Chelsea Buns

Sweet breakfast rolls might be my favorite food, period. The thought or mention of a cinnamon roll makes my mouth water. Chelsea rolls are the same but better. The addition of lemon zest to an enriched dough, rolled up with cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, and butter makes everything right with the world.

Traditionally, these would also be filled with some kind of dried fruit (ie, currants) and glazed rather than iced. To show off their beauty, I stuck with the glaze but shunned the fruit. As the great chef once said, "Raisins are always optional". And, yes, I know currants and raisins aren't precisely the same thing.

We made these for our Easter brunch, and the only reason they weren't all devoured is that I also made Boston Cream Donuts [recipe also available on theapbakery.com]

Makes: 12-14 rolls
Total Time: 3:45

Ingredients
Dough

• 200g MILK (any kind, I usually use 2% because that's what's in the fridge)
• 50g BUTTER
• 500g AP FLOUR (almost all roll recipes call for bread flour - I never touch the stuff)
• 7g or 2 1/2 tsp YEAST (fast acting, instant, whatever you have) NOTE: can also be made entirely with sourdough starter, but rise times will double. See the blog post on using sourdough instead of store bought yeast.
• 50g SUGAR
• 1 pinch SALT
• 1 LEMON'S ZEST
• 1 EGG

Filling

• 50g BUTTER (more butter, yeah!)
• 100g BROWN SUGAR
• 2 tsp CINNAMON
• 1 tsp GINGER

Glaze

• 50g SUGAR
• 3tbsp WATER

1- Starting with the dough, melt the BUTTER in the microwave and pour the MILK over. The resulting mixture should be about room temp.

2- In your mixer equipped with a dough hook, combine FLOUR, YEAST, SUGAR, SALT, and LEMON ZEST. Turn mixer on low and add the EGG and the butter/milk mixture. Continue to mix on low to med-low for five minutes, scraping down the edges as necessary to incorporate all the flour.

3- Place dough on floured surface and work by hand for another 1-2 minutes. Should be bouncy and glossy. Place back in the bowl, cover, and leave to rise for 2 hours. Should easily double in size.

4- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll out to a 50x35cm (19x13inches).

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5- For the filling, spread with softened or melted and cooled BUTTER, leaving border along the top. Evenly spread the BROWN SUGAR, CINNAMON, and GINGER over the buttered area. Press the mixture down gently with palms or a single roll of the rolling pin. Dampen naked top edge with water, and roll from bottom to top.

6- Cut into 12-14 even slices, and place in lightly greased baking pan 1-2cm apart. Leave to rise for 45min to an hour. The risen buns should now be touching but not filling up the entire gap.

7- Place into a 350F or 180C oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Just before the buns are ready to come out, microwave the SUGAR and WATER for the glaze until boiling.

8- Remove buns from oven and brush on glaze while still hot. Let cool for 15-30 min.

​9- EAT!