Saffron Buns Recipe
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Easy
Extracted from Copenhagen Food by Trine Hahnemann (£25, Quadrille) Photography © Columbus Leth
“These buns are eaten in December, specifically on 13 December, Sankta Lucia Day. Nowadays, some bakeries make them all year round. I am too old-school for that, so I restrict my baking of them to December.”
Ingredients for homemade saffron buns Serves: 24
- 100ml boiling water
- ½ tsp saffron threads
- 50g fresh yeast
- 400ml lukewarm whole milk
- 200g creme fraîche
- 200g unsalted butter, melted and left to cool a little
- 1.1kg ‘00’ flour
- 200g raisins (optional)
- 5g fine sea salt
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
How to make saffron buns
- Mix the boiling water with the saffron, stir a little and leave for 10 minutes.
- Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir to dissolve, then add the crème fraîche, melted butter and saffron water. In a separate bowl, mix 1kg of the flour with the raisins (if using), salt and sugar, then mix into the yeast mixture. Knead with the rest of the flour on a surface into a smooth dough. Return to the bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.
- Form the buns by rolling the dough into 24 sausages, then curl each into a round bun. Alternatively, you could shape each as the numbers eight or five, or other shapes inspired by Nordic mythology.
- Set on baking sheets lined with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400F/gas mark 6. Brush the buns with the egg and bake for 25 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
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About the author
Trine Hahnemann is a Danish food writer and chef. As the owner and CEO of Hahnemanns Køkken she provides about 3,000 daily lunches with her team in private and public companies in the Copenhagen area. Trine has written 10 cookbooks in her native Danish and 7 in English.
