Growing up, there was a local independent bakery who made the best cakes and bread. One of my childhood favourites, of course, was their lemon iced buns. I remember my weekend trip across the road to have a hot sausage roll, freshly baked iced bun and an original slush puppy! Take me back..those were the days! It was the highlight of my week. Therefore, even as an adult, I am just a little bit obsessed with iced buns.
I love baking bread. Full stop. I love it so much that I devoted my whole GCSE food tech project to baking it! There is just something about the process that I find very satisfying and comforting, and Iced Buns are certainly no different. A sweet treat for any occasion, this iced bun recipe can be adapted, and shaped, to suit. If you don’t like lemons? Then just omit and enjoy some regular iced buns! Or why not try orange, raspberry…or chocolate! With so many options, why not have a go at this scrumptious recipe.
Lemon Iced Buns
Ingredients
For the iced buns:
- 2x 7g packets of dried instant yeast
- 50 g caster sugar
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 40 g softened unsalted butter
- 1 lemon – zest optional
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml warm milk
- 140 ml water approx.
For the topping:
- 1 Lemon – juice or water if regular icing
- 200 g icing sugar
Instructions
- Place the flour in a large bowl. Mix the salt in evenly with your hand. Sprinkle in the yeast and caster sugar. Cube the butter and add to the mix.
- Add in the warm milk, eggs and about two-thirds of the water and start mixing with your hands. Slowly add the remaining water to form a dough and knead in the bowl for a couple of minutes.
- Lightly flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Knead well until the dough becomes smooth and elastic – approximately 10 minutes.
- Pop back in the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for 50 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Prepare a large baking trays either using a silicone mat or by lightly greasing.
- When proved, knock back the dough and turn out onto your worktop. Divide into 12 pieces, each of which will be approximately 75g (if you want even buns). Roll into balls and then shape into the classic iced bun finger.
- Place onto your baking trays. They should be spaced far enough apart to allow them to double in size.
- Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 35 minutes.
- Whilst proving, preheat your oven to 220ºC/Fan 200ºC/Gas Mark 7.
- Once proved, bake for 10 minutes – they should be golden brown and hollow to the tap. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Whilst cooling, make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the juice from your fresh lemon. You want it to be quite thick, so use your judgement as to whether you need more icing sugar or to add a little extra water.
- When your buns are cool, dip the tops into the icing and leave on the wire rack to set. They don’t have to be pretty…rustic or not, they taste amazing!
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