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Fig and seville marmalade breakfast buns

By: Gill Meller

Gill Meller shares with us the recipe for his signature breakfast buns that are filled with sweet, sticky figs and a tangy seville orange marmalade.

This recipe is taken from Gill’s book Time: A Year and a Day in the Kitchen.

Gill Meller shares with us the recipe for his signature breakfast buns that are filled with sweet, sticky figs and a tangy seville orange marmalade.

This recipe is taken from Gill’s book Time: A Year and a Day in the Kitchen.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
75g caster sugar or vanilla sugar
1 tsp instant dried yeast
10g salt
200ml warm milk
100g butter, melted, plus 50g very soft butter for brushing and extra for greasing
1 medium free-range egg, beaten

For the fruit filling

You’ll also need …

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For the fruit filling, put the figs in a bowl, pour over the orange juice and set aside while you make the dough. In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt, then add the milk, melted butter and egg. Mix to a sticky dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (about 10 minutes). Wipe the bowl clean, return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. This will take 2-4 hours depending on how warm it is.
When the dough is ready, carefully tip it out onto a well-floured surface and roll it out to a rectangle about 45cm x 30cm, with one of the long sides facing towards you. Brush the surface of the dough with the soft butter. Spoon all but a couple of tablespoons of marmalade over the top of the butter, then sprinkle over the soaked, chopped figs. Leave a margin of 2.5cm along the edge farthest away from you.
Take hold of the edge closest to you and carefully roll up the dough, enveloping the marmalade and figs in a spiral as you go. Everything’s quite soft at this point, so you’ll need to be quite careful. Trim the ends of the roll, then cut along the length so you have 9 equal pieces. Grease the baking dish and arrange the pieces in it snugly, cut-side down. Cover the dish or place it inside a clean plastic bag and leave to prove in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until risen (see Make Ahead).

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 7. Once the buns are ready, bake them for about 25-30 minutes until golden (see tip). Remove from the oven and, while they’re hot, brush the buns all over with the remaining marmalade. Leave to cool before tearing

If the buns aren’t quite cooked through after the baking time, give them a few extra minutes in the oven, checking every 5 minutes or so and covering
if they start to brown too much.
If you want to eat these for breakfast, cover the shaped buns with cling film (step 3) and leave to prove in the fridge overnight. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.