Now that flour is in short supply at my local supermarket, I was reluctant to make homemade play dough; instead I’ve opted for an edible form of dough for exploration. If you too are running out of ideas to keep your toddler engaged during lockdown, try this easy raisin bun recipe. Not only are these eggless raisin buns easy to make and yummy but you can also use it as a pedagogical exercise. Use recipes to teach your toddler about hygiene, numbers, quantities and shapes. It is also excellent for developing language skills and their fine and gross motor skills by kneading, pulling and punching the dough. Not to mention it is an excellent stress relief for mums and dads!
Unlike all of my other yeast recipes like doughnuts, hot cross buns, and chelsea buns this bun recipe has no egg but is just as soft. I also recommend using bread flour because it binds better with yeast, read more about this in my post about types of flour used in baking. This can also be used to make eggless hot cross buns, simply add the spices and fruit recommended in my hot cross bun recipe.
Eggless Raisin Bun Recipe
Prep time: 1,5 hours
Ba time: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 hours
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients
- 375g Strong Flour (Plain Flour, All Purpose, Bread Flour)
- 20g flour for dusting
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 7 g dry yeast
- 25g butter
- 125 ml warm milk
- 1 cup raisins
- salt
1. Warm the milk in a sauce pan. Remove from stove. The milk should be warm not hot, add sugar. Mix until dissolved. Add yeast. Leave aside, prepare remaining ingredients.
2. Sift the flour.
3. Add salt.
4. Add yeast and milk mixture.
5. Mix until ingredients have merged. Knead the dough by pulling , punching a rolling. A well kneaded dough results in soft buns. Knead for at least 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky at first, keep kneading it will get softer and more manageable. Donot use any additional flour as this will result in a heavier dough texture.
6. Once the dough is soft, spread the butter around the dough, turning out and around then knead for another 5 minutes until soft and manageable.
6. Add raisins then mix until they are integrated into the dough.
6. Cover dough and place in a warm place for an hour or so.
8. Punch the the dough flat then shape into a ball. I used the roti shaping method, by rolling into a roll then cutting equal cylinders. Stand upright then flatten by pulling the dough over to form a ball. Once all the buns have been formed, cover and place in a warm place. Leave to form for 20 minutes.
9. Preheat oven top 150 degrees celcius. Before placing in over brush with milk.
10. Bake for 45 minutes until slightly brown.
11. Cover with a moist cloth for extra softness for about 10 minutes. Remove cloth. Enjoy with butter or plain.
12. Store in an airtight container for freshness.