Traditional Chelsea Buns

Step 1

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumb, stir in the yeast and sugar.

Step 2

Beat the egg and milk together and add to the bowl, mix to form a soft slightly wet dough (add a splash more milk if required).

Step 3

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes. If you have a stand mixer you can let that do the hard work instead. As the gluten develops it will lose some of its stickiness.

Step 4

Place in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size

Step 5

Melt the butter for the filling and use a little to grease a 23cm (9in) square cake tin. Turn the risen dough out onto a work surface and lightly knead. Roll into a rectangle about 35 x 25cm (14 x10in).

Step 6

Brush the butter very liberally allover the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the fruit followed by the sugar evenly over the surface of the dough. Drizzle over most of the remaining butter.

Step 7

Roll up like a Swiss roll from the long side, then using a sharp knife cut into 9 equally pieces (I used a serrated knife and a gently sawing action so as not to squash the roll out of shape.)

Step 8

Arrange the pieces in the greased tin and brush the surface with a little more of the melted butter. Cover loosely with cling film then leave in a warm place for about 30 minutes to rise.

Step 9

Preheat the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan)/400°F/gas mark remove the cling film and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and brush with a little warm honey.

Step 10

Allow to stand in the tin for a few minutes,  then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.