Cranberry Pull Apart Buns

It is not even a week since I announced the new event 'Baking from a Book - Breakfast'. I was contacted by two of the fellow blogger s that they would like to host this event on their blog in the coming months. But apart from that, I haven't received any entry for this. I thought of starting this event with a simple and healthy breakfast bun.

This is from the book 'Whole Grain Baking' by King Arthur Flour. The name of the recipe is 'Cranberry Pecan Pull apart buns'. I left out the pecans since my kids are funny with nuts in the baked goods. I made some changes and here they are. This recipe is not classified under 'Breakfast' in the book, but I felt it is a better breakfast since it is made with whole grain flour and not too much of fat like for example 'Scones' are which are classified under breakfast.

This recipe involves using a pre-ferment or 'Biga'. I had not planned on making these this morning, so I modified it without the Biga. As long as you knead it for a good amount of time to form the gluten, it doesn't matter if you use pre-ferment or not. Gluten is directly proportional to yeast and it is directly proportional to kneading.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour - 2 1/2 cups
• Bread flour - 1 cup
• Warm water - 1 cup (The original recipe used 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup orange juice)
• Banana - 1 large ripe mashed coarsely (The original recipe used 1/3 cup of applesauce and I wanted to get rid of the banana)
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Brown Sugar - 3 TBSP packed
• Butter - 4 TBSP cut into pieces
• Vital wheat gluten - 2 TBSP (I added this and it was not in the original recipe)
• Instant dry yeast - 2 1/2 tsp
• Dried cranberries - 1 cup
• Melted butter - 2 TBSP for brushing after baking (optional)

Method:
Bread Machine Method:
Place all the ingredients in the bread machine pan except cranberries in the order specified by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle (for a 2 lb loaf) and press start. (Usually the order is oil or butter, water, salt, sugar, flour and then yeast) When the machine beeps, add the dried cranberries. Make sure the dough is nice and elastic as you might have to add a TBSP of water if needed. I didn't need any. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes and then gently deflate it. Transfer onto a greased area (I use a chopping board sprayed with vegetable oil spray) and divide the dough into 16 pieces. I made mine into 18. Roll into balls and place in a 9 X 13 pan. As you can see, I didn't do a great job of rolling them smooth. Cover with a greased aluminum foil and let it rise for an hour to 1 1/2 hours. By this time, they'll have bulked up and touching each other.

Towards the end of rise time, preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Mine were golden at 30 minutes. Let it stand in  the pan for 5 - 10 minutes. Brush with melted butter if desired.

Manual Method:
In a large bowl, take the warm water. Add brown sugar and dry yeast. Let it stand for about 10 minutes or till frothy. Slowly start adding the flours, butter, mashed banana, salt. Knead for about 10 - 15 minutes. Now add the cranberries and knead them into the dough. Let it rest for about 45 minutes. Deflate the dough and divide them into 16 pieces. Roll them into the ball and proceed as given in the 'Bread Machine Method' section.

And a close up..

These buns are on way to Susan's 'Yeast Spotting' hosted here.
And this is my entry to 'Baking from a book - Breakfast' hosted by me here.

Happy Baking!! Pin It