Lemon Buns

Here is another wonderful recipe from Paul Hollywood’s book “British Baking”. This is a recipe from Yorkshire and includes dried fruit. The buns that were sold near us, back in north Birmingham, had no fruit in them, but were iced and filled with lemon curd and chantilly cream. They were sold out before 10 am every single day! I love lemon buns. 

Put 400g of bread flour in a bowl and add 5g salt, 40g sugar, 2 x 7g sachets instant yeast, and 40g butter, diced and softened. Mix 120ml milk and slowly add 120ml water until you have a sticky dough. We didn’t use all the water. Turn out the dough onto an oiled surface and knead for at least 5 minutes or till the dough becomes smooth and is not sticky. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. We only made half the recipe as this amount makes 10 buns. This  dough can also be used for Devonshire Splits. 

Now you can add 100g candied lemon or 100g sultanas which are more traditional. We added raisins. Roll into a log and cut into 10 pieces. 

Roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking tray close together. Cover and leave to rise for 40 minutes until doubled in size. I checked ours after 30 minutes and they were a little over done. They were starting to go flat. Bake at 220C/425F for 15-20 minutes. This seemed very hot for buns so I checked at 13 minutes and they were quite brown. I think 400F would make more sense for the noted cooking time. 

Let them cool and then you can ice them. Mix 200g icing sugar with juice of 1 lemon, or wing it like we did because we only wanted to ice 2 buns. Dip the tops of the buns in the thick icing. See how long you can wait before eating them. We managed a whopping 5 minutes! 

They were good 🙂

These simple treats are low fat and low sugar, and yet they feel like you’re eating something really special. Give them a go. 

Happy baking!

Cheryl and Becky