Gooseberry and custard buns

These gooseberry and custard buns are a wonderful combination of sweet vanilla custard, tart gooseberries and soft, fluffy yeast dough. The buttery yeast dough is a pleasure to work with and bakes up beautifully light and tender. They were loved by everyone who tried them! Make the most of gooseberry season while it lasts, as it’s all too short.

Makes 12 buns.

Ingredients for the yeast dough:

• 550 g strong white bread flour
• 15 g instant dried yeast or 30 g fresh yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 80 g sugar
• 250 ml milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 80 g butter, melted

Additionally:

• 350 g gooseberries, topped and tailed

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, prepare a starter first). Add the remaining ingredients and knead, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead thoroughly until the dough becomes soft, smooth and elastic and place into a lightly floured bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Line two baking trays, or one large baking tray, with baking paper.

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Divide into 12 equal portions, approximately 85–90 g each. Shape into buns and place onto the prepared trays, leaving plenty of space between them. Cover and leave to rise again in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes, until doubled in size. Using the base of a glass, press a deep indentation into the centre of each bun, almost reaching the tray beneath. Fill each indentation with cooled custard, dividing it evenly between all 12 buns. Top with the gooseberries and sprinkle generously with crumble topping.

Bake at 190°C for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Ingredients for the vanilla custard:

• 1 packet (40 g) vanilla custard powder
• 450 ml milk
• 4 tablespoons sugar

Prepare the custard according to the packet instructions using 450 ml milk and 4 tablespoons sugar. Leave to cool completely before using.

Ingredients for the crumble topping:

• 50 g butter, melted
• 100 g plain flour
• 50 g sugar

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.

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!