Belgian buns are sweet, fruit-filled yeast buns that are often topped with lemon curd or cream icing and a cherry. They can be made at home with butter, milk, yeast, sugar, flour, eggs, and sultanas. The dough is kneaded, left to rise, shaped, studded with fruit, and baked for 20 minutes before being topped with lemon sauce or sweetened glaze and a cherry.
A Belgian bun is a sweet bread that is popularly eaten as a dessert. Despite its name, it’s doubtful that this yeast bun has much to do with Belgium. However, it may have been inspired by the finger-shaped, less frosted Belgian pastry couque suisse. Unlike the couque suisse pastry, the Belgian bun is usually round or square with rounded edges; looks similar to a Chelsea sandwich. It is often filled with sultanas and other fruits and topped liberally with lemon curd or cream icing and a cherry.
Belgian rolls are sold in many bakery shops, but can also be made at home quite easily. The main ingredients that are needed to make it are butter, milk, yeast, sugar, flour, eggs and sultanas; currants and raisins can also be used. The first step in making a Belgian bun is to heat the milk and melt it. The yeast and sugar are dissolved in water and then added to the milk and butter. Some beaten eggs are then added to the mix.
The flour is well sifted into a large deep bowl and the above mixture is gradually added to it, mixing it well. The dough that forms is kneaded by hand to give it a smooth and well-combined texture. The bowl is then covered with a damp cloth and the dough is left to rest for a couple of hours. At this time, the yeast will do its job and cause the dough to rise to at least twice its original size.
After the dough has risen, it is removed from the bowl and placed on a well-floured flat surface to undergo another kneading. When it’s nice and soft, the little pieces break away from it and are shaped as required into rounds or squares. These are then studded with sultanas and other fruits, brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The pieces are again left to sit and rise for about half an hour. They are then fired at a high temperature.
The sandwiches will generally take about 20 minutes to bake. After they are done, they are removed from the oven and set aside to cool. The cooling time can be used to make lemon sauce or sweetened glaze. This is poured or poured over the cooled Belgian bun and the whole thing is then topped off with a cherry.
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