Chocolate Orange Buns

Fluffy enriched yeasted chocolate orange buns with a rich chocolate orange filling. These are everything great about babka in a bite-sized version.

Chocolate Orange Bun Ingredients:

Dough

• Bread Flour: I tested this recipe with both bread and all purpose flour, but because the shaping of these buns require dough strength, bread flour is necessary. If you only have all-purpose flour, try making these orange rolls.
• Sugar: Sugar is used in multiple sections of this recipe, so check each sugar measurement in the recipe instructions.
• Salt: Even though this is a sweet dough, salt is beyond necessary for flavor.
• Yeast: I go through more yeast tips below.
• Milk: Milk needs to be at room temperature to keep the yeast happy.
• Butter: If warm butter goes into cold or room temperature milk, the whole mixture will curdle. Let the butter cool before adding it into the other wet ingredients.
• Egg:
• Orange Zest: Orange zest will add a nice hint of flavor to the dough. Only zest the top colored layer of the peel to avoid bitterness.

Filling

• Orange juice: Squeeze the orange juice directly from oranges.
• Cocoa Powder: I tested this recipe with regular cocoa, but dutch processed cocoa powder will also work.
• Butter: Cut the butter into small pieces to help it melt more quickly.
• Chocolate: Chocolate comes in many different percentages. I recommend a chocolate with between 60% and 70% percent cacao for a nice rich flavor.
• Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar solely acts as a stabilizing agent for this recipe.

Orange Syrup: This buns would be delicious without any extra syrup, but oranges add a nice shine and sweet flavor.

Working with Yeast:

Yeast can be very difficult to work with. It can have an unreliable expiration date, can “be killed” easily by temperature, and can lead to proofing and baking issues.

My biggest tip when working with yeast is to always pre-activate it in lukewarm milk and sugar; this tests if it is in fact alive. If the yeast looks dissolved and no bubbles have appeared, the yeast has most likely gone bad. If the milk mixture becomes foamy and bubbly, your yeast is good to go!

Once you know whether or not your yeast is ready, incorporating it correctly into your dough can also be a challenge. Yeast can be killed easily if the temperature it is mixed into is too hot, so make sure your eggs, milk, and melted butter are all at room temperature.

How to Make Chocolate Orange Buns:

While this dough can be made by hand, I highly recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Start by activating the yeast with the instructions I listed above. Then in the stand mixer, paddle together the bread flour, salt, and sugar. Slowly stream in a measuring jug that contains the butter, milk, egg, and yeast mixture. Then, increase the speed on the mixture and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and dough easily releases from sides of bowl while kneading. Once the dough is made, place it in a clean bowl to proof.

Judging Proof:

Proofing bread is a pain. It’s all about instinct and gut-feeling, and if you’re a big fans of exact stats and numbers like me, it’s probably not your friend. That being said, here are a few tips to make it more manageble.

1. think of this until a few months ago, but if you can never remember how big your dough is like me, it’s a great way to have a reference on just how big “doubled” is.
2. Similar to #1, use a bowl that’s about double the size of your dough. That way when the dough hits the top, you know it has doubled in size.
3. Don’t be afraid to use the oven. If you can’t find a warm place to proof your dough, turn just the oven light on and pop your dough in for the proof. If your oven doesn’t have a light, turn it on to 100ºF, place the dough in, and then immediately turn off the oven and prop the door open with a spoon.
4. Use a produce bag as bowl cover. These fit perfectly over the top of the bowl/pie plate and make for an easy and eco-friendly/reusable bowl cover.
5. Overproofing. It’s one of the most common baking mistakes. You want your dough to be look puffy, but not like its about to collapse. If you think you’re dough is proofed and has doubled, it’s most likely ready to go.

Filling:

This chocolate babka style filling is so easy to make. Simply melt all of the ingredients together on the stove until smooth before placing the filling in the fridge to thicken.

Assembly:

Tip the proofed dough onto a clean work surface and roll out onto a rectangle. Spread the filling onto half the rectangle and fold the rectangle over. Slice the dough into 3 cm strips an twist each individual strip into a rope before forming a circle and knotting it. Place each knot into a muffin cavity and proof for another 45 minutes. Brush with an egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake. While the buns bake, cook down the orange juice and sugar into a syrup. When the chocolate orange buns have finished baking, brush them with orange syrup.

Tips and Tricks:

• Read the whole recipe before starting. This recipe a good bit of both active and passive time, so be sure you have plenty of time before beginning.
• Similarly to number 1, go slowly. You can’t rush yeast and blood, so going slowly ensures that assembly will be more correct.
• Don’t worry about knotting the buns perfectly. These buns will taste great even if they’re not assembled completely correctly. It’s better to bake a not completely perfectly buns than re-twist one lots of times and cause the filling to ooze out.

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