Cardamom Buns
I have an eternal love of spices in baking. I’m yet to find a recipe that can’t be made more delicious with a hint of spice.
And when it comes to the genre of spiced buns, I can’t go past the Cardamom Bun. Nick and I spend five nights in Copenhagen earlier this year, and we made it our mission to see if the perfect cardamom bun really does exist. For me, they must have:
A beautiful golden, glossy bake on the outside, with a glaze that leaves you with the stickiest of fingers.
Soft, fluffy interior, like a cardamom-spiked cloud.
A crispy, caramelised bottom.
An excessive amount of cardamom. I don’t want to have to hunt for the cardamom flavour. I want it to hit me in the face like a tidal wave of spiced goodness.
While researching and developing this recipe I came across two fantastic recipes by two doyennes of the Australian food scene – Karen Martini and Poh Ling Yeow.
Poh’s Cinnamon and Walnut Buns (from her book Poh Bakes 100 Greats) take advantage of an overnight prove in the fridge. This not only makes it easier for you to time your final bake time, but the dough is also much easier to handle straight out of the fridge. Rolling into the rectangle is a breeze, and because the dough is firmer than it would be if it proved at room temperature, the cardamom fillings is a breeze to spread over the rolled dough.
Karen’s Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns (from her book Cook) embrace a beautifully excessive amount of butter, which upon baking, help to create the golden, caramelised bottom I desperately wanted to recreate.
For the most intense cardamom flavour, I recommend buying cardamom pods and grinding the seeds yourself just before you’re ready to use them. If you can’t find cardamom pods, use the freshest packed of ground cardamom you have.
And one final note – bread has a mind of its own. You may think you’ve shaped the buns perfectly, only to find that in the oven your knotted bun has slightly uncoiled and bulged to one side. Please don’t fret – these buns are delicious whatever beautiful shape they take. I do encourage you to give the knot-shaping method a try, but you can always roll your strips into a spiral for an easier, and possibly more predictable, shaping experience.
Watch my how-to video on Instagram
INGREDIENTS
Dough
2 teaspoons of dried instant yeast
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
250ml warm milk (about 48 degrees C)
490g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
60g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
Filling
200g unsalted butter
100g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Topping
1 egg, room temperature (for egg wash)
20g brown sugar
20g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Pearl sugar (optional)
METHOD
The day before you want to bake the buns, start the dough
Heat the milk to around 48 degrees C (don’t be too concerned about getting this exactly right. You just want the milk warm enough to kick-start the yeast, but not too warm that it kills the yeast). Add in the sugar and yeast, whisk to combine and set aside for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate and make the mixture foamy.
Place the remaining dough ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Add the activated yeast mixture into the bowl with the other ingredients and knead on low (speed 1 on a KitchenAid) for 2 minutes. Increase the speed slightly (speed 2 on a KitchenAid) and continue kneading for about 5 minutes, before notching the speed up once again (speed 3-4 on a KitchenAid) for another 5-10 minutes until the dough is stretchy and glossy.
Place the dough in a medium bowl that has been lightly greased with oil or butter. Cover the bowl with a shower cap or plastic wrap and leave to prove on the bench for about an hour. Then place the bowl in the fridge overnight to prove.
The following day - aka the day of baking
Prepare the filling by placing all the filling ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon until fully combined.
Tip the chilled, overnight-proved dough onto a lightly floured bench and roll out into a rectangle roughly 45cm x 35cm. Spread the prepared filling over the entire surface of the dough.
With the long edge closest to you, fold one of the short edges over two-thirds of the filling. Then take the other edge and fold over the top of the first fold. This is called a letter fold.
Keeping the rectangle shape, gently roll the dough to about 2cm thick. Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the dough into 2cm strips.
To shape the buns, take one strip of dough and gently stretch it out to almost double its original length. Next, coil the dough twice around your index and middle fingers, then take the last section of the dough over and between your fingers, tucking the end underneath and sliding the dough off your fingers at the same time (check out this reel on my Instagram to see this step in practice).
Place the shaped bun onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with the remaining dough strips. Cover the trays with clean tea towels and prove for 1-2 hours, or until the buns have just about doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 230 degrees C.
For the topping, whisk the egg and brush each bun with the egg wash. Mix together the remaining topping ingredients (other than the pearl sugar) and sprinkle over the top of each bun.
Bake the buns at 230 degrees C for 10-12 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees C, and continue baking for 7-14 minutes until the buns are a deep golden brown and the sugar and butter on the tray has caramelised.
Sprinkle the buns with pearl sugar (if using) and leave the buns to cool on the tray for about 15-20 minutes so the buttery caramel has a chance to harden slightly. Enjoy!
These buns are best eaten on the day they’re baked, while they’re still warm. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to two days.
