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My Kitchen Temperature: 21C / 70F
Makes 6 big buns on a 30cm x 40cm tray
4-5 Hours for the buns plus optional homemade lemon curd
I don’t know the history of a Belgian Bun. I could Google it and find out then tell you as if I knew all along, or, in lieu of the actual history, I can tell you my history, for that I surely know. And we’ll end up talking about how these deliciously lemony, soft iced buns have ended up here in the club.
As a kid, my mum would take me to our local town bakery where I’d often pick a filled poppy seed baguette for my lunch, and a sweet treat… a bun. Behind the glass the Belgian bun looks on, the biggest of them all! Smothered in white icing with a single glace cherry front and centre, and underneath that thick snowy blanket, tangy lemon curd and juicy raisins tucked in between the swirls of the soft and fluffy bun. It was perfection and will always be.
So here I have recreated the Belgian Bun as I have known it in my heart for so many years. I haven’t veered off course with lime curd and coconut icing, or orange curd and chocolate ganache, I’ve stayed true to my memory because I wanted to bring that to you in all its glory. Even with the cherry on the top.
I hope these bring as much joy to you as they have to me.
You don’t have to make your own lemon curd, but if you want to, you’ll find the recipe here.
Ingredients
90g (3.2oz) Milk warmed to 30 ̊C (86 ̊F)
1 Egg (50g (1.8oz))
10g (0.4oz) Dry Fast Action Yeast
250g (8.8oz) Strong White Bread Flour
4g (0.1oz) Salt
30g (1oz) Caster Sugar
30g (1oz) Room Temperature Butter
For the filling
3-4 tbsp Lemon Curd, homemade or shop-bought
80g (2.8oz) Jumbo Raisins
To Finish
270g (9.5g) Icing Sugar
3 tbsp Water
6 Glace Cherries
Method
Making the Dough: 15-20 minutes
1. In a large mixing bowl mix the yeast, egg, and milk until the yeast is dissolved.
2. Add the flour, salt, and sugar and mix until the dough starts to come together.
3. Dimple in the butter with your fingertips and turn your dough out onto a clean work surface.
4. Knead with zero additional flour for 10 minutes.
Resting: 90-120 minutes
5. Cover your bowl with another upturned bowl, or something airtight, and leave to rest at room temperature for 90-120 minutes.
Filling and Shaping: 10-15 minutes
6. Turn your dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and press with fingertips and knuckles to flatten.
7. Use a rolling pin to roll your dough into a portrait rectangle around 40cm tall and 30cm across.
8. Spread your lemon curd all over the top surface of the dough leaving a strip blank at the edge closest to you. Sprinkle your raisins over the lemon curd and pat down to stick.
9. Roll up your dough from the edge furthest from you all the way to the blank strip and pinch against the table to seal the edge.
10. Cut into 6 equal-sized rounds.
11. Arrange your buns on a parchment-lined tray with plenty of space in between each.
Resting: 90-120 minutes
12. Cover your buns with dusted clingfilm and rest at room temperature for 90-120 minutes until puffy and delicate to the touch.
13. While you are waiting preheat your oven to 180 ̊C Fan / 400 ̊F / Gas Mark 6 with a shelf in the middle and a deep roasting tray beneath. Half fill a kettle with water.
Baking: 15-20 minutes
14. Boil the kettle.
15. Load your buns into the oven and carefully pour the water into the tray beneath.
16. Close the oven door and bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden underneath.
17. Transfer to a wire rack.
Finishing: 5-10 minutes
18. Mix your icing sugar with the water to a thick liquid consistency. Liberally spread atop your buns, and finish with a glace cherry in the centre of each.
