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Hmm--my first post appears to have disappeared, so I will re-post.
It has been at least two years, and maybe more, since I’ve been able to bake my Lucia Buns for Santa Lucia Day. Friday is the day, December 13, and I pulled out the recipe that I have always used from Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook (1980). I’ve played with the recipe over the years. I decided to go back to the original recipe and see if I can cut the saturated fat and bake a healthier Lucia Bun. I always use about half the yeast and substitute special gold yeast. This time, instead of 4 ½ tsp active yeast, I’m using 3 tsp. special gold. I’ve replaced regular milk with buttermilk, and I substituted 2 cups white whole wheat flour. I added ¼ cup flax meal and ¼ cup special dry milk for nutritional purposes. I began by mixing the proofed yeast, sugar, buttermilk, and 1 Tbs. diced candied orange peel (rehydrated in hot water, as the peel was dry), which substituted for 1 tsp. grated orange peel (no orange in the house). I added the miniscule amount of water not absorbed. After mixing these ingredients, I added the white whole wheat flour, flax meal, special dry milk and 2 cups KAF flour. I mixed, then let it rest for 15 minutes. I then added 4 Tbs. unsalted butter (half the recipe amount) and made up the difference with 2 ½ Tbs. canola oil. After incorporating it, I added ½ cup flour mixed with 1 tsp. salt. It was a little soft, so I added another ¼ cup of KAF flour. After kneading on speed 2 for 5 minutes, the dough seemed overly sticky, so I added another ¼ cup of KAF flour. I kneaded an additional 2 minutes on speed 2, then 1 minute on speed 3. That gave me the windowpane, and I put it in a dough bucket to rise.
The first rise took about an hour and forty minutes. I divided the dough into four equal pieces, then put three of them back into the dough bucket to keep them from drying out while I shaped the first six buns. I had read in another recipe for these buns, in Swedish Breads and Pastries, by Jan Hedh, that part of the secret to getting the raisins to stay on in the swirls of the “S” shape is to hydrate them if dry, so I had briefly soaked and drained the 48 I needed for the recipe (two for each roll). I also read that if the egg wash is applied after the second rise, the buns will suffer some collapse. So, I put the egg wash on at the start of the second rise. (He also says to put egg wash on again right after they bake, but I am uncertain about doing that with raw egg. Would the residual heat be enough to prevent food safety issues?) The second rise took an hour. I sprinkled sugar over the rolls on the first tray and put them into bake. (Because of the shaping, timing for the trays is nicely staggered, with the second tray of rolls completing their rise shortly after the first one comes out of the oven.)
I baked on the middle oven rack, which is one above where I usually bake breads. The instructions said 15-20 minutes. They had the light brown color after 15 and tested done. I allowed to cool for about 15 minutes, then ate two. Delicious!
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