Kitty Tait’s kanelbullar

Past Real Bread Campaign ambassador Kitty began baking with her dad, Alex, when she was just 14. Less than a year later, their Real Bread microbakery opened its doors on the high street of Watlington, Oxfordshire. These spiced, enriched buns - inspired by those found across the Nordic countries - are amongst their most popular products.

Ingredients

Makes around 24

Dough
500g Plain flour
500g Strong white bread flour
200g Butter
80g Caster sugar
14g Dried yeast
14g Salt
2tsp Cardamom powder*
440ml Whole milk
2 Eggs

*or take the black seeds from the pods and crush until you have that much

Cinnamon butter
250g Butter, softened
250g Caster sugar
2tbs or more Cinnamon powder, to taste (“We like it to get quite dark brown.”)

Method

Make the dough by rubbing the butter into the flour or use a mixer. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and mix together, followed by the eggs and milk. Mix up using a dough hook or knead together by hand for a few minutes.

Cover the dough and leave to rise at room temperature for about an hour until doubled in size (though it won’t rise as much as a plain dough) and then gently deflate to get rid of any large gas pockets – you want an even textured crumb.

Mix the cinnamon and butter using a mixer or a fork to make a smooth paste.

Roll out the dough to roughly 5-7mm thick. Spread the cinnamon butter over two thirds of the dough. Flip the unbuttered third over onto the buttered section and then fold the final third onto the first so you have a triple decker sandwich.

Roll the dough out again into a long rectangle about 5-7mm thick and cut across into even-sized strips. We suggest 24 but you can cut more if you want smaller buns, or fewer if you want larger ones.

After that it’s up to you what you do. You can just roll each strip up like a snail, make into twists, knots or… Have a look on YouTube or Instagram for inspiration and to see how to make your favourite shapes.

Place the pieces on a greased baking tray (or line it with baking paper) cover and leave to rise again for about half an hour. Heat the oven to 180°C.

Bake for 15-20 minutes – with all that butter and sugar you need to watch they don’t burn on top or underneath.

Glaze the buns with a simple mixture of milk and sugar warmed up in a pan, and then sprinkle some icing sugar or pearled sugar over the top.

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Recipe text © Kitty Tait / The Orange Bakery

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the copyright holder.

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