Have you ever tried your hand at making mosbolletjie bread? This bread is perfect for sharing with friends and family and best enjoyed fresh out of the oven with butter and cheese.
Mosbolletjie bread is a traditional South African heritage recipe made from enriched bread dough, and is very similar to brioche, a bread of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb.
Mosbolletjies were initially introduced to South Africa by the French Huguenots who left their native country to escape religious persecution.
They settled in Franschhoek in 1688. During the winemaking season, they used must or mos, which is grape juice in the first stage of fermentation before straining for wine, to act as the rising agent for the dough used to make the buns.
Nowadays, since mos is not widely available, the locals use yeast made from fermenting raisins to make the mosbolletjies.
Many people who have had a taste of this bread immediately think that making it will be a daunting task. Just because these buns are so soft, fluffy, and delicious, it does not mean that they are particularly difficult to make.
Steenberg executive chef Kerry Kilpin shares her mosbolletjie bread recipe that you can try at home.
Kilpin says she first put the mosbolletjie on the menu in Autumn last year as the sweet and spicy flavours tied in with their harvest celebration and the changing of the season. She says since then, it has been so popular that it has remained on the menu.
Mosbolletjie
Ingredients
Dough
450g stone-ground flour
1 egg, beaten
45g butter
150ml milk
160ml must or grape juice
100g brown sugar
5ml aniseed
5g instant yeast
4g salt
Glaze
100ml honey
100g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Combine the milk and butter and gently heat until the butter is melted.
Add the grape juice and egg to the milk and butter. Allow cooling to a tepid temperature.
Combine the flour, sugar, aniseed, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the milk liquid to the flour to form a dough.
Knead the dough for roughly 10 minutes until smooth and the gluten has developed.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in volume.
While the dough is rising, grease a standard bread tin.
Once the dough has doubled in volume, divide it into 18 equal parts. 2 rows of 9 balls each. Place tightly next to one another in the bread tin.
Combine the honey and butter and melt over medium heat. Gently brush the top of the buns with the glaze. Keep the remaining butter glaze when the buns come out of the oven.
Once you have prepared your dough in the tin, allow it to double in size again in a warm place covered with a damp towel.
Once the bread has doubled, place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, glaze a second time with the remaining butter and honey mixture.
Best enjoyed warm straight from the oven with butter.