Semlor Buns are a sweet roll made in various forms in Sweden, Finland and Norway.
They are based on a sweet brioche dough which is flavoured with cardamom, rolled round and baked. Once cooled the top is cut off to allow for an almond filling and a generous serving of vanilla whipped cream. They are associated with lent and the build up to Easter, a bit like our hot cross buns. Once Christmas has passed these beautiful cream filled buns start to appear in bakeries across Sweden. Traditionally they would be eaten on Fat Tuesday which is our pancake Tuesday.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
500g flour
10g salt
50g sugar
300g milk
1 tsp of ground cardamon
15g fresh yeast
1 free range egg
150g butter, softened cut into cubes
For the almond filling:
150g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
30 ml hot water
100g crème patisserie (alternatively you could use cream, add just enough to achieve the desired consistency)
For the Vanilla Cream:
150ml of cream
1 tbls icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
For this dough, use of a kitchen mixer with a dough hook attachment as this recipe produces a very soft wet dough. If you don't have a mixer, the dough can be made by hand however do expect the dough to be significantly softer than doughs you might have previously made. You will also find with enriched doughs the mixing time is always longer. Be persistent the dough will come together.
Add the milk to a medium saucepan along with the ground cardamom, and warm gently to take the chill off the milk and infuse the cardamom. You don’t want to heat the milk too much as it will be too hot for the dough and may kill the yeast. Warm the milk to the same temperature you would a baby’s bottle.
Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a clean mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add it to the bowl of the mixer along with the egg.
Add the flour, salt, and sugar to the eggs and yeast. Starting the mixer on a slow speed bring all the ingredients together to form a rough dough.
Slowly increase the mixer to a medium speed. You do not want the mixer on a high speed for too long as this can result in increasing the temperature of the dough. After mixing of approximately 5 minutes you will notice the dough starting to slowly come together. At this point add the diced butter to the dough. The butter should be added in about 3 stages, a little at a time. Wait until all the butter has been incorporated before adding the next amount of butter.
Once the butter has been fully incorporated increase the speed of the mixer to high for approximately 1 minute. The dough should be smooth and come away cleanly from the side of the mixing bowl. The dough is now ready to begin its first prove.
Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Set the dough to one side for about an hour.
While the dough is proofing make the almond filling. To make the almond filling, place all the ingredients into the bowl of a food mixer with the paddle attachment. Combine all the ingredients to form a paste of piping consistency. Place into a piping bag until required later
On a lightly floured surface turn out the dough and knock back. Portion the dough to 70g pieces (you should get approximately 15 portions). Roll each portion of dough into a round and place generously spaced apart on baking trays. Don’t arrange the portions of dough too close to each other as we do not want the portions of dough to touch as they proof.
Allow the dough to proof for 60 - 90 minutes. The dough should almost double in size and should have a nice bounce to it when touched. There should be no fear of the dough collapsing when touched, if so, the dough has been over proofed.
Preheat an oven to 200C/ 380F/ gas mark 5. Before baking brush each roll with egg wash. Place in the oven, steaming the oven as always and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.
As the buns cool, prepare the vanilla cream. The vanilla is best whipped by hard as a machine often over whips it. Place the icing sugar, cream and vanilla into a clean bowl and whip to firm peaks.
Place into a piping bag with a star nozzle
To fill the Semlor buns, using a scissors make four incisions into the top of each bun which allows you to cut the top off each bun.
Remove the top from each bun. Fill each bun with almond paste and a generous piping of vanilla cream. Return the top of each bun to the piped-on cream. Dust with icing sugar and serve
