Gluten Free Fruit Mince Chelsea Buns
Put your leftover Christmas fruit mince to good use in these Gluten Free Fruit Mince Chelsea Buns. Pillowy soft gluten free bread swirled around juicy, lightly spiced fruit mince and topped with a drizzle of icing - leftovers have never looked so good!
If you're anything like me you always end up with an odd amount of fruit mince leftover after Christmas. You've really only got three options to deal with it; throw it out and waste the ingredients and effort that went into it; keep it under the delusion that you can put up with it being in the fridge until next year (and that it'll still be edible by then); or find something to do with it. That third option is the best, but finding something to make with fruit mince that isn't inherently Christmassy isn't the easiest task. Until now!
This recipe is really simple. The result might look impressive, but it doesn't take a huge amount of skill or effort to put together. The filling is taken care of (thanks, leftovers), so all we need to do is make a simple, lightly sweet gluten free bread dough.
How to make Gluten Free Fruit Mince Chelsea Buns
Mixing the dough: the process for mixing this dough is nothing special. We get the yeast and psyllium ready first, mixing them individually with some of the water and sugar and setting them aside while we measure everything else. The dry ingredients are combined in a large bowl, either for a stand mixer or with a spoon to mix by hand, and then those yeast and psyllium mixtures and the other wet ingredients are tipped in. A bit of mixing and you're done! My only tip is to try and scrape all the way down to the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is mixed in.
First Prove: I coat my doughs in oil to make sure they don't dry out during proving. We just need to drizzle about a tablespoon around and on top of the dough to coat. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, then choose a warm spot if you have one, but regular old room temperature is fine too. You can't really go wrong with the first prove, it's relatively forgiving and mostly for flavour, but the dough should double in size.
Kneading: it's important to give the dough a bit of a knead on a lightly floured surface before shaping. This gets all the air out of it and makes it easier to get a good, even shape.
Shaping: To shape these Gluten Free Fruit Mince Chelsea Buns we first need to roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring about 27 x 30cm, with one short edge facing you. There's a bit of wiggle room in the size of the rectangle, just try to make it roughly that size and fairly even in thickness. The more even your dough now, the more even the buns will be later. I like to brush the dough with melted butter for a little bit of added richness, then I spread my fruit mince evenly across the surface, leaving about 3cm clear along the edge furthest away. Then it's just a matter of using a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the rectangle into nine 3 x 30cm strips and rolling them up like a snail! Take that bare edge at the end and tuck it under neatly so it can't unravel. I like to press the buns down a little with the plam of my hand to flatten them a bit on the tray.
Second Proof: like all breads, these buns need a second proof to make sure they come out of the oven soft and fluffy. I start by giving mine about 40 minutes in a warm place or at room temperature, and then I check them to see if they all feel puffy and full of tiny air bubbles. If they still feel a bit dense I'll give them 10 minutes more and check again.
Baking: after a quick egg wash for a lovely golden finish it's time to bake! I like to preheat the oven a bit hotter to 220ºC fan, then reduce it when the buns go in. This helps them to come out nice and evenly golden - just make sure you remember to turn teh temperature down!
Icing: the icing for these buns is as simple as it gets, just icing mixture, milk and vanilla. My biggest tip is to make it a little bit thicker than you think you want it - icing has a funny trick of looking good in the bowl and then being too thin when you drizzle it!
How to Store Gluten Free Fruit Mince Chelsea Buns
Like all good homemade bread these Chelsea Buns are best eaten on the day they're made. If you do have any leftovers, they keep best in an airtight container at room temperature. Refresh them by warming them in a microwave for about 20 - 30 seconds and they'll be almost as good as new!
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