You guys, I’ve been on a savoury kick lately… I hope this is cool, because I intend to keep em’ comin’… we good? We good. We great.
Allow me to just romance these buns with you for a hot minute before we get to the recipe…
Pillowy soft buns; Dijon Mustard; Butter; Fontina cheese; Ham; and everything bagel spice…
Need I say more?
No further explanation to make these necessary, but… Can we just quickly talk about the fact that the recipe variations with these are pretty much endless?
Like if you don’t like ham – what about turkey? Or what about replacing the mustard with marinara and swapping in pepperoni? Or lose the meat al together and double up on the cheese; Or swap out the mustard for pesto and change the cheese to feta…
I could go on and on, because I mean really no matter what you do… you can’t go wrong with a buttery, fluffy bread as your base, amiright?
Alright I’m done stalling you from baking these yourself…
Happy Savoury Baking!
KP xoxo
Makes: 12 buns
Things you need…
2 pckgs dry instant yeast
1 cup buttermilk, warmed
1 tbsp honey
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup butter, room temp
4 1/4 – 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Filling
200g ham, sliced
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups fontina cheese, grated
a few cracks of fresh pepper & a sprinkle of flaked sea salt
Everything bagel spice (optional)
How to make…
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add your yeast and honey. Pour the warmed buttermilk over the yeast and honey and lightly whisk to combine. Allow your yeast to sit in the warm milk like this for 5-10 minutes to proof. When you come back to your yeast after 5-10 minutes it should be frothy – this indicates that your yeast is active and good to go. If you come back and your yeast hasn’t gotten frothy or foamed up, discard the contents in your bowl and start over with new fresh packages of yeast and proof again using the same technique.
Once you have proofed your yeast, add the softened butter and turn your mixer onto low to begin combining the ingredients. Mix for a minute or so until the softened butter is broken up into chunks. Add your beaten eggs and allow to mix until combined. Whisk together flour, and salt. Slowly begin to add your flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time allow the flour to incorporate slightly before each addition.
Once you have added all of your flour, turn your mixer onto medium speed and allow it to mix the dough until a large smooth mass forms. The dough should be soft and a bit sticky, but not so wet that it is sticking to the sides of the bowl. If you find that your dough is sticking to the sides of your bowl, add a bit more flour 1 tbsp at a time until it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Allow to turn on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Remove dough from bowl – it should be smooth and elastic. Knead with your hands for an additional 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Next, place your dough into a large greased bowl, lightly grease the top of your dough and cover with a dry tea towel. Set your dough aside to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until doubled in size.
** My oven has a warming function, so I usually set the warming function to low and let my dough sit in here to rise. If your oven has this feature, this is a great way to let your dough rise. If not, simply preheat your oven to about 200 degrees, shut it off and place the dough in there to rise as there will be enough residual heat in your oven to keep it nice a warm.
Assembly
Once your dough has risen, punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick.
Spread the softened butter and then the mustard evenly over the dough, leaving a 1 inch border at the bottom. Sprinkle the chopped ham out to completely cover the dough, leaving a border at the bottom. Sprinkle 2 cups of the cheese over top of the ham, top with a few cracks of fresh ground pepper.
Roll dough up jelly-roll style and pinch the end together to seal. Cut into 12 even 1 inch rolls. Place rolls into two parchment lined 9×13 inch baking pan. Set buns aside to rise again in a warm place for another 30 – 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
While your rolls are rising, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brush the buns with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull the buns out and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Return to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Remove from oven and serve warm.
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