Maple pecan sweet yeast buns

Wonderful maple and pecan sweet yeast buns – they are really hard to resist! They were inspired by our favourite maple pecan Danishes. This is one of the best nutty flavour combinations – sweet, sticky maple syrup, pecans nestled in it, all wrapped in delicate sweet yeast dough. Highly recommended!

Makes 12.

Ingredients for the sweet yeast dough:

• 540 g strong white bread flour
• 80 g caster sugar
• ¾ tsp salt
• 10 g 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, roll the dough out into a 40 × 50 cm rectangle, lightly dusting the work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Spread the prepared rectangle with maple syrup and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, followed by the chopped nuts. Roll it up tightly along the shorter side, like a Swiss roll. Using a sharp knife, cut it into pieces approximately 3–3.5 cm wide* (divide into 12 equal pieces). Arrange them in a 23 × 33 cm baking tin lined with baking paper – the buns will touch each other as they rise. Cover with a tea towel and leave for about 30 minutes to rise again (they should double in size).

Place the risen buns in an oven preheated to 180°C and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.

Drizzle the still-warm buns with the glaze and sprinkle with additional nuts; pull apart and serve.

Ingredients for the maple pecan filling:

• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 120 g light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 150 g finely chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Additionally:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• a handful of roughly chopped pecans (or walnuts), for sprinkling

Mix the icing sugar and maple syrup together until smooth, using the back of a spoon or a mixer. Adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding water – if it is too thick, add a little water; if it is too runny, add more icing sugar.

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.

* Another useful trick is to use a piece of thread: place it underneath the rolled-up dough and pull the ends together to cut through the dough.

Enjoy!