Since the last time I wrote South Africa has been put back into lockdown level three because the Corona virus levels have sky rocketed. I am irritated and I want people to change their behaviour because otherwise the world isn’t going to get any better. I am an indoor person by nature so I have enjoyed being in lockdown but I know it hasn’t been the same for a lot of people, but right now there isn’t anything I can do except stay inside.

I wanted a snack to watch movies with so I made swirled buns. As I am sure you remember the other day I made mince pies and there was an over abundance of the mincemeat innards left.  I decided to experiment and fill sweet bread dough with the mince meat in a swirly pattern like a swiss roll.

First I had to make the dough. I weighed flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, egg, milk and water.

Then I beat them together to make a dough. Then I let the dough rise.

Then once it had risen, I punched it down. Satisfying!

Then I rolled out the dough.

and spread the mincemeat filling on top. Then I rolled it all together so it looked like a long fat sausage.

Then I cut the sausage at intervals to make little swirly bun shapes which I put into a cake tin and then waited for it to rise again.

Then I baked it until it was cooked through and golden – this took about half an hour.

Now on to taste. After releasing my prisoner from the oven and letting it cool down for a bit, I took a bite. It was really good. I didn’t wait until it was completely cool because I didn’t want to. You should but I didn’t. The soft sweet, warm bread really complimented the raisin and orangey taste of the mincemeat. A pleasure with every bite.

Since Christmas I have been rewatching all the Marvel movies because they are brilliant. Yesterday I watched the first Avengers movie, Captain America the Winter Soldier, Dr Strange and my favourite Black Panther. My plan is to watch Captain America Civil War with the rest of the buns.    

Sweet bread bun dough

250g cake flour

60ml water

30ml milk

1 teaspoon salt

30g granulated white sugar

1 egg

1 packet yeast

80g butter

Combine all the ingredients and beat well. Let the dough rise then knock it down. Roll out the dough and then spread mincemeat (or anything else that is delicious like jam). Roll up the rectangle like a swiss roll. Cut into equal pieces which will become the buns and put in a cake tin. Let it rise again then and bake at 180C until cooked through (about half an hour). Let cool. Enjoy with Captain America (or movie of choice). 

For the mincemeat filling go to the last blog.