Black Tahini and Cinnamon Buns

Prep: 1440 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Medium

Serves 8 people

These buns are a cross between a Cypriot tahini pie (tahinopita) and a cinnamon bun. Make them as big or as small as you want them, but we made them BIG.  They have such unexpected textures, crispy, crunchy and soft all at the same time.

Ingredients

For the black tahini paste:
100g Black Tahini
175g caster sugar
2 tbsp Belazu Early Harvest Olive Oil
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp salt
For the dough:
7g instant yeast
500ml water
550g white bread flour
150gr wholemeal bread flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp Belazu Early Harvest Olive Oil
For the sesame topping:
100ml water
100g black sesame seeds
100g honey (or agave or sugar syrup)

Method

Step 0: Mix all the ingredients for the Black Tahini paste in a bowl. Place in the fridge overnight.
Step 1: To make the dough, in a bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water and set aside.
Step 2: In a large bowl, mix the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and water mixture. Using your hands, mix to bring together into a saggy mix. Kneed for a minute or so in the bowl to bring it all together to resemble a loose ball.
Step 3: In a fresh bowl, pour the Early Harvest Olive Oil to coat the sides, place the dough, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.
Step 4: The next day, knock the dough back and divide it into 8 balls.
Step 5: Preheat your oven to 160C fan.
Step 6: Dust your worksurface with flour.
Step 7: One by one, roll each ball into a flat disc, as big as the palm of your hand
Step 8: Holding the disc in your palm, place 1 tbsp of the black tahini mix in the middle of it. Bringing the sides up, enclose the tahini and seal the edges. Using the worktop, flatten the ball again with the palm of your hand.
Step 9: Place another tbsp of the black tahini mix and repeat step 8. If the mix oozes out, don’t worry at all!
Step 10: Guide the dough into a long sausage shape, around 25cm long. Pat another tbsp of the black tahini mix all along the dough.
Step 11: Twist the dough using both hands in opposite directions. It should end up looking like a cheese straw!
Step 12: Then twist the swirl into a spiral, tucking the end underneath. Flatten with the palm of your hand and place onto a lined baking sheet
Step 13: Repeat steps 8-12 for all balls of dough.
Step 14: When you have rolled all 8 balls into buns, leave to prove for around 15 minutes or so, until they are slightly risen.
Step 15: Brush the buns with water, sprinkle with black sesame seeds and bake on 2 separate trays for 20 minutes.
Step 16: Remove from the oven, drizzle with the honey and pop back into the oven for 3-4 minutes.
Step 17: Take them out, leave to cool for 10 minutes or so and enjoy warm.

Related Recipes