Rosinboller

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Stand mixer with dough hook (optional)
• •Two baking sheets
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the milk

   Warm the milk gently until it reaches body temperature, no hotter. If you dip your finger in and it feels like nothing, neither warm nor cool, it's right. Too hot and you'll kill the yeast before it starts. Too cold and the dough will be sluggish and tight. Body temperature gives the yeast exactly what it needs to wake up.

   If you've overheated the milk, let it cool. Better to wait two minutes than to start over with dead yeast.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cardamom, and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and the egg. Stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Add the softened butter in small pieces and work it in until the dough is smooth, soft, and slightly tacky. This takes about ten minutes by hand, kneading firmly against the counter, or six minutes in a stand mixer with the dough hook on medium speed. The dough should pull away from the bowl cleanly and feel alive under your hands, elastic and springy when you press it.

   Don't add extra flour to stop the sticking. The tackiness is the butter working into the gluten. Keep kneading and it resolves itself.
3. 3

   Add the raisins

   Scatter the raisins over the dough and fold them in with your hands, pressing and turning until they're distributed evenly throughout. Some will sit on the surface. That's fine. They'll get tucked in as the dough rises. Don't knead aggressively here or you'll tear the gluten structure you just built. Gentle folds, turning the dough over on itself three or four times, is all it needs.

4. 4

   First rise

   Shape the dough into a rough ball and place it back in the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it somewhere warm for one and a half hours, or until it has doubled in size. A kitchen counter away from drafts works well. The yeast is doing the work now, building the air structure and the subtle fermented flavour that separates real buns from something plain. Don't rush it. A slow rise gives better flavour every time.

   If your kitchen is cold, turn the oven on to its lowest setting for two minutes, then switch it off and place the covered bowl inside with the door slightly open. A gentle ambient warmth is all you need.
5. 5

   Shape the buns

   Tip the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and press it down gently with your palms. Don't punch it. You want to release the largest air bubbles while keeping the smaller ones intact, because those smaller bubbles are what give the buns their soft, open crumb. Divide the dough into fourteen equal pieces. The easiest way is to halve the dough, then halve each half, then cut each quarter into three or four pieces, adjusting until you have fourteen. Roll each piece into a smooth ball by cupping your hand over it and moving it in a tight circle on the counter. Tuck any raisins that poke out back under the surface, or they'll burn in the oven.

   If the dough sticks to your hands while shaping, dampen them slightly with water rather than adding flour. Extra flour on the surface dries out the crust.
6. 6

   Second rise

   Place the shaped buns on two baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing them about 4cm apart. They'll spread as they rise. Cover loosely with a cloth and let them rest for forty minutes. They should look noticeably puffed, soft when you press the side of one gently with your fingertip. The dent should spring back slowly. If it springs back immediately, they need more time. If it doesn't spring back at all, you've gone too far and should bake immediately.

7. 7

   Glaze and bake

   Heat the oven to 200°C. Brush each bun carefully with the egg wash, using a light hand so you don't deflate them. The egg wash is what gives them their golden shine, the deep amber colour you see in every Danish bakery window. Scatter a few grains of pearl sugar over each bun if you have it. Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes, rotating the trays halfway through. The buns are done when the tops are a rich golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when you tap them. Let them cool on a wire rack for at least ten minutes before eating. They need that time for the crumb to set. Cut into one too early and the inside will be gummy.

Chef Tips

• •Use good raisins. The small dark ones with wrinkled skin and concentrated sweetness, not the pale golden kind that taste like nothing. Good raisins are the difference between a bun with flavour and a bun with filler.
• •Cardamom is what makes these Danish. If you can grind your own from whole pods, do it. Crack the green husks, pull out the black seeds, and grind them in a mortar. The fragrance is sharper and warmer than any jar of pre-ground cardamom will give you.
• •These buns freeze beautifully. Cool them completely, bag them, and freeze for up to two months. Reheat from frozen in a 160°C oven for eight minutes. They come back almost as good as fresh, which means you can bake a full batch and have afternoon coffee sorted for weeks.
• •Slice them in half and spread with cold salted butter. That's the way. The contrast between the warm, sweet crumb and the cold, salty butter is what makes rosinboller worth making from scratch.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made the evening before. After the first rise, press it down, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight. The cold slows the yeast without killing it, and the long fermentation deepens the flavour. Bring the dough back to room temperature for thirty minutes before shaping.
• •Shaped buns can be frozen on the tray before their second rise, then transferred to a freezer bag. The night before you want them, move the frozen buns to a parchment-lined tray, cover, and refrigerate. In the morning, let them sit at room temperature for an hour to finish rising, then glaze and bake as normal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 75g)