My Chelsea bun recipe requires you to make an enriched dough (meaning that it has milk, sugar, butter and/or oil in the recipe).  The process is identical to making a standard dough, however the dough is wetter.  I have a plastic dough scraper/cutter that I use to help me stop the dough from sticking to the work-surface – it is a handy little tool but not absolutely necessary.

Do not be put off by the number of steps there are in this recipe, making Chelsea buns is very straightforward and is very worthwhile.  The buns are light and fluffy and have a lovely sharp zing from the marmalade.  By soaking the sultanas in boiling water they become much juicier and they stay plump even after cooking.

Chelsea buns with a marmalade glaze

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 250g wholemeal flour (Type 80)
• 150g self-raising flour
• 50g butter (melted)
• 200ml milk (warmed)
• 25g fresh yeast
• 50g sugar
• 1tsp salt
• 2 eggs

For the filling:

• 25g butter (melted)
• 75g sultanas (put in boiling water to plump up, then drain)
• 25g mixed peel
• 2-3tbsp brown sugar

For the glaze:

• 1 heaped tbsp marmalade
• 1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
• 1tbsp water
  

For the icing:

• 2-3 heaped tbsp icing sugar
• 1-2 tsp water

Steps:

1. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and mix together.
2. Place the yeast in a bowl, add the milk, butter and eggs and mix together well.
3. Add the wet mix into the dry mix and combine using your fingers.  The dough will be fairly wet.
4. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes.
5. Place the dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for about 2 – 2½ hours (until it has doubled in size).
   
6. Knock the air out of the dough, place on a floured surface and flatten into a square shape.
7. Brush the dough with the melted butter, scatter over the sugar, mixed peel and sultanas.
   
8. Roll the dough up into a long cylinder shape then, cut into 12 equal-sized pieces.
9. Place the pieces in a greased and floured tin, then leave to rise until they have doubled in size.
10. Once they have risen, bake in an oven at 180C fan for 15-16 minutes, turning the oven down to 160C fan after 8-9 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and place the buns on a cooling rack.
12. Make the marmalade glaze by heating the marmalade, sugar and water together in a saucepan
    and heat until the sugar has dissolved and you have a syrupy liquid.
13. Brush the glaze over the buns, making sure the tops are well covered.
14. Finally make the icing by mixing the icing sugar together with a little water until you have a smooth but slightly runny icing.
15. Drizzle/brush the icing over the tops of the buns.