Pain de Miers

I have a new obsession. This obsession involves dough, spices, glaze, coffee and dunking... lot's of dunking. Come to think of it, it's probably not such a new obsession since I've been enthralled with those things from the year dot. May be I should say these Pain de Miers are a new addiction given that this is the first time my taste buds have had the pleasure and I cannot stop eating them. Obsession/addiction, potato/potahto... whatevs.



Pain de Miers
from Thomasina Miers' Wahaca
Makes 10

For the Starter:
30g strong bread flour
150g water

For the Buns:
230g strong bread flour

150g stoneground wholemeal flour
100g plain flour
65g golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
12g fresh yeast
1 beaten egg
150g light milk
50g butter at room temperature
1 star anise, ground into fine powder in a pestle and mortar
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 beaten egg, for egg wash

For the Glaze:
60g icing sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make the Starter:

Put the flour and water in a non-stick pan, put the heat on medium and whisk until it comes together and thickens. It’ll take about 5 minutes and you want the consistency of glue / wallpaper paste. Do not let it colour. Using a spatula, scrape it into a bowl and cover tightly with cling film and let it cool to room temperature.

Make the Buns:
Put the milk in a small pan along with the golden syrup and the star anise. Turn the heat on low, you’ll need to leave it until the syrup has dissolved and the milk is just beginning to bubble.Turn off the heat and leave it to infuse for 30 mins, after which time, strain it through a fine sieve and discard the star anise, and add in the ground cloves.

In the meantime, mix up the flours and salt in a bowl and add the yeast, rubbing it into the flour with your fingers. Put the flour mix into the bowl of an electric mixer along with the beaten egg and your starter and turn it on low. Slowly add the milk mixture and once it’s incorporated add the butter and turn up the speed. After 5 minutes turn up the speed  to medium and mix again for another 5 minutes. By now you’ll have a smooth dough. 

Put it in a clean bowl, cover and leave for about 90 minutes or until doubled in size.

Take out the dough and divide into 10 pieces. Form each into a ball, then gently press down to turn each one into a disc. The idea here is not to flatten them totally, just make a disc shape. At this point turn on the oven to 200 degrees C. Put them on a lined baking sheet and cut the edges of each 5 times going towards the centre.

Cover with cling film then leave them for another hour or until nearly doubled in size. When ready to go into the oven, paint them with egg wash and bake for 15-20  minutes. They might need a little longer, but not much. They should be a gentle golden colour on top.

Make the Glaze:
in a small saucepan  melt the icing sugar with the water over a low heat for a few minutes to make a paste. Whisk in a the vanilla. You want a glaze that is thin enough to brush on the buns.

When the buns are cooked, take them out of the oven and let then cool slightly on a wire rack. Brush with glaze.