Swirled strawberry and curd cheese buns

Swirled buns with strawberries and sweetened curd cheese, baked side by side, nestled closely together in the tin. The dough is a pleasure to work with – soft, fluffy and delicate. These strawberry and curd cheese buns are perfect for a picnic or a day at the beach and, most importantly, they make the most of the strawberry season, which will soon be coming to an end… Highly recommended!

Makes 12 buns.

Ingredients for the strawberry and curd cheese buns:

• 540 g strong white bread flour
• 80 g caster sugar
• ¾ teaspoon 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, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead the dough for long enough for it to become soft and elastic. Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in volume (this will take about 1½ hours).

After this time, roll the dough out into a 40 x 30 cm rectangle, lightly dusting the work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Spread the curd cheese filling over the rectangle and arrange the sliced strawberries on top. Roll up tightly along the longer side to form a long log. Using a sharp knife, cut into pieces approximately 3–3.5 cm wide* (divide into 12 equal pieces). Arrange them in a 23 x 33 cm tin lined with baking paper – the buns will touch as they rise. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise again for about 30 minutes (they should double in volume).

Place the risen strawberry and cheese buns in an oven preheated to 180°C and bake for about 20–25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Drizzle with icing, then pull apart and serve.

Ingredients for the curd cheese filling:

• 50 g butter
• ½ cup icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanillin sugar (or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
• 300 g full-fat or semi-fat curd cheese, passed through a sieve three times

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla sugar and beat together. Add the curd cheese and beat until combined.

Additionally:

• 200 g strawberries, sliced

Ingredients for the icing:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together using the back of a spoon or a mixer. Adjust the consistency of the icing 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!