Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tangy, Tasty Buns for BBD #20

Guess what day it is, everyone?? It's Bread Baking Day!!

Bread Baking Day was started by the fabulous Zorra, and is in it's 20th roundup! Rachel at Tangerine's Kitchen is hosting this time, with the theme of "Multigrain Breads". Not only does she tell a great story in her post for the event, but she shares some awesome tips for incorporating different grains into your loaves too!


To give my mom a break from bagels this week - I've been making a lot of them, and will eventually compile them all into one mega-post - I made these swirly buns instead. These soft, sweet rolls are made with rich, thick Greek-style vanilla yogurt (organic, no less - I would link to Liberte's site but it keeps crashing my browser) and my mom's weakness: honey. Rolled into ropes before being shaped into spirals, they rise and bake up beautifully - you'd never guess they were full of fibre!

For the grains, I used white bread flour, whole wheat flour, and a multi-grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill High-Fibre Hot Cereal with Flaxseed) that I also wrote about here. According to the package, the cereal has "stone ground oatmeal, nutrient rich flaxseed, wheat germ, high fiber oat bran, and wheat bran". Not a bad mix, but if I had thought about it at the time, I would have added in a bit of amaranth that I have in my cupboard too.

Though these buns are high in nutritional value, they aren't precisely "healthy" because of the rich, full-fat yogurt (mine had 15g of fat per 175g!) and creamy butter. You can definitely make this lower cal with low-fat yogurt (but don't go the nonfat route!) and by leaving out the butter, but where's the fun in that? The slight sweetness and vanilla flavour in the yogurt blends with the slight tang, and mellows the intensity of the honey. When I get a chance to make this again - not likely anytime soon, since mom went on a diet - I'm going to search out her favourite buckwheat honey and use that. These were inspired by a recipe I found here.

Greek Yogurt Honey Buns
Makes 10
1/2 cup warm water
3 tbsp runny, flavourful honey
1 tbsp dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda (Yup, both baking soda and yeast! Don't know why!)
1/2 cup high-fibre hot cereal (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups full fat, thick vanilla yogurt, room temperature or slightly warm
2 tbsp melted butter

  1. In a large bowl or a stand mixer, combine water, honey and yeast, stirring well. Let stand 10 minutes.
  2. Combine flours, baking soda, cereal and salt in another bowl.
  3. Beat half the flour mixture into the yeast slurry, then mix in the yogurt and butter.
  4. Beat in remaining dry mixture and continue to beat 5-6 minutes, until it begins to clear the sides of the bowl and smooth out.
  5. Place into an oiled bowl, turn to grease the top.
  6. Cover and allow to rise 1 hour.
  7. Punch down the dough and make into 10 balls (mine were about 4.3oz each).
  8. Roll each ball into a thin rope shape, then curl each rope into a tight, flat spiral. Pinch the "tail" of the spiral to seal it together. Cover and allow to rise 45 minutes.
  9. Preheat oven to 400F, line a large baking sheet (or two smaller ones) with SilPat or parchment paper.
  10. Bake the spirals for 16 minutes, rotating sheet(s) halfway through.
  11. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire racks.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 282.7
Total Fat: 4.9 g
Cholesterol: 6.5 mg
Sodium: 37.0 mg
Total Carbs: 53.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
Protein: 8.1 g

You know, I'm betting these would be a great entertain-the-kids activity to do over the summer holidays - depending on how young they are, the full fat dairy is actually beneficial - and they can make fun shapes out of the dough that are all their own! For those A+ report cards, you could even knead in a few mini chocolate chips, or hide them in the middle of the swirl! Be sure to save yourself one or two (batches - haha), because they'll go fast!

4 comments :

  1. That makes a great entry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been really scared to try baking bread & the like - it always seemed like it would be a long hard process, but you make it look so easy :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The buns sound great! I like multigrain bread so much and I never tried sweet multigrain-breads or buns before, but reading your post, I know that I have to try this soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful! They almost look light, delicate and fluffy somehow!

    SulaBlue @ TheYeastICouldDo.net

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!