The thing about baking your own bread is that you end up with lots of packets of yeast. So you make more bread, and then some more bread, and then you think, what ELSE can I make? And I found CHELSEA BUNS! Chelsea buns are fab, they are all buttery and sugary and spicy in the old-fashioned mulled-esque way and very satisfying to make and now my flat smells absolutely FAB!!
You start off by using yr awesome kneading skills that you’ve learnt from your bread experiences so that your slightly soggy floury lump is mixed with a big wodge of softened butter. It’s disgustingly slimy and first but after a few minutes of kneading on your floured surfaces it loses the stickiness and becomes amiably malleable in your hands. And then it’s time to ROLL and you feel like a real PRO!
You roll out your dough into a long rectangle, twice as long as it is wide (I chose to use the tape measure usually reserved for my knitting projects which means that from now on all my knitting projects will get an extra addition of flour and sugar) and then melt a a big splodge of butter in a saucepan. Brush the melted butter all over your rectangle of dough, and then sprinkle a load of sultanas, sugar and allspice over the top.
And NOW you get to be FULL ON MRS BEETON! Flour your hands and then ROLL UP your rectangle widthways and seal the ends firmly. Rolling up! That’s the sort of thing you see on Saturday Kitchen or whatever they call it these days! What next! I’ll be sealing stuff with STRING and poaching things in muslin! No need for string though, roll up, seal, and then CHOP your big long sossidge of dough into bits about 3cm long. And THEN, whack them on a buttered baking tray and PROVE! for 40 mins. Put them face down on the tray and go off and watch BRITAIN’S TOP DOG for a bit. Come back and WHEE! They done gone all big! BAKE for 20 mins and don’t bother that the ones on the top shelf have burnt a bit, they’re still yummy. Dissolve some sugar in water and brush it over the top of the buns, and then sprinkle them with a little bit more caster sugar. Your flatmate will return home and inform you she doesn’t like sultanas, so you have to eat THEM ALL. I love it when a plan comes togevva! Any FreakyTrigger contributors or readers who are likely to see me in the next week and who would like buns, you’re more than welcome to have some. YUM!