Lemon and poppy seed twists

Beautifully shaped lemon and poppy seed sweet yeast buns, finished with a lemon glaze. Light, fluffy and intensely lemony, with a lovely, unusual shape. Perfect with a glass of milk for a mid-morning snack :).

Makes 12.

Ingredients for the sweet yeast dough:

• 540 g strong white bread flour
• 80 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 10 g instant dried yeast or 20 g fresh yeast
• 75 g butter, melted
• 250 ml milk
• 2 large eggs

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, first prepare a yeast starter). Add the remaining ingredients and knead the dough, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead for long enough for the dough to become soft and elastic. Transfer to a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

After this time, knead the dough briefly, then divide it into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Roll each ball out into a small round (see photos below). Brush each round with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and poppy seeds, then grate over the zest of ¼ of a lemon, using only the yellow part of the peel.

Cut the round into strips, leaving one edge uncut. Roll it up like a Swiss roll, then shape it into a twisted bun. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30–40 minutes, until doubled in size.

Bake at 180°C for about 15–17 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Drizzle the still-warm buns with the lemon glaze.

Ingredients for the lemon and poppy seed filling:

• 60 g butter, melted
• 80 g caster sugar
• 3 lemons (zest only), preferably unwaxed
• a few tablespoons of poppy seeds

Ingredients for the lemon glaze:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp lemon juice

Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together until smooth, using the back of a spoon or a mixer. Adjust the consistency with more lemon juice if the glaze is too thick, or more icing sugar if it is too runny.

Method for bread machine users:

Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!