Feed your sourdough starter so it's active by morning. Leave the butter needed for the dough on the bench overnight so it's at room temperature the next day.

Add all the dough ingredients to a large bowl the following morning. Use a fork to mix them together into a sticky and shaggy mound.

Tip this onto a clean bench and knead it for around 5-7 minutes until it becomes smooth. Initially, it will feel quite sticky, but keep kneading it and pulling and pushing it back and forth until the stickiness starts to go.

Place the dough in a greased bowl in a warm spot to bulk out by around 50%. I use a turned-off oven with a mug of boiled water next to the bowl. This creates a warm and humid environment to keep the dough from drying out. If your area is very cold, you might need to gently preheat the oven to around 25°C/ 77°F and then turn it off.

Once bulked out by 50%, cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to chill and firm up a bit.

While the dough is chilling, make the butter packet by mixing together the butter and flour into a soft mixture.

Roll this butter mixture out between two sheets of baking paper into a rectangle of about 20 x 25cm (8-inch x 10-inch). Place the butter packet in the fridge to cool.

Take the butter out of the fridge 10 minutes before rolling the dough. This ensures that the dough and butter have similar consistencies, making lamination easier.

Pull the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured bench once it has chilled. Roll it into a 25 x 50cm (10-inch x 20-inch) rectangle.

Test your butter packet isn't too cold by seeing if you can bend it without snapping it. Lay it down on the bottom half of the dough, then fold the top of the dough over it to encase the butter.

Use a rolling pin to push on the dough to help soften the butter gently.

Roll the dough out again into a rectangle of about 25x50cm (10-inch x 20-inch). The aim is to lengthen the dough, not to widen it.

Cut off any scraggly edges, then fold the dough into three like a pamphlet by bringing the top third down to the middle and the bottom third up overtop. That was Fold 1.

Wrap the dough up to stop it from drying out, and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to relax the dough. If your kitchen is under 18°C / 64°F, leave the dough to rest on the bench instead to stop the butter from becoming too hard.

After resting, turn the dough 90° and repeat the folding process twice to complete folds 2 and 3. After the third time, wrap the dough up well and chill overnight.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it in half.

Roll one half into a 12cm x 21 cm (5-inch x 9-inch) rectangle on a lightly floured bench. Cut off any rough edges.

Cut the dough width-wise into 7 x 3cm / 1.2-inch strips. Cut the dough in half lengthwise so there are now 14 strips in total.

Take 2 of these strips and fold them over each other to make two U shapes (see the above blog post for a picture.) Place each shaped cruffin into a greased muffin tray.

Repeat with the second dough half. This makes 14 in total so I use 2 muffin pans.

Proof the cruffins in a warm spot between 22°C / 70 °F - 25°C/ 77°F until doubled in size. They need to be properly proofed to avoid butter leakage when they're baking and dense cruffins. This can take between 4-7 hours, depending on room temperature.

You can brush or spray them gently with water to stop them from drying out, or place them in a turned-off oven with a shallow dish of boiled water next to them to keep them humid. Don't place the hot water dish underneath the tray of cruffins, or the butter will melt and ruin your lamination.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F.

Bake the cruffins for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown.

Placing a large tray underneath the muffin pans is a good idea to catch any possible butter leakage. Though proper proofing can limit butter leaking, the fact that the dough is squished into a small tray means some leaking will still likely happen. The tray will catch any butter run-off and prevent it from smoking at the bottom of the oven.

After baking, remove the cruffins from the tray, and toss them in granulated sugar while still warm. After this, let them cool.

Once cooled, make a little hole in the top of the cruffin with a knife and pipe in your favorite fillings.

Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze them for up to 3 months.