saffron buns

[bontbee]

Does anyone out there have a good, old family recipe for the above which they'd be prepared to share, please?

When I was a very young maid, many years back, my granny used to make lovely saffron buns. They were daffodil yellow and gorgeous. I'm not sure if they had dried fruit in or not - there might have been a fleck or two but, by my recollection, they were unfreckled.

I don't know if they were made with a yeasted dough, (in a way, I doubt it, as granny didn't make bread at that time), or whether the recipe was more of a cake batter. I have goggled but am yet to find a good recipe - I suspect that the best ones are treasured family secrets!

I'd be particularly interested in recipes from the N Devon/Cornwall border area, if anyone hails from there, as granny was from Pancrasweek - but any recipes gratefully received.

Thank you!

 

[pargyle]

You need to hone your google skills ....

http://cornishpasties.com/saffron-cake/

Should do the trick ... let us know what they are like - or better still -- let us TRY some .... who said cake ???

 

[bontbee]

Thank you for looking that one up Pargyle. I did see it, but haven't tried it yet as it seems to require an awful lot of sugar. They must be using a very young grandma's recipe, methinks - I don't believe that my granny had ever heard of a muffin tin, let alone used one!

The reason for appealing for a tried and tested family recipe is that I have baked a few from the web but none have been as glorious as granny's - though perhaps I have my rose tinted taste buds in.

The amount of saffron I am getting through in testers is scary and, as one of the forum members signs off, (forgive me for not remembering who), "this is all getting rather expensive"!

PS I could do will some quality controllers - everyone is getting fed up of tasting the latest batch!

 

[Swarm]

No problem there, send them over.

 

[beehive1234]

try searching on 'U tube' I like watching the recipes being actually made, so I can see what they put in and how it comes out. Seems to be a Swedish Bun, as far as I can see? Hope this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpWqn_PeVc4

 

[BeeJayBee]

They did a saffron bun recipe on the Christmas Bake-Off special, I think it had fruit in it though. The recipe is probably on the BBC website.

 

[pargyle]

Thank you for looking that one up Pargyle. I did see it, but haven't tried it yet as it seems to require an awful lot of sugar. They must be using a very young grandma's recipe, methinks - I don't believe that my granny had ever heard of a muffin tin, let alone used one!

I tend to use some of the internet recipes as just a base and then alter the quantities of sugar/salt to suit my ageing waist line and blood pressure .. doesn't usually make a lot of difference to the structure of the finished article - just a variation on the sweetness. As for salt - well, it's just a flavour enhancer and if it says a cupful I use a teaspoon - if it says a teaspoon then it's a pinch. My mango chutney recipe reckoned on half a cupful of salt ... would have blown my arteries !! Once you get used to reduced sugar and salt in things you really don't notice it .. let us know how you get on.. mind you ... Saffron is frighteningly expensive these days ! Best try and get it right .... or grow your own crocuses ...

I think the muffin tin is a typo ... looks like they made it in a 1lb loaf tin from the pictures ...

Phil

 

[Tremyfro]

Are you sure they had saffron in them? When I bake...I use eggs from our own hens which are free to wander anywhere. Hence the yolks are very deep yellow. Any cakes made come out a deep yellow colour. Possible?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The amount of saffron I am getting through in testers is scary and, as one of the forum members signs off, (forgive me for not remembering who), "this is all getting rather expensive"!

Lidl's have a load of luxury cooking ingredients on offer at the moment - SWMBO busily stockpiling vanilla pods and saffron I noticed when I was tidying up after her in the kitchen the other day

 

[Tremyfro]

Lidl's have a load of luxury cooking ingredients on offer at the moment - SWMBO busily stockpiling vanilla pods and saffron I noticed when I was tidying up after her in the kitchen the other day

Oh.... must get there ...vanilla pods are so expensive but a yummy must, in custard.

 

[bontbee]

Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply.

I like watching the recipes being actually made, so I can see what they put in and how it comes out.

Thanks WWW. I agree, and have had some good recipe ideas from those videos.

They did a saffron bun recipe on the Christmas Bake-Off special, I think it had fruit in it though. The recipe is probably on the BBC website.

Hi BJB, thanks for the recipe - that was one I found in my google trawl, but like WWW's, it seems to be a variation on the Swedish version. I'm hoping that someone here, or elsewhere where I am searching, will come up with a tried and tested family recipe - with any luck from west of the Torridge river!!! Or Saffron Walden at a pinch...

I tend to use some of the internet recipes as just a base and then alter the quantities.
Me too but, having tried a few and been disappointed, I thought why reinvent the wheel that's costing a packet - the definitive knowledge is out there somewhere - just as it is for beekeeping!

I think the muffin tin is a typo ... looks like they made it in a 1lb loaf tin from the pictures ...
Agree and I wondered if it was a typo but the recipe indicated handfuls in the muffin tin, which I took to be their version of saffron buns. (Tradition decrees freeform!)

Are you sure they had saffron in them? When I bake...I use eggs from our own hens which are free to wander anywhere. Hence the yolks are very deep yellow. Any cakes made come out a deep yellow colour. Possible?

Good point; I know what you mean about using proper eggs - I have free range chooks too- but the taste of saffron is very distinctive and still evokes those distant memories!


And thank you Swarm, for your very kind offer to help with quality control. You might wish to withdraw that if the last batch is anything to go by: they would still be the same after travelling from me to you in a delivery van beneath a pile of flat packed supers!!

 

[Firefly]

I have the Dan Lepard book described here under 20 Jan 2014: https://whatbread.wordpress.com/category/baking-inspiration/dan-lepard/

I find his bread recipes and techniques very successful though, like the writer on this page, I find his cooking temperatures and times too fierce

It's a fun book with lots of non-standard bready stuff

 

[Tremyfro]

I have a saffron bread bun recipe...is the bun cake-like or more like bread or like the texture of soda bread. I will get it out if you want it.

 

[bontbee]

Hi Tremyfro,

I'm not sure what the basis of granny's recipe was, bread or cake - and I hadn't thought of a soda-bread base! If your recipe "works", I'd be very grateful if you could get your hands on it and send it on. I've got a bit disillusioned, and distinctly out of pocket, trying web-sourced recipes....



Hello Firefly, thanks for digging that link out - the description of the Warren bakery looked promising, but they aren't giving their 100+ year old secret recipe away!! Must be a good 'un

 

[Tremyfro]

It is called Lincoln Cake.
You could scale down the amounts to suit.
2 lbs flour
Half oz yeast
1 lb butter
6 eggs
Quarter lb of raisins
Half lb sugar
Quarter oz saffron
Method
Take half lb of flour, make hole in centre, put in the yeast mixed with a little warm water.
Make into a sponge, wrap and leave in warm place.
When well risen...this is your leaven.
Soak saffron in a glass warm water to infuse.
Take rest of flour, make well in centre, add butter and eggs, work together. To make soft sponge/ dough. If too stiff, add another egg.
Cut up raisins, add to sugar. Add saffron water.
Mix all ingredients together with the sponge and leaven. Mix well. Can put in well buttered tin or into small bun tins to rise for an hour or two.
I expect this means until twice the size.
Bake in moderate oven until baked.
This is a very old recipe...pre 1899.
From Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management
Let me know the results..I haven't tried this one. I expect using instant yeast is ok ...I would mix it with a little warm water and a little sugar to get it started.

 

[BeeJayBee]

I'm hoping that someone here, or elsewhere where I am searching, will come up with a tried and tested family recipe - with any luck from west of the Torridge river!!! Or Saffron Walden at a pinch...

I played with google and found this one. It's, errm, quite old and would be horribly expensive to make because it wants,
"half an ounce of good English saffron dried and powdered very fine"!
https://lostcookbook.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/saffron-cakes/

Tea bread on this page from HFW - nothing like a bun, but it sounds nice and we might like to try it so thought I'd park the recipe in this thread. Hope you don't mind too much.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/26/saffron-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall

 

[bontbee]

Hi both,

Thanks for posting those recipes. I am off to try T's first - after scaling down the quantities a bit! How cheap was saffron in the good old days???

I'll let you know how it goes, ta


Oops, not tonight, I'm not - run out of flour...

 

[bontbee]

For all those who were kind enough to reply and for anyone else who might be interested...These are the latest attempts in my quest for the saffron bun of my nostalgia.

The plain "buns" to the left are from the "food from cornwalll" website - the recipe called for fruit, but I left that out, out of interest. Very bready texture, more like a bread roll than a bun, and I think the temperature is too fierce. Lovely taste of saffron though: I put 0.2g in, (how much is a pinch?)

The small ones to the right and the rather meanly sized loaf, (my fault, I should have filled the loaf tin before the bun tins but hadn't reckoned on having enough mix for both...), are Tremyfro's recipe, of which I made half the quantity. Nice and saffrony, despite not using 1/8th ounce, but 0.2g again. A crisp exterior but quite dry inside - despite the amount of butter in the recipe. The loaf had a similar texture, but so much easier to add a scrape of (more) butter to it! I found it difficult to mix the two parts of this recipe, as evidenced by the white patches.

The middle foreground are rock cakes, substituting nutmeg for, yep, you've guessed it, 0.2g of saffron. Very tasty, very saffrony (possibly too much...) and more moist that the yeasted recipes, but still not what I want.

Unfortunately, the pic doesn't do any of them justice in their colour; the yellow has been washed out, particularly in the foreground - they are all a very attractive golden yellow and that, at least, accords with my recollections. So that's progress!

I still haven't found what I am seeking but they seem to have been acceptable. Yesterday I made 14 "bread" buns, 24 Tremyfro buns + loaf and 15 rock cakes and the hordes descended - this is the selection I managed to hang on to long enough to take the pic today! Everything else has been snaffled or carried away in an assortment of containers.

So not entirely unsuccessful, but I am still looking for my memories...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Wow....I'm impressed enough to have a go. I bought some saffron from Lidl on the strength of this thread. Do you think saffron fruit scones might work?
I have some lovely honey and bramble jelly to go with them

 

[bontbee]

Go for it, I'd say. I'm not very good at experimenting, but needs must! Not sure if you'd get the saffron with bramble jelly, though, but there's only one way to find out!

Honey (replacing sugar) and saffron is my next step...but the liquid gets a bit tricky then, as you need to infuse the saffron in warm/hot liquid of some sort. These rock cakes ,for example, don't usually have any liquid except egg, so the first step is a small egg and a bit of milk, perhaps? Perhaps not an egg as dinky as the one on the left, though?