Rhubarb buns with crème pâtissière

The trendiest rhubarb buns of the season :). They are simply irresistible — soft and fluffy yeast buns generously filled with rhubarb and silky vanilla crème pâtissière, finished with crumble topping. This recipe makes as many as 12 large rhubarb buns with vanilla pastry cream. Perfect for a sweet breakfast or afternoon treat. The homemade aroma of vanilla, butter and baked rhubarb is almost impossible to beat — definitely save this recipe for later :).

Makes 12 buns.

Ingredients for the vanilla cream (crème pâtissière):

• 400 ml milk
• seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• 4 egg yolks, from large eggs
• 70 g sugar
• 25 g plain flour
• 25 g potato starch

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla seeds to the boil. Once boiling, immediately remove from the heat.

Place the egg yolks and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the plain flour and potato starch and continue whisking until a smooth paste forms. Add 100 ml of the hot milk to the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the remaining hot milk and whisk thoroughly. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture boils and thickens. Once boiling, cook for about 1 minute while stirring continuously. Remove from the heat. Cover the surface directly with cling film and leave to cool completely without stirring.

The vanilla cream can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Ingredients for the rhubarb filling:

• 1 kg rhubarb
• 80 g sugar
• 2 tsp potato starch

Wash and dry the rhubarb, then cut into 1 cm pieces. If the stalks are thick, cut them lengthwise first.

Heat a large frying pan, add the rhubarb and sprinkle with the sugar. Cook over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring gently, until the rhubarb releases some juice, but without letting it collapse completely. Transfer the rhubarb to a sieve or colander and drain off the excess juice. The juice will not be needed, though it is delicious diluted with water as a rhubarb lemonade!

Just before filling the buns, mix the rhubarb with the potato starch.

Ingredients for the crumble topping:

• 75 g butter, melted
• 135 g plain flour
• 75 g sugar

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

Ingredients for the rhubarb decoration:

• ½ rhubarb stalk

Cover the rhubarb with a little water in a saucepan. Simmer gently over low heat for about 2 minutes, until just softened. Remove and cut into small pieces. Do not overcook the rhubarb or it will fall apart.

Additionally:

• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water, for brushing
• icing sugar, for dusting

Ingredients for the yeast dough:

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 7 g dried yeast or 14 g fresh yeast
• 220 ml milk
• 1 large egg
• 3 egg yolks from large eggs
• 80 g butter, melted
• 100 g sugar
• 8 g vanilla sugar or 2 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, first prepare a starter). Add the remaining ingredients and knead the dough, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead thoroughly until the dough becomes soft and elastic — it may still feel slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Once risen, briefly knead the dough again and divide into 12 portions of approximately 80 g each. Shape each piece into a ball, then flatten or roll it out into a disc. Place some rhubarb filling in the centre. Seal the dough like a dumpling, pressing firmly and making sure no flour gets trapped in the seam, otherwise the buns may open during baking.

Place each bun seam-side down onto baking trays lined with baking parchment, tucking the ends underneath slightly. Cover loosely with cling film and leave to rise again until doubled in size, about 45 minutes or longer. Brush the risen buns with the beaten egg wash and sprinkle generously with crumble topping.

Bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Dust the cooled buns with icing sugar.

Whisk the vanilla cream briefly until smooth and pipe it into the buns from the top using a piping bag fitted with a filling nozzle. Finish with a little extra cream piped onto the top of each bun and decorate with a small piece of softened rhubarb.

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!