Vanilla spelt buns

It’s officially autumn!

I have mixed feelings about it; on one hand I’ll miss long summer nights, BBQ’s, picnics in the park and warm, sunny weather, but on the other hand, there’s something so great about cozying up with blanket – and your guy- on the sofa with a cup of tea and candles lit in the window while the rain trickles down the window. Yesterday was one of those days and I wanted to bake a twist on cinnamon buns – vanilla buns, to go with the mood of autumn. And to make them a tiny bit healthier, I also used spelt flour instead of wheat flour. They don’t prove as much, but the result is still good.

As I was baking, I decided to also bake a batch of marzipan buns, with regular wheat flour. I’ll show you that recipe another day.

So the apartment had a lovely aroma of freshly baked bread all day, a great Sunday!

Does anyone else bake buns that are without cinnamon?

I found this recipe here and adapted it a bit to make vanilla buns

Dough:

590 – 660 grams Spelt flour

7 grams active dry yeast

250 ml milk

75 grams butter

66 grams granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

Filling:

160 grams cane sugar

35 grams spelt flour

vanilla bean

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

1 vanilla sugar

113 grams butter, cold (cut into pieces)

Half-and-half (or light cream)

Glaze:

60 grams powdered sugar

1 – 2 tablespoons of warm water

A few drops of vanilla extract

Method:

Combine 300 grams of your flour and the yeast in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt just till warm) and the butter is almost melted. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, with the mixer on low speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Now -either by hand or with dough hooks on your mixer- knead in the remaining flour until you have a smooth and elastic dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours. Then gently punch the dough to release the air and let rest for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling.

In a bowl stir together the sugar, flour, vanilla sugar, vanilla seeds and 5 grinds on the vanilla grinder and butter until the mixture is crumbly. This is easiest to do with either an electric mixer, but you can use your hands if you don’t have a mixer.

 

Roll the dough into a 30 cm square. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the rolled out dough Roll the dough to form a log,

Slice the log into eight equal-sized pieces. Arrange rolls in a greased baking pan.

Cover rolls loosely with plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise, at room temperature, until almost doubled (about one hour).

Bake in a 190 degrees C oven for 25 to30 minutes or till light brown, and a toothpick inserted into one of the buns, comes out clean.

Remove rolls from oven and cool.

To make the glaze, simply add powdered sugar in a small bowl and add a few tablespoons of warm water and vanilla extract. Stir and then drizzle over the vanilla buns.

I also shaved some white chocolate and sprinkled on top.

Happy baking!