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- 300 ml
full-fat milk
- 200 g
unsalted butter, softened
- 500 g
strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust
- 7 g
sachet fast-action dried yeast
- 225 g
caster sugar
- 1 tsp.
ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp.
crushed cardamom seeds, from roughly 25g green cardamom pods (see GH tip)
- 1
medium egg, beaten
- 25 g
pearl sugar, optional
- Step 1In a small pan, heat milk and 50g of the butter until butter has melted and mixture is steaming. Set aside until lukewarm.
- Step 2In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, 75g of caster sugar, ½tsp fine salt, ½tsp of cinnamon, ½tbsp crushed cardamom seeds and the cooled milk mixture. Mix well, then turn out on lightly floured surface and knead for 10min, until springy.
- Step 3Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-1½hr. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix remaining 150g caster sugar and 1½tbsp crushed cardamom seeds. Spoon out 2tbsp into a small bowl to use later. Beat remaining butter and ½tsp cinnamon into larger amount of cardamom sugar. Set aside.
- Step 4Line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Punch dough down in bowl, then scrape on to surface. Roll out into a rectangle roughly 35.5 x 45cm, with a long edge closest to you. Spread over the spiced butter mixture, then fold bottom up so only ⅓ of the butter remains visible at the top. Next, fold top 1/3 down over the top of the previous fold.
- Step 5Cut vertically into 12 strips. Working one at a time (keep other strips covered with clingfilm), slice strip in half vertically leaving the top 1cm uncut. Open up cuts to make a long horizontal line, then twist each half three or four times to make one long twisted line. Holding an end in one hand, pick up the other end with your other hand and loop dough around fingers of first hand. Remove from fingers, tucking end into centre of loop. Invert on to lined sheet, ensuring both ends are tucked in. Cover with clingfilm. Repeat shaping with remaining slices, spacing them out on the lined trays.
- Step 6Cover shaped buns with clingfilm and leave to rise again (prove) for 45min–1hr, until slightly puffed.
- Step 7Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Once proved, brush buns with egg, sprinkle over pearl sugar (if using) and bake for 25min until risen and golden. Meanwhile, in a small pan, heat reserved 2tbsp cardamom sugar and 50ml water, stirring to dissolve sugar. Turn up heat and boil for 1min. Set aside.
- Step 8As soon as buns are out of oven, brush with the cardamom syrup. Cool on sheets. Serve just warm or at room temperature.
Get ahead If serving for breakfast, prepare to end of step 6 the night before (but don’t prove). Chill overnight. Cover the 2tbsp cardamom sugar and set aside. To serve, remove buns from fridge and prove somewhere warm for 1½-2hr, until slightly puffed. Continue from step 7.
GH Tip You can buy already husked bags of cardamom seeds, instead of doing it yourself. Crush the seeds with a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.
Per serving:
- Calories: 382
- Protein: 7g
- Fat:16g
- Sat fat: 10g
- Carbs: 54g
- Sugars: 22g
- Fibre: 1g
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
