I like to start of my day with a big cup of caffè latte and a breakfast pastry that is not overly sweet. I began experimenting with leavened doughs to come up with the perfect Italian breakfast bun, and after several attempts, all of which I ate, I finally settled on this recipe. Though it makes 8-9 buns, I make it weekly, so somewhere along the way, I must eat two at breakfast. Or, when they are hot out of the oven and are just too good to resist, I might eat one (or two.) I hope you like them as much as I do. Here are some photos and the recipe:
Italian Braided Breakfast Buns
Ingredients: (Makes 8-9 buns)
120 grams (½ cup + 2 TB) sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Zest of 1 organic lemon
55 grams (2 oz. or ¼ cup) butter
1 tsp. sugar
300 ml milk (scant 1 1/3 cup)
15 grams (½ oz.) fresh yeast
550 grams (4 ½ cups) flour (I use half bread flour and half 00 flour, but you can substitute all-purpose flour for the entire amount)
1 tsp. salt
For the Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk
1-2 TB milk
Preparation:
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, and add the 1 teaspoon of sugar. Pour in the milk and heat until just warm. Crumble the yeast into the milk mixture and let proof, while you continue preparations. In a large bowl, mix together with a fork the sugar, whole egg, vanilla, and lemon zest. Measure out the flour and add the salt to it, set aside.
When the yeast has proofed, add the milk mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix with a fork. Gradually stir in the flour with the salt, until you have a very sticky dough.
Heavily flour a clean countertop or wooden board, and scrape the dough onto it. With floured hands, knead the dough, using a dough scraper to keep it from sticking, and adding a bit more flour if necessary. The dough should still be soft and slightly sticky after about 80 – 100 turns of kneading.
Wash out the mixing bowl in hot water and thoroughly dry it. Place the dough in the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and then wrap the bowl in a kitchen towel and place it in a draft-free place to rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in bulk.
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper, and set aside.
When the dough has risen, lightly flour a counter top or large wooden board, and flatten the dough into a rectangle. Lightly flour the surface of the dough, and with a wooden rolling pin, roll the dough into a more or less rectangular shape that is about ½ cm (1/4 inch) thick. With a large sharp knife, cut strips of dough lengthwise that are about 1½ cm (½ inch) wide. You will want to have at least 12 strips. Don’t worry if the end strips are uneven or if you have a few left over, we’ll deal with that later. Now, cut all the long strips down the middle – now you should have at least 24 shorter strips.
Take 3 strips of dough and braid them, then place the braided “bun” on the baking sheet. Repeat this with the rest of the strips – if the ends of the strips are not even, tuck them under or cut them off and set aside. At the end of this process, you should have 8 braided buns, and likely a few uneven strips or ends and bits of braids. Squeeze all this dough together quickly by hand, then roll it and cut it into short strips, and form it any way you want. Plunk it into any extra space on your baking sheet – waste not, want not!
Cover the braided dough with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise for 45-60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 175° C (350° F). In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk and 1-2 TB of milk with a fork. Brush the top of the braided buns with the egg wash, thoroughly coating them, but not pressing down on them to deflate them.
Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the preheated oven, and bake for about 20 minutes until the buns are risen and are a shiny medium-dark brown. Since my oven does not bake evenly, I usually turn the pan around midway during the baking process, and make sure that the buns are brown on the bottom, too. Depending upon the size of your baking sheet, the buns may have risen and stuck together. Gently cut them apart with a serrated knife, and place them individually on a rack to cool.
Store in a sealed container or you can also freeze them for later use. I find that they taste better if heated over a toaster or quickly in a hot oven, so that the outside is slightly crispy and the inside is soft. These buns are only slightly sweet, so feel free to slather them with your favorite jam. Enjoy with your morning caffè latte or afternoon tea!
While I have never attempted it, I imagine that you could form the dough into 1 or 2 whole braided loaves rather than individual buns, but I am afraid that I would then be tempted to eat the entire loaf…. let me know if you try this, and how it turns out.