Hazelnut and Sultana Chelsea Buns

Tasty nutty bread!

I was at the shops the other day and saw a bag of ground hazelnuts for nearly free! I thought 'what a bargain, I'll have some of those!', only to find that it's not hazelnut, but 'hazelnut filling'. Sort of a ready mixed nut/sugar/flavour combo. So then I started to wonder what I could fill with this bag of wonder and remembered that I attempted some nutty Chelsea buns a few weeks ago. They ended up being a bit dry as I didn't have enough fruit or nuts...now I had 250g to use up!

The dough is really just your average bread dough, but enriched with milk and an egg. TASTY! I added in some Christmassy spices. Well, 'tis the season and all.

Ingredients:
400g strong white flour
100g wholemeal/wholegrain flour
1 tsp salt
1 sachet (7g) dried yeast
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground anise
275 ml milk
35g butter
1 egg

1 250g packet hazelnut filling (or mix your own with ground nuts, sugar a little cornflour and some flavourings)
200g sultanas

a little milk with a tsp of vanilla sugar for brushing

Method:
-gently heat the milk and butter in a small pan until the butter melts, then set aside to cool
- sift the flours, spices and and salt in to a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the yeast. Pour the milk and butter in to the well, mix a little then add the egg and mix to combine.
- tip on to a floured board and knead for around 5 mins. Place in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and let it prove in a warm area for an hour or until doubled in size.
- heat the oven to gas mark 5. Line the base of a 20cm round loose-bottomed tin with baking paper. Once the dough has doubled, tip out and knock back. Roll in to a large rectangle about 1cm thick. 
- make up the filling by adding 4 tblsp of milk to the nuts and then spread over the dough, leaving 2cm clear at the furthest wide end.
- sprinkle the sultanas all over and then roll it all up in to a fairly tight sausage. Brush the 2cm gap with milk if necessary to stick the edge together. Trim the edges and then slice in to 8 even buns.

- place these in to the prepared tin leaving a little gap between each one.
-Leave to rise for another 20- 30 minutes or so.
- brush with milk and vanilla sugar and bake for 30 minutes - they should sound hollow when tapped. Remove from the tin, leave to cool slightly, then tear and share!

still steamy from the oven.