English Saffron Bread with Raisins: Easy Recipe

Raisin bread may be the first bun made by mankind. It may be of various forms in different cultures and families, but its primitive, authentic taste reminds us all of our childhood innocence, when race, nationality, and the gap between “us and others” were nonsense or pale to us.

Watching the world without the adultness filters, our focus was more on beautiful similarities rather than being prejudiced against annoying discrepancies. Now it is possible to give this primitive an exotic fragrance with the most expensive spice in the world known as “red gold”. Does this not make another gap?! Perhaps, but without prejudice, differences make life colorful, especially, the gap that is caused by saffron, which basically due to the anti-depressant properties could be an engine for pleasant changes.

Swedish style with Iranian saffron and pistachios

Below you can read the recipe of Swedish saffron buns. Like Iranian ones, they are not are not too sweet. Like most recipes, you have considerable latitude in deciding on the level of sweetness or other discrepancies.

The Ingredients you need

Now let’s look at the necessary ingredients for cooking raisin bread with its luxury spices. Of course, the simplicity of bread makes even novices able to guess these ingredients. Therefore, it should be said that in addition to the type of materials, the ratio between materials is also important.

White or all-purpose flour

* 500 g of flour; most people usually use wheat flour, but you can also use all-purpose flour for an extremely soft, buttery texture.

*250 ml milk; that you’d better to use lukewarm

*1 teaspoon of baking powder or 7 g instant yeast of yeast powder; Of course, some may use both together.

Less sugar, organic egg to more healthy

*100 g sugar; certainly, you know a lot about the harms of sugar, so this amount can be less.

*1 teaspoon salt; for flavor balance

*1 egg; Fresh organic eggs are of better quality.

*Half a glass of pilaf raisins; we do not insist that you use this type of raisins. However, large raisins are not very suitable. In addition, to get the best result, you can leave the raisins for half an hour after washing.

*A small glass of thick brewed saffron made with 1 gram of crushed saffron threads in a mortar; To get the best quality, make sure you are buying fresh Iranian saffron. It is not difficult to buy from our site. But if, for example, you want to go to the nearest shop or supermarket and get saffron, it is very probably Iranian saffron too, with Spanish and Indian labels. Yes! 90% of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran, and the Spaniards and Indians import dozens of tons of it in bulk and then package it themselves and sell it at a higher price.

*½ teaspoon Vanilla; of course, is optional, as they are the two most expensive seasonings

*And now a little ground pistachios as needed to decorate so that the final result is more Iranian.

Preparation steps

1)Brew the saffron in hot water and pour it into a metal bowl of a stand mixer. Add vanilla extract to it if you still insist on mixing these two strong condiments! Leave them to interact and sit at your room temperature for a few minutes till the magic you expect happens through their interaction. Now it is the turn of lukewarm milk and sugar. Stir them to combine.

1. Half of your flour and yeast have no way but to be mixed to combine at this phase. Ruthlessly cover the mixture with a kitchen towel as you need to make sure it has no access to air! To complete your torture, put it in a warm place for 1 hour or more until the dough comically becomes bubbly, despite your merciless attempt to strangle it!
2. Now you need to let the rest of the flour, salt, and egg dance into the bowl. Place the bowl into the mixer equipped with a hook attachment. Knead on medium for 5 minutes or until the result is a smooth dough.
3. Having lowered the speed to medium-low, add the butter, just one tablespoon at a time. Don’t be hasty. No need to add another portion until the previous one has been assimilated into the dough. To facilitate the process, scraping the bottom and the sides of the bowl is a necessary action. Also, remove the dough from the hook a couple of times.

Art time to make a film!

1. As you aim to be able to stretch a small piece of it into a square, you need to continue to knead your dough on medium-high for another 5 minutes. Your squares must be a film thin enough for light passage. While administering the so-called windowpane test, no tear is accepted in the dough at all, just a little bit only at the edges.

6) Take a large bowl lightly and grease it with oil because the dough needs to be transferred into it. Again, strangling process, this time, was carried out with a plastic wrap. To be proofed, your dough must rest in a cozy warm corner for 1-2 hours.

The more artistic part of process

7) The more artistic part of the process begins now; Shaping your dough which is doubled in volume and springy. Punch it down onto a lightly floured surface several times. Be ruthless again, taking a knife. Divide it into 15 approximately equal parts. Make the best balls you can.

8) Make a 12″ (30 cm) rope of your ball, then, to create an “S” shape, curl each end of your dough rope in opposite directions. Place your “S” on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Note: At least a 5 cm space is needed in between them.

1. A 30-40-minute proofing process is needed at room temperature, so cover the buns with plastic wrap until puffed up.
2. And now the sweet little decorative jewels, the raisins. To re-hydrate, place your dried jewels into warm water. 30 min re-hydration is well enough. Drain and put them on a paper towel. Start your oven, and preheat it to 200 C.
3. Apply one egg’s yolk on each bun and place one or more raisins on the center of each curl on the buns or wherever you like. You can also, rub saffron brewed on the surface of your buns and finally sprinkle a little ground pistachio on the bread to decorate it in an Iranian way.
4. 10 minutes of baking normally is enough until it is puffed up and turned golden brown. If your oven needs more time to bake these buns ( for example, 12 minutes), check on them every minute after the 10 minutes.
5. You can brush your baked buns with melted butter to result in a shining surface, after taking them out of the oven

Last sweet word

As you can see, this is just one of many ways to use saffron and make raisin bread with saffron. The fact is that saffron can be added to all kinds of breads, cakes and cookies and give them a different flavor. Ghaaneh brand fresh saffron can give a quality to your sweets that will attract more guests or customers. More parties, more income.

FAQs

Must Swedish Saffron buns be “S” shaped?

No, create what you can make. The only limitation could be baking time if you create bigger or smaller buns.

How could we store saffron buns?

For up to 1 week you can store these buns if you lid it with a plastic wrap at room temperature.

Are freezing saffron buns applicable?

Up to one month, you could save the bun in the freezer, if you wrap each one in a plastic wrap and, then, in a piece of foil. In this case, before serving them you need to take them out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. You can have the crispiness of the first day if you slightly heat them in the microwave.