Chilling the dough makes it so much easier to work with and roll out. You can rolling it out straight after proofing but you do need to roll it quite affirmatively to get it to behave.

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Ingredients

Dough

265g strong white bread flour

7g dry yeast

30g light brown sugar

10g molasses

7g salt

50g egg (approx one)

45g milk

60g water

½ orange, zested

35g butter, soft

Dried fruit & peel mix (divide in half - first half goes inside dough, second to sprinkle inside)

30g candied mixed peel (to get my guide, click here!)

40g golden raisins

40g sultanas

Egg wash

HXB Pastry cream

Milk infusion:

200g whole milk

6g cinnamon sticks

16g ginger, peeled but whole slices about 0.25cm thick

10 cloves (Count them! I’m really anxious about clove flavour - ha)

10g orange peel, thick strips

8g cardamom pods (although I didn’t have any so I just did ½ tsp ground cardamom)

Pastry cream:

200g infused milk from above (re-weigh and top it up to this, very important step)

50g caster sugar

2 x egg yolks (about 36g)

16g cornflour

Cream cheese frosting:

20g orange juice

40g icing sugar (sifted)

80g cream cheese

orange zest, to taste

salt to taste

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1. Infusion for the pastry cream.

   Add spices and aromatics to milk and bring to a simmer

   Once bubbling, turn off the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid or clingfilm to seal

   Leave for at least 1 hour, 2 if you have time

   Strain the mixture and reweigh the liquid

   Top up the liquid to weigh 200g before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. If you don’t do this, the ratios will all be off and you’ll get MAD THICK pastry cream

   Step 2: Making the pastry cream

   Heat milk on the stove until simmering. Whisk egg yolks with cornflour and sugar. Once milk is bubbling, pour a little over the yolks to temper and then return the whole mixture to the stove. Cook – whisking all the time – until the mixture is thick and bubbling

   Leave to cool completely before using. You want it to be ultra thick and like a block of jelly! Make sure to cover the surface with clingfilm.

2. Dough

   First, soak all of your fruit! Put your dried fruit into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for at least 10 mins or until the fruit is soft. Strain and discard the liquid.

   Bloom the yeast according to the manufacturer's instructions

   Add milk, water, molasses and the egg to the bottom of your bowl. Next add your flour, salt and rest of the sugar. Make sure the yeast is in there, too!

   Mix on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until a dough forms

   Rest for 5 mins - this just breaks up the strength building!

   Mix on a medium-high speed until medium-full gluten development is reached

   Then add your butter in piece by piece

   When the dough is strong, soft and shiny and you have reached full gluten development, chuck your fruit in. Mix until its all combined - don’t turn the speed up too high because it’ll spit fruit all over your bench!

   To add the fruit in, stretch the dough quite thin and sprinkle the fruit and peel. Roll it up and then knead the dough into a ball

   Put dough into a clean bowl and cover to proof

   Proofing:

   Cover your bowl and let the dough proof for 1-2 hours in a warm place until it has doubled

   At this stage you can degas the dough in the fridge overnight to roll out and shape the next day

3. Shaping:

   Tip the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a large rectangle, approx 30 x 40cm. It should be about ½ cm thick

   Spread your chilled pastry cream all over the dough, leaving an 1-2 inch border at the bottom

   Sprinkle the soaked fruit and mixed peel evenly over the dough

   Roll the dough up tightly

   Slice the dough in half so you can fit it on a tray. I like to wrap the dough in cling film or baking paper to protect it from the freezer

   Place your dough rolls in the freezer for 10-20 mins to firm up. You can cut it right away but I prefer to let it chill to keep things neat

4. Cutting

   Slice your dough logs into approx 1 - 1.5inch slices

   Put greaseproof paper in a 9” x 13” inch tin and place your buns fairly close together. I think rows of 3 work really well in this tin size. You could totally bake these in muffin tins too. That would be adorable.

   Cover and proof for an hour until puffy

5. Preheat oven to 180c

   Egg wash the buns

   Bake for approx 22 mins until golden in places. My oven isn’t super even unfortunately

   When you take the buns out the oven, brush with a sugar syrup. I use the syrup from my mixed peel candying. You could use jam too!

   Eat whilst warm. ESSENTIAL.

6. To make the optional glaze:

Beat the cream cheese until smooth, add sifted sugar and then loosen with the orange juice. Taste and add a little pinch of salt to make it your ideal flavour.

Enjoy! After 6-8 hours, to be extra safe you should really keep these buns in the fridge as they have custard in them. Reheat the buns in the oven before eating