Urfa, Comté & Crispy Onions Buns

We need to normalise savoury buns

To go along with this week’s issue on hot sauces from all over the world, I wanted to create savoury buns that pack some flavour and can be your new lunch (or breakfast), a picnic treat or a late night snack.

Chelsea-style buns are mostly done as a sweet treat. But I am a savoury girl at heart, I’ll choose a bag of crisps or salty nuts over a chocolate bar. I don’t want a piece of cake for my elevenses, I want a slice of ciabatta stuffed with roasted vegetables, cured meats, creamy cheeses and pickles.

I’ve made a few variations of these and I think these buns packed with urfa butter might be my favourite. You can stock up on urfa paste via Belazu, but you can also use what you already have at home - harissa, nduja or even gochujang to make the butter for the filling.

Please note, proving time will be affected by the temperature and humidity. Sometimes it takes longer to rise and sometimes dough will be too active (in this case you can place it in the fridge for a slower proof).

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 10g dried active yeast or 5g fast action yeast or 20g fresh yeast

• 250g milk

• 500g strong bread flour + extra for dusting

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 75g butter at room temperature + extra to grease (I use an oil spray for greasing)

• 1 egg, lightly beaten