Apple & Sultana Sugar Wheels

I love working with yeast. Now that I have gotten over my initial fear of the stuff, I can't get enough of it. It's so much fun watching your dough come to life and the wonderful smells that fill your kitchen with when you are baking with it. I loved my chilli chocolate scrolls but I was in the mood for something more traditional and a tad less rich. I have a lot of apples around the house at the moment, they are so cheap right now! So I decided to try a recipe for sugar wheels from the Golden Book of Patisserie. I have no idea why they are called sugar wheels, they are just plain old scrolls.

The only con about baking with yeast is the amount of waiting time. I usually save these type of recipes for a weekend when I feel like something warm and bready for breakfast or afternoon tea and I have the time to go through the recipe at a leisurely pace. I waited until a little too late in the day to make these and got so hungry smelling it in the oven. In my haste to eat them I forgot to dust them with icing sugar, but it didn't really need them!

Apple and Sultana Sugar Wheels
(adapted from a Golden Book of Patisserie recipe)

For the dough:
7g (1 packet) active dry yeast
1/2 cp lukewarm (43 degrees C) milk
2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg beaten

For the filling
100g butter, melted
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sultanas
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 tsp cinnamon

For the glaze:
1 egg beaten
1 tbsp milk

Optional: icing sugar to dust

Whisk the yeast with the lukewarm milk in a small bowl until there are no lumps. Set aside for 10 minutes until frothy. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, butter and egg. Mix together by hand or using an electric mixer with dough hooks on medium speed to form a medium soft dough, adding a little more flour if needed.

Mix with dough hooks on high speed for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. (Alternatively, transfer to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes)

Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 60-80 minutes, until doubled in bulk.

Butter or line a large baking sheet. Dust your hands with flour, punch the risen ough own and briefly kneased it on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 25cm by 35 cm.

Use a pastry brush to glaze the dough with the melted butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamonand sprinkle evenly over the dough. Scatter the sultanas and apple pieces on top and press the filling in with a rolling pin. Carefully rollup the dough, starting from a long side, to form a log. Use a sharp knife to cut the log into 12 slices.

Place cut side up on the baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, until the dough has puffed up. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Just before baking, mix the egg with the milk and glaze the tops with a pastry brush. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm, or leave to cool and lightly dust with icing sugar.