Strawberry and vanilla cream buns

Makes 8

Ingredients

For the brioche buns

300 g strong bread flour
125 ml milk lukewarm
45 g castor sugar
6 g active dry yeast
1 egg
30 g butter room temperature cubed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Egg wash – 1 egg whisked with 1 tsp water

For the vanilla pastry cream

125 ml milk
10 g cornstarch
15 g sugar
1 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Toppings

Strawberry Jam
Fresh Strawberries

Method

Preparing the Vanilla Pastry Cream

1. In a small saucepan with the heat turned off, combine together all the pastry cream ingredients.
2. Cook your cream filling on medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens. It is important not to move away from the cream while cooking as once it thickens you have to remove it from the stove immediately or it will burn.
3. Place the cream into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap is touching the cream. Leave it to cool down in the fridge for at least an hour.

Preparing the Buns

1. In a mixer bowl activate the yeast by adding the yeast, milk and sugar. Let the mixture foam for about 15 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl add together the flour, salt and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. Once the yeast is activated add the dry ingredients together with the egg to the mixer bowl. With a hook attachment knead the dough for about 3 minutes, until a soft dough starts to take shape.
4. Then gently add the diced butter one piece at a time until all the butter is incorporated. Let the dough knead for about 10 minutes. Make sure it passes the windowpane test*.
5. Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour in the warmest place in your kitchen until it doubles in size.
6. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and dust it with flour. Set aside.
    
7. Once the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and form into balls. Punch the centre slightly down with your fingers of each ball. Place the buns on the prepared tray keeping a good amount of space between each one. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F while the buns are rising.
9. Once the buns have rested, flatten again the centre of the buns. Add a teaspoon of jam in the centre, top it off with the vanilla pastry cream. Finish off with thinly sliced strawberries. Optionally, sprinkle some sugar on top. Brush them with the egg wash.
10. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the buns have a nice golden brown colour.

NOTE:

*To carry out the windowpane test, take a small amount of dough and hold it with both hands (using the thumbs and first two fingers). Gently, spread open your hands so to stretch the dough. Keep stretching gently until the centre part of the dough is translucent. If the dough doesn’t break that means that the gluten has developed and you can prepare your dough for the rising part. However, if the dough breaks easily when you open your fingers, the gluten hasn’t yet fully developed so it needs more work. Therefore, transfer the dough ball back to the main dough and let it knead for more minutes. Try again until the dough passes the windowpane test.