Fresh From The Oven - Stuffed Buns

This is my first time taking part in the monthly bread group Fresh From The Oven. The event was hosted by Ria this month and she choose Stuffed Buns. Having never had a stuffed bun in my life I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this but I'm pleased to say that the results were very yummy. These are going to be made again for a girl's day out to Haddington Farmer's Market at the end of October.

The dough for the buns was very different from anything I've ever made before and while I was making it I thought I had misread the recipe as it was very oily, I was too scared to tip it out for kneading for fear it was going to stick to the bench and be a complete disaster. To my surprise though I didn't even need to add any more flour to it, the oil just seemed to keep everything silky smooth, which defied logic for me. Next time though I think I will reduce the amount of sugar and oil int he recipe, the finished bun was a tad on the sweet side for a savory bun and there was a puddle of oil left in the bottom of the bowl after it had finished proving. But I can see that this is a very versatile recipe and can easily be adapted to sweet fillings as well (doesn't take much for me to see the dessert side to a recipe!) so I'm really pleased that Ria has introduced this to my baking repertoire.

Now ... its time for a slight admission. The original recipe called for a curry type filling but as Hubby is my chief taste tester and dislikes anything curry flavoured I decided to change the filling to something more aligned to both our palates and I adapted the Tomato, Mascarpone and Mozzarella Lasgane pasta sauce to use as a filling. This was very successful and the buns were taken to work the next day for Hubby's lunch.

Stuffed Bun Dough
1 tbsp dried yeast
2 tbsp warm water
1/2 cup milk
Salt to taste
1/2 cup oil
2 cups plain flour (I used strong bread flour as I didn't have enough plain flour to hand)
1/4 sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white, for egg wash
White sesame seeds for sprinkling

Tomato, Mascarpone and Mozzarella Filling

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

Oil spray

1 x 400g tin cherry tomatoes

A small handful basil, torn

1 ball of mozzarella, torn into pieces

3 heaped tbsp mascarpone

Make the dough; Dissolve the yeast in warm water with 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tbsp flour. Leave aside for 10 mins.

Boil the milk and allow to cool down till it is warm to touch. Add sugar, oil and salt.

Mix well with a wooden spoon till the sugar dissolves and add 1 cup flour and mix till it forms a smooth dough.

Knead well for 10 mins.

Let it rest till it doubles in volume (I left mine for a good hour or so and it did rise but not to the same extent that a normal bread dough would).

Punch down the dough lightly using your palm and divide them equally into 12 portions. Flatten them into small discs and fill them with 1 tbsp of the filling. Reshape them into a ball. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.

Let the buns prove for another 20 mins.

Bake them in a preheated oven at 200C for 10 mins. When it starts going brown, give them an egg wash using 1 slightly beaten egg white.

Makes 12 buns

Make the filling; Use oil spray to coat a pan and fry the onion and garlic until softened but not coloured. Stir in the tomatoes. Season and bubble for about 15-20 mins or until the sauce is thickened and glossy. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil. Let cool slightly then stir in the mascarpone and mozzarella.

This filling will make slightly more than the buns will need.

I did have some problems rolling the filled buns into a ball, they were more like very squished footballs! Only a couple of them oozed the cheesy mixture while cooking, I'm guessing this stage will get better with a bit more experience. Some of the other Fresh From The Oven guys also said they didn't need as long to cook, my range cooker is on the colder side of the temp range though so it took 12 mins for mine.

Check out the Fresh From the Oven website to see the rest of the gang's work's of art!