Spiced Buns with Mulled Wine

Total Time:

2 hours

Serves:

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients

MULLED WINE
187 ml red wine (cheap wine is perfect for this)
40 g mulling spices
50 g dark brown sugar
100 ml water

DOUGH FOR BUNS
100ml mulled wine
100ml buttermilk  
50g unsalted butter  
75g caster sugar  
1 tsp salt  
1 tsp ground cinnamon  
½ tsp ground nutmeg  
500g strong white bread flour  
10g SAF Gold active yeast  
2 large eggs  
1 tspn vanilla paste

FILLING
150g dried cranberries
50g dried apricots 
3 tbsp coconut rum  
1 tsp ground cinnamon  
½ tsp ground nutmeg  
1 tsp ground cloves
50g unsalted butter, soft
2 tbsp salted caramel powder  

ICING 
100g powdered sugar  
3 tbsp mulled wine   

Instructions

First, put all the mulling ingredients into a pan, bring to the boil until the sugar dissolved, then turn down to a slow simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside.

DOUGH.
Put the buttermilk, mulled wine and melted butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the remaining dough ingredients and mix together on a slow speed for about 7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add either a drop more mulled wine or a little more flour to prevent the dough from being too dry or too wet. Cover with plastic wrap, then leave to rise for about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.  

FILLING
Put the dried fruits into a bowl with the rum and set aside until the fruits are plump.

DOUGH

Tip out the risen dough onto a Silpat mat, and punch out the air. Roll out the dough into a large square of about 12”x416”. Preheat oven to 400°F.  

FILLING
Mix the softened butter with the caramel powder until smooth and spread it over the dough. Scatter over the sultanas and candied peel. 

Take a long edge and roll up the dough as tightly as you can. Trim the ends and cut the roll into 12 equal pieces along its length. Line a baking tray or heatproof dish with the silpat mat and pack the rolls tightly together in the tray. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for about 1 hour, or until risen to the top of the tin.


Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave the buns to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out as one piece onto a wire rack.

ICING

Mix the icing sugar with 2 tablespoons of the remaining mulled wine. Adjust the texture to suit by adding more of the wet or dry ingredient. Place the icing in the piping bag, snip off the end and drizzle in diagonal lines over the buns.