These Bath buns have a little secret. It is traditional to add crushed sugar and put it inside the bun. During baking, this will disappear, leaving lovely patches of sticky goodness inside the bun.
Grandads Cookbook is a collection of recipes from various sources reproduced here for convenience. Recipes are accredited to their original author where known and links are provided to any online source materials.
I have found many recipes for the buns, but with a little trial and error, I have developed my own version, taking inspiration from a number of different sources.
Child-Friendly Recipe
They are a great introduction for children to the wonder of bread making and yeast. I make them with my granddaughters (8-year-old twins ), and I think they enjoy making them more than eating them, even with cream and strawberry jam!
History
The Bath bun is attributed to Dr. William Oliver, who invented it for his patients at the Royal Hospital.
Its origins date back to 1761 and the city of Bath, UK. Its rich, sweet flavour proved to be very popular for many of his patients. The bun laced with coarse sugar and fruit proved so popular that it continues to this day.
Serving Suggestion
For a truly authentic British Bath bun experience, slice in half horizontally and serve with a spread of strawberry jam and a good portion of Cornish clotted cream.
Bath Buns
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g Strong bread flour
- 10 g Dried quick-action yeast
- 50 g White sugar
- 250 g Whole milk heated to just below boiling point and allowed to cool right down
- 10 g Fine salt
- 50 g Unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature
- 2 Eggs beaten
- 150 g Sultanas or raisins
- 1 Tea bag
- 50 g Mixed candied peel optional if you don't like it or don't have it
For the topping
- 40 g Caster sugar
- 20 ml Hot water
- 5 Sugar cubes coarsely crushed, to sprinkle on top
Conversions
Instructions
- Place the dried fruit with a tea bag in a bowl and cover with warm water.
- Measure the flour into a bowl and make a well in it. Sprinkle the sugar in and add the yeast.
- Pour over the milk and flick some flour on top to close the well. Leave it for one hour.
- Add the salt, butter, and eggs and mix together.
- Knead well for 15 minutes by hand or 10 minutes by machine with a dough hook. Place it in a bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes to soften up.
- Drain the fruit well, remove the tea bag and add the fruit to the bowl with the dough. Gently incorporate the fruit to ensure it is well distributed. Cover the bowl again and let the dough rest for 2 hours. You can make this the night before and put it in the fridge if you want to. But if you do that, the buns will take longer to rise once they are shaped.
- When you are ready to shape the buns, line a deep-sided roasting tin big enough to hold 12 buns with non-stick baking parchment.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces and evenly space them in the tin. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for one hour, or longer if the dough has been in the fridge.
- Heat the oven to 180℃/Fan 160℃, glaze the buns with the beaten egg and pop them in. Bake for 12 minutes.
- Dissolve the sugar in the hot water to make a syrup. As soon as the buns come out of the oven, paint the syrup over them. Before the syrup dries, crush the sugar cubes with a rolling pin and sprinkle over the top.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Serve with clotted cream and strawberry jam.
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
Grandads Cookbook may reference or include sections of text and images reproduced courtesy of:
- risingtotheberry
- virtuousbread.com
- thehappyfoodie.co.uk
- britishfoodhistory.com