I bring you one of my most favourite among breakfast buns, the poppy seed bun.

Notice the strawberry cake photo in the magazine on the left? One of my photos and recipes published in the June issue of a food mag "Oma Maitse".

I will be sharing it with you over the course of the summer.

It's strawberry season! Weather has been cool and unbelievably rainy but it hasn't stopped the berries from growing :)

Poppy seed buns
            and
Rhubarb and custard buns

pastry cream
3 egg yolks
50g sugar
20g flour
250ml milk
vanilla pod
1 tbsp butter


Combine egg yolks with half of the sugar and whisk to a light ribbon consistency. Next mix in the flour, no lumps please.
In a saucepan scald milk with vanilla and the rest of the sugar. Pour hot milk over the egg yolks, stirring all the time. Mix well and return to the saucepan.
Bring the mixture to boil over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. Allow to bubble for a couple of minutes then tip into a bowl and stir in the butter. Cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming.


dough
30g butter, melted
1 small egg white
160ml milk
15g fresh yeast
50g sugar
1/6 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
300g flour
milk and a bit of sugar, for brushing
75g poppy seeds
4 stalks rhubarb, sliced and poached in light syrup for about 8 minutes


Sieve flour into a bowl. Heat milk to 38°C. Mix yeast with sugar and warm milk. Pour into the flour, add cardamom, salt, egg white and butter. Mix it all together and knead into a smooth dough. About 7 minutes with a machine or a bit longer by hand. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 50 minutes.

Divide the dough in half.

For the poppy seed buns:
Roll half of the dough into a shape of a rectangle. Spread with one-third of the pastry cream and scatter with plenty of poppy seeds. Now, with the longer side facing you, roll it up into a log. Using a clean wet knife, cut the log into slices, about 2cm thick. Should yield about five or six. Place the slices on a baking tray, pressing them into shape with your fingers. They might look lopsided after cutting. Drop a spoonful of pastry cream in the centre of each bun, cover and let rise. After rising, brush edges with sweetened milk and sprinkle with additional poppy seeds.

For the rhubarb buns:
Divide the other half of dough into five equal pieces. Briefly kneading each piece between your palms, roll the bits of dough into beautiful spheres and press into a flat circle, leaving the edges just slightly thicker. Scoop a good portion of pastry cream on top of each dough circle, about two-three tablespoons. Top with poached rhubarb. Place on a baking tray, leaving enough space between them. The buns will be double the size after rising and baking. Cover the tray and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. After rising, brush the edges of the buns with sweetened milk.

Preheat the oven to 210°C. Bake buns in the oven for 8 minutes. Do keep an eye on them as they will brown quickly. If the buns are not done after about eight minutes, then the oven is not hot enough. If the buns seem to get burnt then the oven is too hot.

I adore great packaging, I am easily lured towards a product with a stylish design. Recently I had the opportunity to acquire these marvellous tiny tea tins. Just the size of a matchbox! I fell for them instantly.

But back to the crumpets..

I had been meaning to try crumpets for ages but always shrugged it off as too time-consuming. But a month ago I pulled my socks up and went ahead with it. I baked crumpets on two consecutive weekends.

I made some strawberry butter to serve with the crumpets but spooning chocolate or jam will work just as fine.

The taste is quite interesting, kind of eggy, even though there are no eggs. I only got a bite from the first batch so naturally I had to make these again.

I used a simple recipe found in many books and cooking programmes.

175ml whole milk
175g plain flour
7g fresh yeast
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75ml warm water

Warm the milk. Add the sugar and yeast into the milk. Let stand until frothy.
Sift flour into a bowl and add salt. Make a well in the centre and add the milk mixture. Beat well until the batter is thick and elastic. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Mix soda with warm water. Pour into the batter and beat diligently for a good few minutes. Cover and set aside for half an hour.

Heat a pan over low heat. Butter the insides of crumpet rings or 8cm pastry rings and place into the frying pan to heat them. Drop about two big spoonfuls of batter into each ring, the batter should come 1.5cm up the sides of the rings. Cook until lots of tiny bubbles appear on the surface and burst, leaving holes. Carefully lift the rings and flip the crumpets over. Cook for a minute or two until golden.

To make strawberry butter you will need equal quantities of butter and fresh strawberries, plus some icing sugar to taste. The easiest way is to cube the butter and dice the strawberries, throw them into a food processor and whiz away. Add some icing sugar and whiz until homogeneous.

Made my favourite granola again, but this time with dried sliced strawberries.
I like my cereal with plenty of nuts and not too sweet.

450g quick oats
100g hazelnuts
100g macadamias
100g flaked almonds
50g linseeds
150g sugar
150ml water
100g butter (could use oil but I find butter leaves a better aftertaste)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
100g freeze dried strawberries

Divide the oats in two - grind half of them into a fine powder. This is the essential step to get nice round clusters. Chop the nuts according to your liking and lightly roast in a pan.

Preheat the oven to 165°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a large bowl mix together oats, ground oats, chopped hazelnuts, chopped macadamias, flaked almonds and linseeds. Heat water with sugar, butter, salt and vanilla extract until melted. Pour the buttery syrup onto the dry ingredients and mix very thoroughly.

Spread the mixture into a thin layer on a baking tray and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, then flip the bits over, chop them into smaller bites and roast for another 20 minutes. If it's still not dry yet, flip them over again and roast for a final 20 minutes. Leave to cool.

When completely cool, mix in the dried strawberries.