you could brush with oil if you don't have them or want a dairy free bake).

The dough was made up according to the recipe, then brought together, lightly, on a very well floured silicone sheet.  It was then placed in an oiled bowl, covered with oiled cling film and placed in a warm place for an hour (we used the airing cupboard's top shelf).

Once proved, the dough was rolled (again on a very well floured silicone sheet) into a large rectangle.




Next we brushed the surface of the dough with the melted butter and then the
sugar/cinnamon mix was sprinkled across.

We rolled the dough up from the longer side (using the silicone sheet to help), and it was formed into a "Swiss roll" before being cut into 9 even(ish) slices. 


The slices were then packed into the square baking tin, covered with the oiled cling film and placed back in the airing cupboard for a further hour.



Preheating the oven to 160ºC fan, the uncovered baking tin was placed on the middle shelf and baked for about 25 minutes.  Checking the buns to see how they were baking at this point we decided they could do with a little more time (but this depends on oven and thickness of buns). 
Removing the buns from the oven, they were allowed to cool for about ten minutes and then turned out onto a cooling rack.

The buns were then drizzled with a water icing made up using about 30g icing sugar and a scant teaspoon of warm water to make a paste.

They buns were spicy, sweet and soft... delicious and, even allowing for all the proving time, are well worth the effort.

Pain au Chocolat Fingers

We were sent a Gluten Free magazine ... not something I usually spend £5 on as, to be honest, find the content is mostly lifted from blogs and rarely do the pictures reflect the actual recipes baked.  A case in point is the 'photo' chosen to accompany the Pain au Chocolat recipe we spotted and decided to have a bash at baking... the photo on the facing page looks very much like a 'stock' image of glutenous pains au chocolat... a giveaway is the fact that the method of rolling the pains is NOT that advocated in the recipe!

Anyway, enough of the background and our rambling thoughts... time to tell you how we made the 'enriched dough' Pains au Chocolat Fingers (our name for them, having made them).

Ingredients needed were already in the cupboards here.

175g bread flour (we used Dove's farm gluten free which includes xantham gum - of yours doesn't you'll need ¼tsp xantham gum)
2¼tsp fast action dried yeast
50g caster sugar
2tsp baking powder (we used Dr Oetker gluten free)
50ml olive oil
50ml warm water (you may need more)
1 medium egg
1tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate chips (we didn't use them all in the end)

To glaze - one egg yolk, 1 Tbsp milk.

The oil, water, egg and vanilla were mixed in bowl.

Next the dry ingredients were added, a spoonful at a time, and dough hooks were used with the hand mixer to incorporate
throughout the dough. 


After 5 minutes of mixing, the dough was starting to come away from the sides of the bowl.

Placing the dough on a very well floured silicone sheet, it was lightly worked to form a long rectangle before being cut into 10 pieces.

Each piece of dough was then rolled lightly (again using a lot of flour) into a rectangle of about 15x10cm.  The edges were then brushed with the egg/flour mix and chocolate chips were placed in a line along each of the short edges.

Rolling the dough up from short edge to middle, from each side, the shape became more like a finger.

Next, the rolled up buns were put on a non-stick baking sheet, and  covered with an oiled piece of cling film before being put in the airing cupboard for 45-50 minutes.

Once they'd risen a little, the buns were brushed with the remaining egg/milk mix and baked in a pre-heated oven (170ºC fan) for 10 minutes when they were checked (this will vary depending on size).  They were removed from the oven when they were a golden brown.

Some were eaten fresh, the remainder heated for breakfast the next day using the toaster's warming rack.  They freeze well and can be reheated using the toaster from frozen.