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Shrovetide is nearing and at least in Finland there's a custom to have shrovetide buns, which are regular buns filled with strawberry jam and whipped cream (and with almond shaving on top, if you want)... Made some in advance Wanted to make bigger than you can buy but I suppose I went a bit over Texas style! (everything's bigger in Texas....) Made 12 buns from 1 liter dough (which is roughly meant for 20 buns).

Thank you all for the kind comments

Quoted from "IAmGroot"

Could you please post the recipe and directions? I would really appreciate that!

Quoted from "Kurtcobain"

Yeah yeah yeah plz give us the recipe for this yummy Buns

And since requested...

You need a large bowl for this size dough - my bowl was 28 cm (~11 inches) diameter, 14 cm (~5.5 inches) deep (narrows towards bottom though) and it got completely full.

You also need: kitchen towels, kitchen brush, measurement cups/spoons, large spoon/spatula, multiple smaller bowls, fork, baking tray, baking paper and a wooden skewer (those 1 time use disposables).

l = liter = 0.264 US gallons
dl = deciliter = 0.422 US cup (3.5 dl = 1.47 cups)
kg = kilogram = 0.157 stones or 2.2 pounds ( 700 g = 0.11 stones / 1.54 pounds)
g = gram = 0.035 ounces ( 44 g = 1.55 ounces / 120 g = 4.23 ounces / 150 g = 5.29 ounces)

Recipe for 1 liter: (meant to do by hand - no machines needed: not suitable for people with long, varnished or decorated fingernails!)

• 1 l whole milk - (the really fatty one)
  
• 1 kg + unbleached wheat flour - (DO NOT add at once!)
  
• 3.5 dl sugar (white) - (3 dl if you don't like sweet, 3.5 dl normal, 4 dl sweet: I used 3.5 dl)
  
• 3 eggs - room temperature
  
• 150 g butter
  
• 44 g dry yeast - (or 120 g yeast)
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 - 3 tsp cardamom - (optional, but I like it in buns)
• 1 egg for greasing - (DO NOT put in the dough) Use a fork to break and mix the egg yolk and white well.

Filling:

• 1 - 1.5 dl sugar (white)
  
• 1 - 2 tbsp vanilla (powder)/vanillin - (a lot less, if you use fresh vanilla)
  
• 5 dl double cream or whipping cream (doesn't really matter)
  
• strawberry jam
  

1. Heat the milk to 40 C (104 F). Be careful not to over heat or it will burn the yeast and the dough will instantly fail. If it's too cold, the yeast won't activate and the dough won't rise in the end.

2. Warm the butter enough to make it soft - not meant to liquefy.

3. Measure roughly 700 g wheat flour either to a separate bowl or leave it in the measurement cup, if it's large enough to hold all. Notice: You will need more flours, so if your flour sac is too heavy to be lifted with 1 hand, measure about 500 g more to another bowl.

4. Take this step only, if you use dry yeast: mix the 44 g of dry yeast with the 700 g of wheat flours.

5. Take this step only, if you use yeast: mix the 120 g yeast to the warm milk and blend well so that all of the yeast dissolve in it.

6. But sugar, salt, cardamom in the large bowl and mix them up.

7. Add the warm milk to the bowl, mix everything up.

8. Add the 3 eggs - it's better if you break them in a cup with a fork first that the egg white and yolk are mixed well

9. Slowly add the measured wheat flour to the milk while mixing it. Once you've used all of the measured 700 g, you begin adding more wheat flours (from the flour sac or the other bowl) slowly and still mixing. When the dough is thickening so that the spoon/spatula used in the mixing doesn't move fluently, it's time to put your washed and clean hand clutched into a fist into the dough. (mind your fingernails too!)

10. You begin to knead the dough with your fist and adding more flours as needed. A good dough is soft and bouncy. If it's really sticky, it needs more flour - but be very careful not to add too much at a time. Kneading should be somewhat "rough" - you can even lift the dough up a little and "slam" it back to the bowl - if you are a strong person, don't over do the slamming - it's not meat to be tendered. Go to step 11. after the dough starts to come off of your hand. The more you knead, the harder the dough will become, so there's a careful balance to not over knead it. As said, a good dough is soft and bouncy that doesn't stick like a glue to your hand.

11. Add the softened butter into your dough when the dough is starting to come off of your hand. You have to knead the butter into the dough well and allover. Be careful not to over knead as this phase doesn't need as much strength. When the butter has absorbed into the dough, you stop kneading - the dough should be gleaming, soft and bouncy.

12. Then put the dough bowl to a warm place, covered with a kitchen towel and let it rest and rise for about 15 to 20 minutes. I usually put it on range so that the heating oven keeps it warm.

13. Turn on oven and heat it to 175 C - 200 C (347 F - 392 F) - varies with each oven as they all bake differently (specially older ones) and the size of your bun. I used 175 C with these really large ones and put then in the middle of oven.

14. After rising the dough (should be roughly doubled in size), pour it out to a clean table where you make the buns. The dough should come out easily with little help - it should not be wet except maybe some butter. You can knead it a tiny bit on the table, if you want but usually the shaping of the bun is enough. If the dough is good, you don't need excess flour on table at all.

15. You take portions of the dough and roll them round with your palm in a circular motion against the table. Put the ready ones on covered baking tray.

16. When the tray is full, cover the buns with kitchen towel and let them rise for 10 minutes in a warm place. Notice: by now the range may be too hot so have a kettle-holder under the baking tray, if you put it on range.

17. By now you should have oven heated up and first patch of buns rested. Grease each bun well with an egg using kitchen brush. Bake in oven anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the bun, heat you have and how good your oven is. It's ready when the top is nice golden brown. When you insert a wooden skewer into the bun and take it out, there's no dough stuck to it. If there is, the bun is raw inside so put it back in the oven. If the top is getting burnt while inside is still raw (after the skewer test), you know you have too high heat in oven and should lower it or make smaller buns.

18. Let the ready buns cool on table or on some tray.

19. Put sugar and vanilla/vanillin in a bowl that's large enough to whip the cream in. Pour the cream and whip it until it's fluffy (whipped cream, duh). Used an electric beater for this When ready, put in to fridge to keep cool.

20. Slice the cooled buns horizontally in half so that you have the bottom and a "hat". Either press the center area of the bottom bun denser or remove a little bit of the bun from the middle and add strawberry jam. Then add the whipped cream - needs to be cool that it doesn't melt and drip out. Put the "hat" back on and enjoy!

Geez... took over 2 hours to write >.<


Edit: added the notice that eggs should be in room temperature and that the wheat flour in unbleached - all baking flours in Finland are unbleached so I didn't even know there are bleached ones in NA until now!

Quoted from "Kurtcobain"

i know what i have to do next weekend

Quoted from "IAmGroot"

hope Saint has to work on Valentine's Day so I can try making this

If you have never ever done bun dough before, I recommend you try making it a couple times before being confident on succeeding - making a good bun dough is a work of art and has much to do with the fist kneading instead ingredients. You can only learn it by making the dough yourself... I've tried explaining stuff in here but words alone can't do much without experience. I wish you both the best of luck in succeeding!

Quoted from "Gladia"

Hello,

Thank you for the recipe !
It seems very similar to what we call "brioche" here.

You're welcome and I did check brioche recipes - brioche seem to be very similar although takes a whole lot longer to make as the recipes are based on active yeast starters, which takes couple days to make.

This time around made meat pasties with my roomie for the first time, which are very common/popular snacks here in Finland I'm happy how those turned out. Made 8 out of 6 deciliter dough. Also made some cold potato salad.

The meat pasty has minced meat, rice, red onions and eggs as filling and a lot of spices.








The potato salad has potatoes, red onions, pickles and mayonnaise based salad sauce meant for hamburgers. Personally love this cold salad with almost everything

Quoted from "IAmGroot"

Gwiniel...
You're getting yourself into so much trouble and also not helping my diet.
MEAT......................PIE?????????????????????? :o :o :o
I need this in my life.

Haha - I'm already a fat woman I'll update the recipe to this same reply when I have time to write it in English.

Btw, to make it healthier you can use full grain flours, low fat minced meat, use only egg white and leave yolks out and add more vegetables like carrots, peas, beans etc. Only your personal liking and imagination is the limit. The ones I made are dreep-fried in canola oil but you could also bake them in oven after egg-washing the surfaces to get the golden brown color.


Recipe for meat pasties (8 pieces)

Filling:

• 400g minced meat - (low fat is healthier)
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 2 cups rice - (full grain rice is healthier)
  
• 2 onions or red onions (medium size)
  
• lots of spices of your liking
  

You start with the preparation of the filling. Cook rice, boil eggs, fry minced meat and spice it up heavily, peel onions and slice, dice or mince them as you like. Mix everything together in a bowl. To make this part healthier - use low fat minced meat, use only egg whites and trash the yolks. You can also add vegetables like carrots, corn, peas and beans as you wish.


Dough:

• 6 dl (2,53 US cups) whole milk
  
• 50 g (1.75 ounces) yeast or 22 g (0.77 ounces) dry yeast
  
• 2 tbsp sugar
  
• 2 tbsp oil
  
• 2 tbsp salt
  
• ~14 dl (~5,91 US cups) wheat flour or dark wheat flour
  

Additionally you need 1.5 liters to 2 liters (0.396 to 0.528 US gallons) canola oil for deep-frying and 1 egg for sealing (can be replaced with water).


Warm the milk to 40 degrees Celsius (104 F). Only if you use yeast, mix it into the milk when it's warm. Mix up dry ingredients but only half of the flour in a large bowl - this includes dry yeast (not added, if you used yeast earlier). Add oil, pour the milk and mix well. Keep adding more flours as needed until it start to firm up. Knead the dough with your fist until it doesn't stuck to your hand. Is less soft and bouncy than a bun dough but the dough should not be hard.

Let the dough rise while covered with kitchen towel from 15 to 20 minutes in a warm place. This dough can dry up a lot easier than the bun dough so don't let it rise too long.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, use rolling pin to make circular sheets about ½ to 1 cm thick. Fill half of the area with the filling but leave an edge of 1 cm all around it. Grease the 1 cm edge with egg or use plain water. Fold the remaining half on top and press the edge tightly together with fingertips - (the egg or water works as glue).

Let the filled meat pasties rest another 10 minutes under a kitchen towel. Heat up the canola oil (1.5 - 2 liters) in a deep pot.

Poke the pasties with a fork and deep-fry them in the hot canola oil. Turn each pasty 3 times in the oil - you have to watch the color to know when it's ready. You turn the pasty the 1st time when it has light brown color, the 2nd time when the other side matched the first, 3rd time when it reaches a deeper brown color to let the other side catch the same color. This way the end result is much better than if you deep-fry the same side ready at once. Impossible to tell in minutes as it depends of the oil's heat. Canola oil can burst into fire, if it reaches 180 Celsius (356 F).

Put the deep-fried pasty to rest on a sieve, to drip out excess oil. Replace it to a covered tray before the next pasty is ready.


Enjoy!

Updated the meat pasty recipe Have fun!

Quoted from "Kurtcobain"

Thanks so much for giving us the recipe......i know what i have to do next weekend

Did the buns work out or did you even try making them? Just curious