Easy homemade hot dog buns

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl, keeping the yeast and salt at opposite ends from each other. Create a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter, crème fraîche and warm milk. Stir together with a fork until the mixture has mostly clumped together, then tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes. Put in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and prove in a warm place for 1-1½ hours until doubled in size. The cooler the space, the longer this will take.
2. Carefully tip out the dough and knock the air out by folding a few times. Divide into 6 then, one by one, roll out each piece into an oval. Starting from one of the more pointed ends, use your hands to fold and tightly roll up the oval bit by bit to create a short fat sausage shape – it’ll be a bit thicker in the middle. Pinch the seam in the dough along the top and down each end of the fat sausage to seal, then roll again lightly, with your hands on top, to create a longer sausage that’s the same width all along its length and around 15cm long. Repeat for the other rolls, putting them in a large tray greased lightly with oil, leaving 2-3 cm gaps between each roll. Cover with the damp clean tea towel and leave to prove again for 30-60 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. The buns should have grown again, so they’re touching and will bake into each other to create that signature fluffy tear down the side of each roll. Brush each with beaten egg (and sprinkle with any toppings, if you like), then bake for 20-25 minutes.