Reis Reffold - Designer

Reis’ Irregular Buns

Bread, jam, cream – three of my favourite things when it comes to food. This has been my go to office bake-off, charity cake sale, impress an elderly person recipe for a while now. It is actually an incomplete version of a Paul Hollywood iced finger. Minus the piping bags, patience, and icing. They’re not pretty, and they’re not evenly sized, but they’re easy to make and fun. Kind of like a lazy cream tea, I like to eat these DIY, just a plate of golden buns alongside a bowl of whipped cream and a jar of jam. Put em in front of your friends and go wild.

Ingredients

For the dough – makes 12
500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
50g/1¾oz caster sugar
40g/1½oz unsalted butter, softened
2 free-range eggs
2 x 7g/¼oz sachets instant yeast
2 tsp salt
150ml/5fl oz warm milk
140ml/4½fl oz water

For the fillings
200+ ml Double cream – whipped (arm workout!)
Any jam – Strawbs for me

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
  • To make the dough, place all the ingredients into a large bowl, holding back a quarter of the water.
  • Stir the mixture with your hands, then slowly add the remaining water to form a dough and knead in the bowl for four minutes.
  • Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  • Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for one hour.
  • Divide the dough into 12 pieces, each about 70g/2½oz, then roll into balls and shape into fingers.
  • Place the dough fingers onto a greased baking tray, leaving space for them to double in size, then set aside in a warm place for 40 minutes.
  • They should just touch each other when they’ve risen.
  • Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then set them aside to cool.
  • For the filling, whip up the double cream in a bowl and crack open the jam.
  • To serve, slice open those buns and leave it all in the middle of a table.
  • Supply everyone with a spoon and let the squabbling begin.