Fig Buns With Sheep Milk Cheese

These buns are a variant of my salty cheese buns. Sweet and salty is a perfect marriage for soft brioche bread. So I made a combination of soft sheep’s milk cheese with sweet dried figs. I added salted pecan nuts for extra crunch but you can use any kind of nuts for this recipe.

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Ingredients (8 pieces):

• Dough

  • 500 g all-Purpose Flour

  • 1 teaspoon of salt

  • 10 g dry yeast

  • 200 g milk

  • 1 egg

  • 100 g melted butter

  • 40 g sugar

  Filling

  • 340 g dried figs

  • 2 tablespoons of agave syrup

  • 200 g of soft sheep’s milk cheese*

  • 2 handsful of roughly chopped salted pecan nuts

  • Sea salt

  Finishing touch

  • 1 egg

  • good pinch of sea salt

    I used ‘Plaisir du Berger’, a cheese you can find in traiteur Toulouse. Worth a visite!

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Directions:

1. For the dough put the flour, sugar and yeast in the food processor.

2. Then add the salt (the salt deactivates the yeast, so it shouldn’t get in direct contact).

3. In a separate bowl add in the milk and the butter. Heat the mixture in the microwave until it’s warm (don’t let it cook) and the butter has melted. Whisk in the egg quickly.

4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and knead this a few minutes to make a sticky dough (-/+ 10 minutes).

5. Cover the bowl with plastic foil, and let the dough rise for 2 hours in a warm place (e.g. near a warm stove or in a warm oven at 30°C). It needs to double in size.

6. Meanwhile you can prepare the filling. Put the dried figs in a bowl and cover them completely in hot water. Let them rest for at least 30 min.

7. When trey are soft, drain the figs and keep 3 pieces on the side. Mix the rest with 2 tablespoons of agave syrup until they form a smooth paste.

8. When you’re ready to make the buns make sure to flour your work surface! Now roll out your dough into a rectangle, approximately 3 cm thick.

9. Layer the fig paste evenly on the dough leaving a 2 cm border. Tear the sheep’s milk cheese in small chunks and cut the 3 figs in big chunks. Divide these over the fig paste. Sprinkle the salted pecan nuts over the dough. Finish with a few pinches of sea salt.

10. Gently roll up the dough. Slice the rolls +/- 5cm thick and set them in a round pie tin lined with baking paper. Put them close to each other.

11. Cover the plate, and allow the rolls to rise until they have grown into each other and are puffed up (about 30 – 45 min).

12. Uncover the tin and brush them with a beaten egg. Finish with sea salt and bake the buns for 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C, till they colour deep golden brown.

13. Remove the plate from the oven and place the buns on a cooling rack.

    My advise is to eat the buns the same day. If you want to eat them the day after, wrap the buns in foil and put them in a airtight tin.