Recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery’s Home Sweet Home book.
Ingredients
for the dough
300ml whole milk, lukewarm
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1.5 teaspoons dried active yeast
500g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
85g butter, chilled, in chunks
for the filling
80g butter, very soft
80g soft dark brown sugar
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
for the top
Chai tea bag (optional)
Hot water
Icing sugar
Method
Mix the milk, sugar and yeast and leave to sit for 20 minutes until the top is frothy.
In a bowl, mix the flour and salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture is crumb-like in texture. When the milk mix is ready, slowly pour it into the bowl to form a dough.
Knead the dough well until smooth and stretchy. Place in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and let sit for 40 minutes in a warm place to rise.
Knock back the dough and roll or press it out to a rectangle around 1.5cm thick.
Spread the soft butter over the dough. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar and spread this evenly over, right to the edges.
Lengthways, roll up the dough into a long sausage. Cut into 12-16 rounds, then place the round spiral-up into a round or rectangular tin, lined with greaseproof paper. Don’t be afraid to pack them in tightly, even if you need to squash them a bit! Let these sit for another 10 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Brush the rolls with the beaten egg, then bake for 15-20 minutes until just golden on top.
Pour a dash of hot water over the chai tea bag to make a very strong solution. Mix this with icing sugar to make a fairly thick water icing. While still warm, pour this over the rolls and spread evenly to coat the entire surface.
Eat on the day or the day after (if they last that long…).