Baking all over the world gets to... Sweden! Saffranbuller lussekatter

Swedish saffron scented little golden buns, studded with raisins. Yummy! These are apparently a Christmassy treat, the rest of the year is more cinnamon bunny. I'm a complete chelsea bun addict though, so I wanted to try to make something a bit different, as I'm not sure anything in the world could hold a candle to the chelsea bun in the cinnamon bun stakes. Although I've been wrong many times before...

Lussekatter means St Lucia buns. For reasons which escape me the Swedish celebrate St Lucia on 13th December, so these are a treat for then. Saffranbuller means saffron buns. I'm not eveb sure what the proper names for these bad boys are.

So how do they taste? Really good actually, delicately scented with saffron but comfortingly sweet. My hand slipped with the sugar so they ended up probably too sweet for me, but Mr B was a definite fan. The dough is unbelievably silky and wonderous to handle, and the texture of the crumb was probably the softest I've ever managed. Lush with a cup of tea. This recipe makes about 15-20 so I have plenty in the freezer :)

Ingredients
250ml warm milk
12g dried yeast (seems like loads but it actually needs it - all the sugar and butter retards its action)
75g sugar
75g melted butter
big pinch of saffron threads, ground in a pestle and mortar
generous pinch of salt
125g quark (or natural greek yogurt would work I reckon)
approx 3-4 cups strong white bread flour
Some raisins
Egg for egg wash

Method
1. Plop the yeast and sugar into the milk, then whisk in the melted butter. Stir in the saffron.
2. Put the wet ingredients into the bowl of a mixer, then add the quark and a cup or two of the flour. Use the dough hook to mix together and gradually add enough flour to make a soft dough - don't add too much as it will make it too tight, but too little and you'll get a paste. Which nobody wants.
3. Knead it in the mixer for 10 minutes. I know, it seems like ages. But all the recipes I found agreed on this one. If you don't have a mixer, just combine the ingredients with a spoon and knead for (sorry...) 15 minutes.
4. You should get a gently golden, beautifully silky dough. Leave it, covered, to prove for approx an hour or so until doubled in size.
 5. Knock the dough back and knead it gently. Divide the dough into about 20 equal portions (mine were about 50g each). Roll each into a sausage about 25cm long, then curl each end around to make a big 'S' shape and stud with a raisin...

6. Place them, well spaced, onto a baking tray (greased or covered with baking paper) and cover again to prove for another 30 mins or so. I use big polythene bags (pedal bin liners) as I can just put the whole tray in and tuck the edges under instead of trying to cover it with cling film or unpeel any stuck dishcloths...

7. Brush with egg (not essential but I forgot and my raisins fell off!) Bake at a very high temp (220 degrees fan oven) for 8 mins. Be careful as the enriched dough will catch really quickly and you'll end up with a bitter bun. Sad times.

8. Devour... :)