Yeasted buns made with cardamom. If you haven’t used the spice cardamom you should become familiar with this wonderful spice that is used in the US in bakery goods. Cardamom has been named the “Queen of Spices”. Cardamom is part of the ginger family of plants and the seeds are contained in trigonal poda. Cardamom is produced in Central America in Guatemala, and in Southeast Asia in Malaysia and Tanzania. Sold in whole pods, seeds and powdered spice. There are both green and black cardamom and the spice is used in Indian cuisine and is part of the spice blend Garaham Masala and the Moraccan 7 spice blend.
These buns are delicious and go well in the morning with coffee or tea. Further they are fairly easy to make. Don’t worry about the shape, it will all work out. There are sites that show you how to wrap these, but you are basically making a “bunch” out of strips of filled dough. Place a strip over your middle three fingers, holding it down using your thumb. Twist and wrap the dough strip around your 3 fingers and thumb. At the end of the strip, lift your thumb and tuck the end of the strip under the wrapped bun. Form it into a ball and place on the parchment covered cookie sheet.
Cardamom Buns
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ Cup plus 2 TBPS Butter-Unsalted
- 2 Cups plus 2 TBPS Whole milk
- 4½ TBPS Instant yeast
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- ½ cup Light brown sugar
- 5 ¾ cups King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
Filling
- 12 TBPS Butter unsalted
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 ½ TBPS Cardamom ground
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamom
Glaze
- 1-2 eggs well beaten
- 2 tsp water
- Pearl Sugar https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043NQTIC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Instructions
Dough
- Melt butter in a saucepan then add the milk. The milk/butter should be around 90 degrees F but not higher as this could affect the yeast.
- Place the milk/butter mixture in the bowl of a stand mixture. The add the yeast and sugar.
- In a seperate bowl, mix the salt and the flour. Mix well.
- With the stand mixer going on a low setting, add the flour to the milk/butter mixture. Continue to add the flour until becomes smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. It should not be sticky.
- Once all the flour has been incorporated and the dough is well mixed, pour the dough out onto a floured flat surgace. Knead the flour for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the dough and place into a oiled large bowl. Oil the dough as well.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a proffing box set around 85 degrees F..
- Let the dough double in size, roughly 1 hour.
Filling
- Add the butter, light brown sugar, cardamom, sea salt and cinnamon. Mix this well and set aside.
Assembly and Baking
- Place 1-2 eggs in a small bowl, add 2-4 tsp of water and beat well.
- once the dough has doubled in size, place on a floured board and using a rolling pin roll it out to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Try to form a large rectangle.
- Divide the dough into 3 pieces (or 2 if you have a large enough area). Keep the unused portions in a covered bowl.
- Spread ½ to ⅓ of the filling over the rectangle. Fold the rectangle over onto itself covering the filling by ⅓ then again folding the last ⅓ on top of the previous fold.
- Roll again the filled rectangle until about ¼ inch thick. Using a pasta cutter or pizza knife, cut strips from the rectangle.
- Making the buns seems difficult, but is actually fairly easy. There are instruction videos on the web. Take one strip and place it on top of the middle 3 fingers of your hand. Hold it in place with the thumb. Wrap the strip around your fingers, twisting the strip. Then you get to the end, lift your thumb and fold the end into the dough bundle. This doesnt have to be that exact. Once cooked they look great.
- Place the finished buns on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Let them sit for approximately 1 hour. They should rise about 25-50% bigger.
- Set the over for 425 degrees F. As the oven is warming, paint the tops of the buns with the egg wash, then sprinkle with the Pearl sugar.
- Place the coated buns in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- You can make a sugar glaze and coat the buns after they are baked, but using the egg wash works fine.
- Once browned remove them and place them on a wire rack.
- Serve them mildly warm or at room temperature.
