Chocolate Swirl Buns
These buns are sweet, buttery, soft and fun to make.
This recipe requires a stiff starter at approximately 60% hydration, if you have a liquid starter then follow the steps below to create a levain. This recipe is also best done with a stand-mixer, especially when incorporating the chocolate mixture with the dough. You can do it by hand, but it will take longer.
Levain:
35 grams starter
105 grams water
175 grams flour.
Mix well i and knead it by hand if you have to, a stiff starter takes much longer to reach peak so I usually prepare mine in the evening if I am planning on baking in the morning. I also like to stir my starter once before it reaches peak, often about 5 hours in.
Dough:
240 stiff starter
250 ml milk lukewarm
120 grams sugar
90 g melted butter
440 g flour
12 grams salt
Chocolate mixture:
15-20 grams black coco powder
7 grams butter
5 ml milk
7 grams sugar
1. Mix all ingredients for the dough well until completely blended. Then divide dough in half.
2. Place one half if the dough in your mixer and add your chocolate mixture: Mix until completely smooth and even.
3. Place your doughs in separate containers and cover, let rest for 1-3 hours until they have risen about 40% then place in fridge overnight, or at least 5 hours.
4. The next day, take them out if the fridge and let them rest for 2-3 hours before rolling out in a flat surface and dividing into buns. In order to to shape them you will have to layer the the doughs on top of each-other after rolling them out, then cut them into strips, and simply twist the ends and then create a swirl. You can look at my reels on my instagram page to see how I did it :)
5. Let them rest for 1-2.5 hours or until they have puffed up about 50-70%
6. Bake at 350 F until they get golden approx 13-20 min depending on size.
7. Brush with butter and let cool before serving.
Notes:
Keep the temp in your home at 22-23C as an ideal environment during the baking process, if your home is cold it will make it difficult for the swirls to rise, because of the high fat content.
You can make this as a swirl loaf in a loaf pan if you prefer, it will take about 45-50 minutes at 350F. If you bake a swirl loaf it is very important that the internal temp reaches at least 190 F or the swirl will collapse in itself.