Apricot, Almond and Orange Fruit Loaf

Unusually for me, I set to and watched the June instalment of Bake with Jack Homebaker's Club almost as soon as it was live.  One of the bakes for June 2026 is the Apricot, Almond and Orange Fruit Loaf.  Two loaves are made from the 400g flour recipe.  

Apricot, Almond and Orange Fruit Loaf

This morning Mr S and I enjoyed  a fabulous guided tour of Chancellor's Farm by Somerset Wildlife Reserves Manager, James Ozolins and  Kate Lawrence, the Wildlife Trust's tenant farmer, who grazes the land with her herd of Ruby Red Devon cattle.  After a light lunch at home, the afternoon was free so I decided to tackle this recipe. Watching Jack really lifts my mood, and I learnt a few tips along the way.  I was also in between the various stages, working out in the garden.

This loaf is slashed just after shaping, with egg wash  applied just before they go into the oven.  As one loaf is going into the freezer, it didn't get its orange sugar glaze, and I have kept the balance of the glaze to apply when we eat that one at a later date.  As you can see here, I didn't quite get the egg glaze down to the baking sheet level of this loaf.  Tomorrow is Bun Friday, and this is what we shall be having for our breakfast, along with fruit and coffee for me, and tea for Mr S. 

As many of my local friends and others further afield may be aware, over the past couple of weeks there was an 'iced bun story' in the media, following the announcement by local baker Burns the Bread, that they were to call an end to their Iced Buns. Several years ago our WI went for an evening visit to Burns the Bread. Behind the shop front, the bakery, which serves a small number of their local shops, including one in Wells, is situated in a warren of rooms  on the High Street in Glastonbury. We we shown round the bakery, and show various lines of bread being kneaded, and I can confirm that their bread undergoes the long overnight fermentation. We all had a go at making our pasties too.

Yes, I have made iced buns, and they really are delightful when they are fresh.  On our trips out, when passing a good bakery, Mr S's choice is often an iced bun.  Of course he was 'weaned' (not really) on Butter Buns, as he was a Cirencester lad.  Sadly Whiddetts closed, and it is also one of those buns loved by those who knew, that have passed into the annals of time. The lesson both from the passing of Whiddetts and very nearly passing of the Iced Bun from Burns the Bread range, is that unless we buy specialities from good local bakeries, the products and the bakeries may disappear!

Just how do you tell AI that they are wrong when they quote that Butter Buns are coated with caster sugar when it was definitely coated with icing sugar?  All those who loved these buns knew of the techniques for eating these involved avoiding breathing in the fine dust of icing sugar when taking a bite! If you fancy making Butter Buns I wrote about them with my recipe some time back: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2012/07/butter-buns.html

Being a person who likes to get things done, and even if I have to learn how to, I have just contacted AI and effected the change to their description of Whiddetts Butter Buns. I rather enjoyed my various corrections and their response.  How strange: I am communicating with AI as if they were a person, and I must say it is very polite!

One of the original sources for AI's original mistakes was from a Scandinavian source Dan Sukker, which I visited: they have a good range of excellent Scandinavian recipes well worth a try.

If you read this post, why not leave a comment, I would love to hear what your favourite bakes from a craft bakery might be, whether it is a currant/current one or one from years ago.

Plump Breakfast Buns

 We were out of breakfast buns this Friday, so for our special Friday morning breakfast I made spelt thick/fluffy pancakes with bananas in a toffee sauce zinged up with a squeeze of lime.  We are not easily deterred from 'Friday Bun Day' and that is now postponed till Sunday.

Floating around on my desk has been a printed out recipe for Perfectly Plump Hot Cross Buns by Darryn Bruton, from Bakery Bits.  This recipe was floating around in my head, and I felt they would make an excellent breakfast bun, especially as I had missed out on baking my own hot cross buns this year. I hadn't read the recipe at all,  really, until getting down into the kitchen with the sheets.  The first hurdles was that it was written with a mixer in mind, and that the Tangzhong was made with Crème Fraîche.  Did that deter me? Did I give up?

Plump Breakfast Buns

I liked the ratios of fruit, and in this batch I used chopped crystallised lemon peel, sultanas, dried cranberries, and currants.  For sure I shall use a Tangzhong when making other sweet buns.  I kept back a little of beaten egg as egg wash, meaning I didn't use more than two eggs in total, no crosses were added since the moment as passed, and I didn't glaze with extra sugar and apricot jam, since they were heading for the freezer, neither shall I glaze them when getting them out. I'll fold the printout and place them in one of the cookery books called 'The Book of Buns'! The reason is so that I can find it quickly next time I am looking for a recipe for fruited buns.

Lemon & ginger teacakes for Friday Bun Day

Yesterday was quite a Friday....the house was clean and tidy and ready for the second day of viewings.  Yes we have found a new house and this one was on the market.  I cleared all out the litter bins, washed out the waste food bin, and just as I was selecting some fresh newspaper to reline it, came across an old weekly Waitrose Paper, and glanced at a recipe for a bun.

I am such a fan of buns, and this being Friday I thought I would bake some.  I made the cardinal mistake of putting the milk on to heat, forgot about it, and then it boiled over!  Burnt milk smell when you are trying to sell a house is not the best idea.  All the windows were opened, and soon with the extractor fan on full pelt the house was back to normal.

After the third and final visit I started to make up the buns.  The recipe is really worthwhile making and can be found on the Waitrose site if you search for

Martha Collison's lemon & ginger teacakes with honey butter

I had no mixed peel in the cupboard, but found a little jar of my home made attempt at candied lemon peel, and used 50g of that instead.  I had no ginger in syrup, but soaked some candied ginger in water until it swelled up.

As I was kneading, the phone rang, and we had our first offer for the house.  During proving we had a second offer from a different person...and before the time for the buns to go in the oven, the sale was agreed, subject to contract of course.

Martha's recipe is worth baking and these buns are really delicious.   Her recipe gives 8, but they would have been huge...I made buns of around 70g each.

When Mr S came home from work it was time for tea and buns, and lots of talk about the day's events.  Ought these to be the first buns I bake in the new house with a different oven?

Iced Buns

The recipe for mid March from the Face Book Group is on page 92 of The book of Buns:  Iced Buns.

This is just the right recipe for today Friday Bun Day.  Mr S will be delighted when he comes home this evening, and I wonder whether he will fish out 'The Railway Children' to watch.  He loves both the earlier and later versions of this film...and will surely remember the saving of the iced buns to celebrate Perk's birthday.  Very often this is the bun of choice when a bun is needed from a Baker's Shop.

Here are what 12 cooling buns look like

I opted to make this a little smaller at 60g dough weight giving 16 buns, of which two I decided to try out in a different shape.

When Mr S will go for an iced bun, I go for a Belgian Bun, so another time I shall work out what put the 'Belgian' in the bun!

I've opted to ice just six buns, with the rest going into the freezer.  With a little lemon added to the icing sugar, I think I made the icing too thin...but I have the others to practice on with slightly thicker icing.  I think there is more icing on the counter than on the buns...I could have added more icing sugar to thicken up the mixture, but it was too late by the time the icing was on and dribbling down the sides.

Bun Muska from Iran

Caroline our moderator from the Facebook page of Baking our Way through the Book of Buns greeted us all with the following:

Happy 1st day of March. I hope everyone is keeping warm while we wait for Spring to arrive. Shall we warm up the kitchen and our tummies with bun baking? Bun muska, page 55

Today being my Friday Bun Day it was just the right time to make these...but it was quite cool, and we have had some snow flurries, and I had to wait longer for the last rise before going into the oven. I decided to make 10 smaller buns rather than the 8 given in the recipe.  The dough is quite a stiff one but after the butter is added and a further ten minutes kneading thoroughly works the dough, you are left with a silkily smooth but not over soft lump to put to rise for 2 hours or so..

When I looked on line to find out more about this bun, I came across a great entry by Finla, who belongs to a group of baking friends, and had this Bun Muska from the Book of Buns as one of their group bakes, and for a full description, recipe and lovely photographs, it is well worth going over to her blog: My Kitchen Treasures.

 I'd not been feeling on top form, and despite this had been off to town on my bicycle to do all the food shopping for the weekend.  When Mr S arrived from work, he could see that I was just glazing the buns, and looking tired, so he rolled up his sleeves, cleared the kitchen and did all the washing up!

My knight in shining armour or should I say amour (french for love) came to my rescue, and even made the tea to accompany the warm buns....one each only, of course!  The rest are in the freezer...like a timelocked safe.

Mr S had his just like that but I had mine sliced with butter and a spot of wild plum jam.

They are delicious and I just wish there were seeds underneath as well!

Tlalchigual buns

Its lovely to read Jane Mason's experience of coming across Tlalchigual buns near Lake Chapala in Mexico, and how lucky for us to find this recipe in her Book of Buns.  When Mr S and I are travelling around one of our favourite things is to try local food, and often it is the small outlets or sole vendors that come up with delicious morsels.

This is the early February Facebook Group challenge.  For these buns you make a starter dough and a sugar solution on the day before you want to bake.  To be authentic you would need to use a cone of piloncillo from Mexico, which is made by boiling down and shaping cane syrup...I can just imagine the lovely flavour.  Where I grew up in Mauritius one of the perks of knowing someone who worked at a sugar refinery was being offered a bottle of 'Sirop Canne'..a dark brown reduction that tasted not too sweet but full of other complex flavours.  I would love to be able to try this in baking!  However having neither piloncillo or Sirop Canne, I used Billington's dark brown muscavodo sugar from Mauritius and a teaspoon of molasses.

I followed the instruction for the day of baking, by starting the yeast in a little of the syrup...once before I had used my dried yeast with a molasses solution, but had had difficulty, and once again it did not look right...maybe the natural minerals and salts in the  molasses overwhelms the yeast, so instead I first got the dried yeast going in a little plain water, with a tablespoon of the sweet solution.  It worked beautifully.

I used wholemeal flour from our local water mill at Charlecote, hazel nuts and candied citron and lemon peel, as well as some cherries.

Most Mondays I have a little friend who comes to taste my buns and he loves singing his song about buns with cherries on the top..so he'll need to sing one about buns with cherries in them, when he has one of these on his next visit!  Here is my friend Penny reading to my bun taster in chief.

Here is the dough ready to be portioned, with nuts and fruits all throughout the dough.

The buns rose beautifully and filled the house with a wonderful aroma as they cooked in the oven....they are now cooling ready for Friday bun day.

Chelsea Buns

Again this Friday I baked from The Book of Buns...a very traditional English Bake.  I've baked Chelsea Buns many times, but not to this recipe.  I have used spices, different fruits, added savoury fillings, but all have been baked so that when they have risen and been baked, they need to be prized apart to be eaten.

In this instance I followed the recipe exactly, with just raisins and candied orange peel, but I did add a little extra grated orange peel from the orange I was eating at the time!  The buns were placed far apart on two trays so that when baked they would look just like the picture in the book.

The dough bun is soft and tender, with the flavour of the fruit coming out, with just that lovely surface sweetness from the honey glaze.

I do like this 'not stuck together' form, as they can be easily frozen and reheated.  Yes I am still baking and losing weight because we are eating one at a time, on different days.  Sometimes we have one for breakfast!

Chorek

Even before I bought The Book of Buns, Friday was often Bun Baking day.  This Friday, I'm going along with the choice from the Facebook Group for Mid August.  These Chorek are sweet buns and are made by the Armenians as a celebration bake at Easter.  It can come in various shapes large or small but today I have copied the snail shape in the photograph of the book.  

What I like about buns is that you can freeze most for later, and they are in effect in a time lock safe out of temptation's way.  If you want one, you have to plan for it, defrost one, and or give it a blast in the oven!  Mr S and I having been carefully managing our food intake, and we are slowly regaining our slyph like former shapes!  Mr S has taken to cycling to work once or twice a week, and this is certainly helping.

With eggs, milk, and butter these deliciously light buns are fragrant with a touch of brandy, home made vanilla essence and mahlab.  

When I was making the Cherry Preserve I added some of the cherry stone kernels, so I think if these needed a little preserve on the side, they would partner well.  By coincidence Roz, from whose garden I picked the cherries, called last night and has invited me to raid the last of the blackcurrants in her garden, so I shall take her one to have with a cup of tea while she sits on her garden bench and watches me.

Panini al Pomodoro

 Just as the sun had warmed up the garden, I went out to collect a few herbs ready for the topping.  The Predough, started up Thursday was light and puffy, so I got started with my dough.  I had run out of my normal flour and had picked up a bag of Waitrose's Leckford Estate Strong White Flour the day before.  I'll be popping back to pick up another bag of this batch.

The smell of all the ingredients: the dough, the onion, olive oil and tomato mixture, and the herbs filled the kitchen.  I used sun dried tomato paste, which is less red than standard tomato paste, but that is what I had in the cupboard, so with standard tomato paste would make for a different coloured dough.

Here is the dough divided into 12, it has been resting under a tea towel for 15 minutes, and ready to be formed into balls.  I have this technique well under my belt now, but a little too much, as I think that a little rustic look, a little hand made look, is more appealing compared with an almost machine like finish.

When they were ready for the oven, they were gently brushed with olive oil, and topped with a little sun dried tomato paste, and herbs.  In the meantime a friend arrived with a jumper, and I managed to find some fine wool and make a pretty good 'invisible' mend to a hole in Marie Claire's jumper.  All the while popping up once or twice to check the buns.

The buns rose really well and were very light,

Early evening we had a Friday Evening moment, with a 'sharing board' and a drink on the patio, this is another delicious savoury bun, from Jane Mason's The Book of Buns.....

Bollo de Hornasso and seeking Anise seeds

Another of the recipes in Jane Mason's Book of Buns, which on 'Baking our Way through the Book of Buns' on facebook, is the one for December.  Its fun baking the same recipe together,  as I feel that have fellow bakers to discuss the finer points of the recipe with, and also commiserate if there are any problems.  This foggy and freezing Sunday just seemed the right sort of day for baking these buns and filling the house with delicious smells.

One of the ingredients is Anise.  Ever since this recipe was chosen, I have been in search of this spice.  Through Google and a large book on spices I've learnt quite a bit about this one.  Its the spice used to flavour aniseed balls, though I read that the centre is a rapeseed, which reminds of my mother who really loved these little sweets, and she often asked for these to be taken over to Mauritius when I or anyone else from the UK was visiting.

I went seeking seeds and I find jems.  Two I knew already: two friends who put themselves out to seek this one for me, thank you Penny and Vicki.  I also went into all types of shops seeking the little anise, and met and chatted with people.

Finally on a trip to Coventry, I found a wonderful Market Stall full of Eastern Promise.  The stallholder had lived in North Africa and also Barcelona, and now has set up shop here.   There were lovely marzipan fruits, even better than the ones we saw in Sicily!

It was as good as any spice stall I have seen, forget the short journey and the cold outside, you could be somewhere in the Mediterranean. I felt that I had been on a voyage.

Anise was not the only item I bought!  But I have quite a large packet, and if friends locally would like a sample, they just need to ask.

As with many recipes when you are given options I am faced with a dilemma: to use a lot of crushed whole spices, or a smaller amount of ground spices, especially if I have not used the spice before.  As usual I made a compromise using some which I blitzed in grinder, and a few whole ones to check the effect.

Just as I check my photographs

I find a touching connection:  The lid was on a small jar of honey which I bought from a group of young people raising funds for their trip to Sierra Leone.  I had quickly put my hand in my lid drawer and was about to ditch it and get a fresh new one, but on second thoughts chose to keep this one.

Pecan Nuts and toffee and maple syrup

These are a few of my favourite things.....when I am at the market the only bakery item I am tempted to buy is the baker's pecan nut plait....Now that I think of it, that may be my next baking challenge.

This Friday was two buns Friday.  In addition to the brioche I made some little cakes.  I can see now why MB cooled her pan of toffee in a bowl of cold water in her masterclass on Tart Tartin. My toffee cooked further as it was poured over the side of the heated pan.  The first nut was bathed in pale golden toffee, which got darker and darker for each further pecan nut.

This made a nice Friday Tea Time Treat for when Mr S got in after battling it home through the snow.  Have frozen six decorated, and will check to see what is lost on thawing and then report back.