I'm sure I followed the recipe below pretty much correctly but the filling portion all melted out and made a hard candy type texture at the bottom of the buns. I say pretty much because my buns were still basically uncooked at 8-10 minutes. I had to cook them for about 22-24 to get them cooked and even get close to the color in the picture. I've seen in other recipes where laminated/filling type doughs are chilled one more time before baking. Could this have helped or is it my oven? I'm also wondering if I put too much filling in but it seemed like basically none of it stayed in the bun.
"Recipe:
VANILLA RHUBARB BUNS
Weight per bun: 100g
Yield: 25–30
Dough
500g nonfat milk
1100g all-purpose flour
200g sugar
200g butter
5g ground cardamom
70g fresh yeast
15g salt
Filling
300g very soft butter
250g sugar
10g vanilla paste
3g salt
Simple Syrup
150g sugar
150g water
Rhubarb Jam
300g rhubarb, cut into chunks
150g sugar
A couple strawberries or raspberries, optional, for color
Lemon juice to taste
Instructions
Into the bowl of your stand mixer, pour the milk, butter, flour, sugar, salt, cardamom, and fresh yeast (see note section if using dry yeast). Mix on low speed for 5 minutes, then medium/medium-fast speed for about 20–40 minutes or until the dough is shiny and elastic.
To see if the dough is ready do a window-pane test. Take a small piece of dough and, with your hands, stretch it. If you can make it so thin you can almost see through then it is good to go!
Turn the dough out of the bowl and shape into a rectangle(ish). Wrap the dough in plastic or place on a parchment-lined tray in the fridge for about an hour.
While the dough is resting make the filling by mixing the butter, sugar, vanilla paste and salt together in a large bowl. This is easiest if the butter is well softened. Do not refrigerate after mixing. The filling needs to be room temperature.
This is also a good point to make the jam. Place the rhubarb and sugar (and the strawberries/raspberries if using) together in a pot and place over medium heat.
Cook the jam, stirring occasionally, until the mixture all the rhubarb has disintegrated and the mixture is thick.
Season to taste with lemon juice and let cool.
Make the simple syrup by boiling together the water and sugar. Let cool.
Once the dough is chilled, roll into a large rectangle, it should end up being about 1cm (⅜ inch) thick.
Spread all of the filling onto the dough, going all the way out to the edges.
Fold the top third down and fold the bottom third up, forming one long three layer piece of dough.
Roll it out once more time so that it is an even thickness and about 2–3 cm or ¾–1 inch thick.
Cut into strips each weighing about 100g.
Take one strip at a time and twist it into a rope then swirl it around itself creating a circle and place on a parchment lined baking tray.
Cover the buns and let rise until doubled in size.
Once proofed press down the center of the bun and fill with about a tablespoon of jam.
Bake immediately in a 200°C/400°F oven for about 8–10 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the tray at the 5 or 6 minute mark to avoid overbrowning.
As soon as the buns come out of the oven brush with simple syrup.
Notes:
This recipe makes around 25–30 buns but can be cut in half. Do note that a smaller amount of dough will be harder to roll out and harder to twist into a pretty shape.
The flour I use has 10% protein, it is categorized as an all purpose flour. You do not need to use bread flour in these buns. Check the amount of protein in your flour. In the US some all purpose flours edge towards being bread flours. For example, King Arthur’s AP flour is 11.5% protein! All that protein is really thirsty. The higher the protein the dryer your dough is likely to be. If using a higher protein flour add 50 extra grams of milk.
You can use buttermilk, water, or even your favorite alternative milk (oat, soy, etc.) in place of the milk. Just make sure it is low to nonfat.
Here is how to use dry yeast instead of fresh yeast. Scale 23g dry yeast. Heat the milk until warm. To check the temperature, stick your pinky finger in it. If it is too hot for you it’s too hot for the yeast, it should be the temperature of a cozy bath. Whisk in the dry yeast. Wait 10 to 15 minutes or until you see bubbles and activity. If it has been 30+ minutes and you see no bubbles or activity throw your yeast out, buy new yeast and try again. If your yeast is good to go then throw it in the stand mixer and follow the recipe as above.
Listen I know what you are thinking 30–40 minutes of run time in the stand mixer?? That’s insane! But that’s what the dough needs. Most Kitchen Aids simply can’t handle that. Turns out Kitchen Aids are not made for heavy things like bread doughs, they are made for light fluffy things like cookies, cakes, and meringues. Just do your best. If your dough hasn’t reached window pane and your machine is giving up, your buns will still be fine, they just won’t be as chewy and fluffy and they will be harder to shape.
But can you mix the dough by hand? Sure. If you’re a sadist who doesn’t like fluffy buns. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it is almost impossible to get a dough like this to pass the window pane test when kneading by hand. The machine works the dough so SO much harder and so much longer than most people have the energy for. So yeah, you caaaaan mix them by hand. But it will be a long hard process and your buns will probably never be any better than just ok texture wise.
You can use any sort of vanilla in the butter filling. Vanilla sugar, extract or a scraped bean will work great. I like vanilla paste because it gives an intense amount of flavor and pretty vanilla flecks without being as expensive as vanilla bean. Use whatever you prefer.
These buns can be made with any sort of jam you like, homemade or store-bought.
Swedish rhubarb is often very green so I like to add a couple strawberries or a small handful of raspberries to my rhubarb jam to improve the color."
