Quick buns

Yield: 10 x large buns

Ingredients:

25 g butter
300 ml milk
75 ml water
30 g honey
375 g all purpose flour
75 g whole wheat flour
1 tsp dried horopito
10 g sea salt
10 g active dried yeast
Instructions:
  1. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, milk, water and honey. Place the saucepan over a low heat and warm the mixture for one minute, stirring occasionally. You don’t want this to come to a simmer, you only want to take the chill out of the milk and melt the butter. 

  2. Add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, dried horopito, sea salt and dried yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. 

  3. Pour the warmed milk mixture into the bowl. Stir together and then leave undisturbed for two minutes to allow the yeast to activate - it should become bubbly and spongy.

  4. Place the bowl onto the stand mixer and attach a dough hook. Knead the dough for five minutes on a medium speed.

  5. While the dough is kneading, set your oven onto 100c (212f), or 85c (185f) if using a convection oven. Heat your oven for five minutes then turn it off. 

  6. Take the dough off the stand mixer and cover the bowl with a clean damp tea towel. Place the bowl into the oven and leave it to proof for one hour.

  7. Lightly grease two baking trays and set aside.

  8. Clean a large section of the kitchen countertop to work on. Transfer the dough onto the countertop and cut it into 85g to 90g portions. Shape the dough into buns and place them onto the baking trays. Evenly space the buns to allow plenty of room for them to double in size.

  9. Cover the buns with clean damp tea towels and place back into the oven. Set the oven to 100c (212f), or 85c (185f) if using a convection oven. Heat the oven for five minutes on this setting then turn it off. 
  10. Leave the buns to rise for 45 minutes in the oven.

  11. Once the buns have risen, take the trays out of the oven, remove the tea towels and set the buns aside on the bench while you preheat the oven.

  12. Preheat the oven to 200c (390f), or 180c (350f) if using a convection oven.

  13. Put the buns in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven halfway through baking. 

  14. Take the buns out of the oven and let them rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before digging in.

Recipe notes: 

This recipe uses dried horopito flakes but you can substitute with any dried herbs of your choosing.