Chocolate Swirl Buns #BreadBakers

Wendy chose chocolate as this month's Bread Bakers theme. Pretty much the best theme ever if you ask me. I've wanted to do cinnamon rolls in this style for a while so it was an easy switch to add chocolate instead. The only problem is that I made these on the evening before I needed to do a fasting blood test. I planned on eating one during one of my class breaks but I was caught up doing rosters and looking up other stuff and completely forgot about them. When class wrapped up at around 10:40, I was STARVING and couldn't eat anything - not even one of these buns. I honestly contemplated putting off my bloodwork just so I could try one of these. I was hungry, man. I had to WAIT until the next day to try these. TORTURE. Don't be like me. Plan ahead. 

Scroll down to see what other chocolate yumminess is coming your way today.

Cinnamon Swirl Buns

Ingredients

300 grams flour 

30 grams sugar

2 tablespoons dry milk 

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt 

100 ml milk 

1 egg

60 grams butter

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Filling 

5 tablespoons sugar (see note)

4 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons cocoa 

1 tablespoon flour 

a pinch of salt 

Egg wash

1 egg

a splash of water

Directions

Whisk together flour, sugar, dry milk, yeast and salt. Add in the remaining dough ingredients and knead for approximately 7 minutes or until you have a smooth tack dough that pulls away from the mixing bowl. 

Place in a greased bowl and allow to bulk ferment at room temperature for about 2 hours until doubled or overnight in the fridge. I used the fridge option. 

Mix all the filling ingredients together. 

Grease a 12 cup capacity muffin tin. 

When the dough is ready, roll out to approximately 32 cm x 36 cm.  

Spread the filling on thinly. 

With a short side facing you, fold the dough in thirds. You should now have a 32 cm x 12 cm rectangle. 

You can chill the dough at this step or wait until after you cut into strips. Chilling makes it easier to work with. 

Cut the dough into 8 strips (4 cm x 12 cm). 

Next, use a sharp knife to cut twice down the length of each strip to make three strands. Plait the three strands together. 

Roll the plait along its length into a ball and place in the greased muffin tin.

Cover and allow to proof for an hour. 

When the buns are almost ready, preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Just before baking, brush the buns with the egg mixed with water. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. 

Remove from the pan as soon as you can or they might stick to the pan.

Notes

• This is not very sweet. Feel free to taste the filling and add more sugar as needed. Next time I might use powdered sugar so that I can skip the flour and have a smoother filling. 

• Chocolate Chip Breadsticks from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves from Food Lust People Love 
• Chocolate Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Fudge Sauce Star Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• Chocolate Protein Oat Banana Waffles from Cook with Renu
• Chocolate Swirl Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Double Chocolate Chip Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Lemon and Ginger Scented White Chocolate Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen
• Milk and Chocolate Rolls from Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.