sweet saffron wreath filled with pistachio butter
For the second Sunday in advent I made a sweet saffron wreath filled with a nutty butter filling.
The dough was made with locally grown saffron (!!!) and I added plenty of filling so it turned out really delicious! I usually like to bake with sourdough or very little yeast, but I have struggled a bit with the sweet doughs, so this time I went for a more traditional recipe but with some modifications, and it turned out amazing! This recipe for saffron buns is definitely a keeper, it was so nice to bake with and turned out really good! You will use about a third of this recipe to make a wreath, I also baked twisted buns with the same dough and filling.
the saffron
0,5 g saffron pistils
0,5 g saffron powder
10 g raw sugar
10 g dark rum
I found the most beautiful and fragrant, locally grown saffron! Grown at a farm only a few kilometres from here. One week before baking I let the saffron pistils marinate with sugar and rum to extract as much flavour as possible. I also added some saffron powder to the mix to get an even amount of saffron spread in the dough.
the dough
the starter
500 g full fat milk
500 g flour
50 g yeast
Warm the milk to 30 degrees, add the flour and the yeast and let it prove for 30 minutes.
This is how it looks after proofing for 30 minutes.
the dry ingredients
330 g flour (or up to 400)
200 g sugar
10 g salt
Add the dry ingredients and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Use as little flour as possible, to not get dry saffron buns. For this dough I used Manitoba Cream, a flour with high amount of protein that needs to be kneaded well. If you use another kind of flour you might need to use more. If you use a kitchen machine, start at a quite low speed and increase when the dough comes together. At this point the dough might feel a bit hard, but it will soften a lot when you add the butter.
the WET ingredients
200 g softened butter
the saffron
Add the marinated saffron and incorporate the butter bit by bit. Make sure that you use softened butter that has been standing in room temperature for a few hours.
Knead for another 10-15 minutes, until the dough releases from the bowl. Then let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
the filling
150 g PISTACHIO
150 g sugar
300 g butter
zest from 1 organic orange
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
1 TBSP flour
A few hours before baking, soak the pistachio in water and later rub off the peel from them. Then you will get a nice green nut and a smooth paste. Weigh the soaked pistachio and mix in a blender together with an equal amount of sugar.
Then mix in butter, orange zest and vanilla seeds and a little bit of flour to keep the filling inside the bun.
Now comes the fun part, the baking!
Look how beautiful and yellow the dough is, and with those saffron threads here and there! Start with making a rectangle, about 30 x 50 cm in size. Try to get as equal thickness as possible.
Add the filling (as equal thickness as possible) and roll up the long side to get one long roll. When rolled you can pull it out even a bit longer if you want a larger wreath.
Then cut the roll in half and form a wreath by braiding the lengths. You simply lift one length over the other and form into a circle. Tuck in the ends in a neat way under the dough.
Move the wreath to a baking tray and let it prove for about 1,5 hour under a towel. I placed a glass in the middle to make sure that the hole wouldn’t disappear. Remember to remove the glass before putting the tray in the oven!
Sprinkle chopped pistachios on top of the wreath. Bake in the middle of the oven at 200 degrees, after about 15 minutes lower the temperature to 175 degrees and bake for about totally 30-40 minutes. Remember that the time can vary depending on your oven.
Straight after you remove it from the oven, brush with a simple syrup (equal amounts of water and sugar that you bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar). This will keep the moist inside and give it a nice and glossy surface.
Eat, smile and be happy!
