I love dried apricots, just like I love many other dried fruits. But oh boy, I wish it wouldn’t fill me with nuclear level gas. I would then probably eat it in several kilos per week!
Whenever I buy dried apricots to use in a recipe like this, I try to be careful. For instance, for this specific recipe, I needed 70 gr. apricots, while a pack of dried apricots is 200 gr! What to do with the remaining 130 gr, how to resist the urge to eat them all and then probably die from flatulence?
But these buns are good. They are soft, sweet and savoury at the same time. They are extremely delicious when they are freshly baked and a bit warm. This is not always the case for gluten-free baked goods. Most of the time, gluten-free baked goods taste much better the next day. However, I find these buns taste just as awesome a little after coming out of the oven.
I got this recipe from a gluten-free baking book I have at home, though as usual I made my own small changes. It’s pretty easy to make, so I strongly urge you to get your ingredients and give it a try – even if you are not following a gluten-free diet, just to get a taste of it. Enjoy!
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Ingredients:
Difficulty: Easy
(makes 8 buns)
3 dl (or 1 1/4 cups or 300 gr) hot water*
3 tsp (or 10 gr) active dry yeast
1.5 dl + 1 tbsp (or 2/3 cup + 1 tsp or 100 gr) buckwheat flour
1 1/4 dl (or 1/2 cup or 100 gr) rice flour
1 dl (or 1/3 cup + 4 tsp or 40 gr) millet flakes**
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (or 20 gr) cane syrup***
2.5 tbsp (or 25 gr) rapeseed oil
4 tsp (or 10 gr) psyllium husk
1 tsp xanthan gum
70 gr (about 11) dried apricots
1/2 dl (or 3 tbsp + 1 tsp or 40 gr) pumpkin seeds
*Quite hot from the tap is hot. Do not boil it, otherwise it will kill the yeast. I recently killed 2 tsp of dry yeast in extremely hot milk, RIP, so believe me I know.
**Hirssihiutale in Finnish.
***Honey (if you are not vegan) or molasses can work too.
- In a large bowl, put hot water and dry yeast and give it a quick stir. Let it sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
2. In another bowl, mix ingredients above starting with buckwheat flour ending with salt. Put aside.
3. When the yeast is active (you will see a kind of foam on the surface of water) after 10 minutes, add syrup and rapeseed oil and whisk.
4. Add dry ingredient mixture from step 2 to the yeast water and whisk well.
5. Add psyllium husk and xanthan gum and whisk well. You will see that the mixture will immediately start to get thick.
6. Add dried apricots and pumpkin seeds and fold well. Cover the bowl with stretch film and let it sit for about 1 hour in a warm spot in your kitchen, for the dough to double in size.
7. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare 1 or 2 oven trays (depending on the size of your oven) and put a baking paper on each.
8. When the dough doubles in size, take a large spoonful from it and transfer onto the trays. Using the spoon and/or your hands, give them good, round bun shapes. Put one tray in the oven and bake it for 22-25 minutes, until they are nicely browned. If you are baking in 2 batches, put the next batch after the first comes out of the oven and do the same. Let the baked buns sit on the counter for about 25-30 minutes and after that you can consume right away. Enjoy!
My Dear Kitchen in Helsinki 