Dried Fruit Buns

Source 

Inspired by Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1 cup water from soaking the dried fruit

- 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast

- 1/2 tbsp salt

- 3 egg whites (45 cal)

- 2 tbsp honey (130 cal)

- 2 tbsp canola oil (120 cal)

- 2 1/3 cup / 11.5 oz / 325 g all purpose flour (1045 cal)

- 10 prunes (200 cal)

- 5 dried apricots (125) 

- egg white wash (1 egg white and one tbsp of milk beaten together) (15 cal)

Total 1680 cal, 16 buns, 105 cal / buns

Instructions

1. Soak the dried fruit in about 2 cups of hot water for an hour. Drain, keeping 1 cup of the soaking water for the dough, and finely chop the dried fruit.

2. Mix all the liquid ingredients with yeast. Add flour and salt, followed by the chopped dried fruit, mix and let rise for 2 hours. Then refrigerate for use over the next 5 days.

3. On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough, create a ball and cut it in half. Roll each half into a 6 inch round and cut into 8 wedges. You can also roll the wedges into small balls, if desired, or you can leave them triangular. Allow to rest for about 40 minutes on a baking sheet lined with a silicon pad or a parchment paper. Just before baking brush the tops of the buns with the egg white wash. 

4. Bake the buns for about 20-25 minutes at 350F until golden brown. 

5. Allow to cool on a rack slightly before eating. 

Afterthoughts

Overall it tastes nice. It is basically a Challah - like dough, but I was probably too greedy with the fruit - I can barely feel the dough between all these dried apricots and prunes. Maybe next time I should half the amount of dried fruit, and / or use lighter fruit, such as frozen or fresh berries (in that case, I should be adding more sugar or honey).