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Cardamom buns

Makes 16 buns

Make the dough the evening before you plan to bake. The next morning, it takes about 45minutes to assemble and knot the buns, followed by 1 hour of rising time before you bake.

Author: Claudia Brick
Ingredients
  • 250 ml whole milk heated to simmer then left until lukewarm
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 7 g sachet instant yeast
  • 500 g plain flour
  • 1/3 cup 75g castor sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 egg
  • 80 g unsalted butter room temperature
Cardamom Filling
  • 160 g butter room temp
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
  • 1 egg for egg wash
  • sprinkling
  • 3 tbsp caster sugar
  • 20 whole green cardamom pods finely ground OR 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds, finely ground/crushed
Instructions
To make the dough
  1. Heat the milk up in a saucepan to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave until lukewarm (this helps the crumb of your buns by changing the protein in the milk).
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the salt, yeast, flour, caster sugar and cardamom. Stir to combine, then add the egg and lukewarm milk.
  3. Use a dough hook (or knead by hand) on low for a few minutes to form a shaggy, cohesive dough.
  4. Cut the butter into ~1cm cubes - it should be soft but not melted. With the mixer on low, add the butter one piece at a time, adding the next when each is combined. Turn the mixer to medium and knead for a further 3 minutes (it should be about 10 minutes all up by now). When finished, the dough should be smooth and elastic.
  5. Place the dough in a large bowl greased with thin layer of oil. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight (this works up to 24hrs ahead, but ideally just make the evening before).
To assemble

  1. The next day, stir together the room temp butter, brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla to make a thick even paste.

  2. Roll out the dough to a rectangle measuring approx 38 x 45cm, with the short edge facing you (see photos).
  3. Dollop the cardamom filling over the dough and spread out in an even layer right to the corners.
  4. Fold the top third of the dough down over the middle third, then the bottom third up over the top third - like folding a letter (see photo).
  5. Roll the dough out again to a rectangle measuring 30 x 40cm, this time with the long edge facing you.
  6. Trim any uneven edges.

  7. Use a tape measure/ruler and a sharp knife to measure and slice the dough vertically into 16 x 2.5cm strips. This is along the long edge, so each strip of dough should be ~30cm long. I lay the ruler along the dough and run my knife down beside it to get a straight line (see photos).

  8. To make the knots: I would recommend sacrificing one strip of dough to practice making the knots a few times until you get the hang of it (just unravel and try again if you don’t get it.).
  9. Take a strip of dough, holding one end in each hand. Twist in opposite directions and gently stretch as you do so (see photo), until it is loosely twisted and approx 5-10cm longer than originally.
  10. Hold one end of your twisted strip between your thumb and the side of your index finger. Wrap the dough up over the top of your knuckles and around your fourth finger (or your pinky if you have small hands). Wrap round your thumb and over the top of your hand a second time (this time, placing the dough on the wrist-side of your first loop.
  11. Bring the dough around your thumb a second time, then bring it over across the top of two loops on the top of your hand towards your fingers. Tuck the end underneath the knot as you slide your fingers out of the loops.
  12. Place on lined baking trays, spaced apart. Repeat with the remaining strips
  13. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for 40min - 1 hr, depending on how warm your room is.
  14. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  15. Whisk 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make your egg wash.
  16. Blitz together ~20 whole green cardamom pods until finely ground, then mix with the 3 tbsp caster sugar. If you don’t have a spice grinder or high speed blender, you could alternatively crush cardamom seeds (use 1 tbsp) in a mortar and pestle or similar (as the cardamom pod is very fibrous so really needs to be ground fairly finely.
  17. When ready to bake, brush the knots with egg wash and sprinkle generously with cardamom sugar.
  18. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown. Best eaten on the day they are baked.