St Clements breakfast swirls

Anything baked in a spiral seems inherently happy to me, coiled up and sprung, ready to ping into action. I love this strategy for introducing flavour to breads as it feels somehow restrained. Not a simple case of throwing the herbs or spices into the dough, instead a flavour-present carefully wrapped up and in, though still on display. No huge surprises. St Clements too is a sunny flavour, hopeful for sunny lemonade days. These are brushed with a marmalade glaze, making these breakfast buns popular with men, who do seem to be more partial to marmalade than girls, I’ve noticed.

FOR THE DOUGH:

INGREDIENTS

80ml semi-skimmed milk

7g fast action dried yeast

2 tablespoons caster sugar

230g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

30g salted butter, melted and left to cool slightly

FOR THE FILLING AND GLAZE:

60g granulated brown sugar

2 lemons, finely zested

2 oranges, finely zested

15g salted butter, melted

3 tablespoons marmalade, warmed and strained to remove any shreds

METHOD

Warm the milk to about body temperature, heating it in the microwave in short bursts. Mix together the yeast, caster sugar, flour and salt, then stir in the egg, melted butter and warmed milk. Stir well then knead until smooth and elastic. Leave in a bowl covered with cling film until doubled in size – this can take anything from 40 minutes to 2 hours depending on how warm the room is. The hotter the kitchen, the faster the rise.

Line a 30 x 26 cm roasting tray with non-stick greaseproof paper. Knock the dough back with your hands to deflate. On a floured surface and using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle shape measuring about 23 x 32 cm. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar with both zests. Brush the dough rectangle with the melted butter then evenly sprinkle over the brown sugar mixture. Roll the dough up, starting from the long edge, like a swiss roll. Cut along the length into 12 equal pieces. Place each swirl in the roasting tray, about 2 cm apart, and cover loosely with cling film – this way they will just touch once they’ve proved, so you can tear the rolls apart after baking as if from an artisan bakery.

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Once the rolls have doubled in size, bake for about 10 minutes until well risen and browned. Remove from the tin using the paper and place on a wire rack. Brush with the marmalade and leave to cool.

#normalmum #pastry #lemon #orange #zest #marmalade