Fruited buns are a delicious brunch treat. Here’s a successful GF version. I hope that you will try it, and feel free to substitute for other requirements such as diary free or vegan. I provide some suggested (alternatives) in the recipe!
1 cup / 240ml sorghum (oat) flour
3/4 cup / 180ml bean flour (I used chickpea/besan flour)
1/2 cup /120ml almond (quinoa) flour
1/2 cup / 120ml tapioca starch
1/4 cup / 60ml packed brown sugar PLUS 1/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp xanthan gum
1.25 tsp yeast
1.25 tsp salt
2.25 tsp mixed spices (for example pumpkin pie spice)
1 cup / 240ml raisins (or similar)
1.25 cups / 300ml milk
2 tbsp oil (I used avocado oil)
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 beaten eggs
2 egg whites (subs 1 flax “egg”)
TOPPING
1 cup / 240ml powdered sugar
milk
Put all the dry ingredients except yeast, white sugar, and raisins into your mixer bowl and whisk just to combine. Put the yeast and white sugar in the milk, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes. The yeast mix should be frothy and smelling good after this time, if not you need to replace your yeast!
Put your mixer on medium-low speed and slowly pour in the milk, eggs, and other liquids. Mix the dough for about 5 minutes to make sure it all comes together into a solid, well integrated ball. Add the raisins and mix just enough to make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Remove the beater from the dough, scraping any dough back into the bowl of the mixer. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes to rise.
Turn out your dough onto a generously floured surface, using corn starch or rice flour. Gently press out the dough to a rough circle. I pressed it out to a circle about the thickness of my thumb.
Cut out buns with a cookie cutter. Which cutter? Depends on how big you want the buns! With the second largest cookie cutter I have, this made 9 generously large buns. If you need more buns I’d suggest using a smaller cutter rather than making the dough circle smaller, but feel free to do as you feel best for your audience.
Gather up any spare dough, smash it together, and cut out more buns until all the dough is used.
Place the buns in a large baking dish, either greased or lined with baking parchment, and cover them with the same tea towel or plastic wrap you used previously.
Now you can preheat the oven to 375F/190C, and allow the oven to continue heating for 10 minutes after it alerts you that it is at temperature.
While the oven is heating your buns will have a second rise.
Put the buns in the oven and set a 25 minute timer. After the timer beeps, check the buns – they should be golden brown and not be stodgy or wet. With my massive buns it took another 10 minutes until I felt they were ready, for a total cook time of about 35 minutes. If your buns are smaller or more thinly rolled, you might want to check at the 20 minute mark.
Once the buns are cooked, pull them out and leave them in the baking dish. Make up the topping, you want to add just enough milk to make a spreadable topping. Top the buns generously and allow to cool.
Serve while still warm, with a nice hot cuppa tea or freshly brewed French Press coffee.