Homemade Spelt Belgian Buns with Lemon Icing

This recipe for spelt Belgian buns is made from scratch in a bread machine and uses only spelt flour. The sweet buns are topped with a divine lemon icing.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time13 mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Spelt Belgian Buns

Servings: 18 buns

Ingredients

Buns:

150 ml milk
7 g dried yeast
50 g butter
2 eggs
400 g white spelt flour (see notes)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or essence
½ teaspoon salt

Filling:

25 g butter melted
zest of one lemon
100 g raisins or sultanas

Icing:

200 g icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
touch of milk if needed
glacé cherries

Instructions

Add all bun ingredients to your bread machine and set it to make dough, as per manufacturer's instructions.
When ready, line or grease two large baking trays and pre-heat the oven to 190°C. Flour a surface well (the dough will be sticky but don't panic) and quickly work the flour into the dough until you have a pliable dough you can work with.
Roll out into a large rectangle shape (aim for about 45cm x 55cm as a rough guide). Melt the butter and then brush it all over the dough.
Sprinkle your raisins over the top (leaving about ½ inch all the way round the edge) and sprinkle over the zest. With the shorter side in front of you carefully roll the dough, making sure you pull it tight as you go.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into thin slices (you should get 14-18 buns, depending on how big they are). Pinch any edges together and use your hands to shape them into circles (they will already be round, but might need a little more shaping). Place them on the baking tray with plenty of space between.
Bake for around 10-14 minutes, just until golden (do not overbake - they are ready when the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Too much cooking will result in dry buns).
Remove them from the oven, pop onto a wire rack, and allow to cool completely.
In the meantime, prepare the icing - combine the icing sugar with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Gradually add more until a thick icing comes together. If it is still too thick, add a touch of milk (very small amounts at a time). Spread over the buns and place a glacé cherry on top of each one.

Notes

If you don't have access to spelt flour you can use regular all-purpose (plain) or bread flour instead.

I use grams in my recipes as weighing ingredients is the most accurate method. However, if cups are your thing, you can convert my measurements at Cook it Simply.