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125ml warm milk
sachet of dried yeast
40g butter + extra to grease
1 free range egg
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
320g flour + extra to dust
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, to grease
340g cranberries + 100g sugar
juice of an orange
150g icing sugar
3-4 drops of lemon juice + 3 tablespoons water
Today we bake cranberry buns which we serve tomorrow, at the Christmas breakfast. They do not only look festive, they also taste great! The recipe seems laborious but it is done quickly, Of course you have to wait for the bread to rise but it is definitively worth the wait!
A handy tip for bakers who are pressed for time, so close to Christmas. We like to make the bread ourselves, but if we have very little time left, bread mix offers a solution. Just follow the instructions on the packet and add only the sugar and vanilla sugar to the mix. It saves a lot of time!
We start with the buns
Warm the milk but do not let it come to the boil!
Melt the butter on a low heat, pour it into the mixer bowl.
Beat the butter with both sugars and the egg frothy.
Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
Stir the dried yeast into the warm milk
Add the warm milk to the mixture.
Beat for a minute, then add flour and salt.
Keep mixing until all flour is incorporated.
Take a clean bowl and grease it lightly with olive oil.
Tip the dough on a flour dusted workspace.
Knead the dough smooth by hand, place it in the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean, humid dishcloth.
Place the bowl in a warm place, like on the open oven door with the oven on lowest heat, allow it to prove for 1 hour
In the meantime make the cranberry compote
Juice the orange.
Add the sugar.
Add the cranberries too.
Bring the juice to the boil.
Put a lid on the pan and turn the heat low. Allow the cranberries to soften in 10 - 15 minutes then stir. You hear popping sounds when the berries burst. Put the compote aside to cool.
Back to the buns
After 1 hour the dough should have doubled in volume.
Roll the dough then fold it double a few times.
Then roll the dough between wax paper in a 20 x 30 cm rectangle.
Grease a round oven dish (or use a spring form) then preheat the oven to 200°C
Spread the cranberry compote generously on the dough.
Firmly roll op the dough starting on the long side.
Cut the roll in 8 pieces, place them a little apart in the dish.
Let the buns rise another 30 minutes, loosely covered in foil.
Place the bread in the oven, bake it in 20 minutes golden brown.
Allow the buns to cool on a wire rack, meanwhile make the glaze.
Stir lemon and water - spoon by spoon - into the icing sugar.
Drizzle stripes of glaze over the buns.*
Serve the buns in the dish or on a serving platter.
*To serve the bread extra delicious at the Christmas breakfast, you can wrap it in aluminum foil today. Tomorrow morning you warm the bread in the oven for a few minutes then drizzle it with the glaze.
We wish you a very cozy Christmas breakfast!