Apple, raisin and cinnamon sticky buns

In celebration of autumn and our apple trees in the garden being laded with some gorgeous apples, Mr Lancashire Food baked by special request some lovely sticky buns. The photography is phenomenal but please be assured they tasted even better than they looked.

Sweet dough is somewhat of an acquired skill and its a skill Mr LF has mastered, here's the recipe if you fancy giving them a go.

What you need

• 250ml milk
• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 50g caster sugar
• 500g strong white flour - suitable for making bread
• 10g sea salt
• 100g butter - melted
• 1 egg - free range beaten
• Couple of apples - peeled, cored and chopped into little pieces
• 60g butter - melted ( this is for the filling)
• 100g raisins (you could use sultanas)
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Couple of tbsp apricot jam -warmed with a little water - for glazing your buns and making them sticky.

What you need to do

• Warm the milk until blood temperature warm, whisk in the yeast and the sugar. Leave to one side until the mixture is all frothy and the yeast active
• In a large bowl mix the flour and salt , add the milk, egg and melted butter and mix with your hands into a rough dough
• Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes or so until the dough is soft, smooth and silky.
• Leave the dough to rise in a lightly oiled clean bowl,covered until doubled in size. As this an enriched dough this could take several hours
• Whilst you are waiting for the dough to rise, cook off your prepared apple pieces in a little of the butter, fry them gently for 5 to 10 minutes until slightly softened. Allow to cool
• Also you can use the time to grease your tin or tins, I always find this difficult, you want a tin which will take 12 buns cosily. Do this by melting the rest of the butter and brushing the base and sides of the tin.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, gently roll out on to a floured surface and make a rectangle roughly 18 by 12 inches.
• Brush the rest of the melted butter over the dough, leaving approx a 1cm edge clear of butter on what will be the middle of the bun.
• Sprinkle the dough with the cooked apple, raisins and the mixed caster sugar and cinnamon.
• Roll up the dough like you would a swiss roll
• Divide up the roll into 12 equal sized pieces and place in the prepared tin(s), now cover with some oiled clingfilm for about an hour or so until doubled in size.
• Pre heat your oven to 180c
• Bake for 25 minutes or so until golden and well risen
• On removal from the oven, brush with the melted apricot jam, so they are all sticky and golden
• Cool in the tin, if you can resist that long !

This months theme for tea time treats is "sweet breads and yeast breads" , this bake would make a fabulous addition to any tea table , so I am entering this recipe in this blog challenge this month hosted by What kate Baked.