These are wonderful little treats to make when you need to use your discard and it's too hot to turn on your oven. The recipe makes eight buns that you can cook in your air fryer in minutes. Want to use your regular oven? That's fine. Just bake the buns at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The dough for the buns is a little sweet thanks to apricot jam. The jam also has a slight tartness that goes well with the sourdough tang. Rather than roll up the buns, jelly-roll-style, you simply make a depression in the center of each bun and fill it with a streusel-like mixture. The buns are sweet-tart and nutty-crunchy. They are easy to make and perfect for breakfast, for snacks with a cup of tea or coffee, and even for a simple dessert. Enjoy!
Sourdough Apricot-Almond Buns -- Makes 8
1/2 cup of sourdough starter/discard
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/4 cup of apricot jam or preserves, stirred/softened
3/4 cup of white whole-wheat flour (or just use all-purpose flour, if that's what you have)
In a large bowl combine well the starter/discard, oil, water, sugar, and jam. Stir in the flour until completely blended. Loosely cover the mixture and let it sit for at least an hour. I usually let my mixture sit on the counter from breakfast until about lunchtime (okay, after lunch...). When you're ready, add:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
Stir in the flour and salt, then knead the mixture for three to five minutes or until a soft dough forms, kneading in about 1/4 cup more flour to prevent the dough from becoming too sticky as you knead. You want the dough to be moist but not sticky. Divide the dough into 8 small pieces and roll each piece into a ball (like rolling play dough!). With your fingers or a spoon, make an indentation in each dough ball to hold the filling. Divide the filling among the dough balls, filling each depression. Spritz the tops of the dough balls and filling with non-stick cooking spray. Cut pieces of baking parchment to fit your air fryer basket. Put two or three filled dough balls on each piece of parchment, leaving an inch or two of space between each dough ball. Loosely cover the dough balls with plastic wrap and let them rise for a couple of hours or until they increase in size by about one-quarter to one-third. Spritz the dough balls again with non-stick cooking spray. Put one dough-topped piece of parchment into your air fryer basket, put the basket in the air fryer and air fry the buns at 320 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining dough.
Filling
2 tablespoons of melted butter
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of quick oats
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of sliced almonds
In a medium bowl or measure mix together well all the filling ingredients.
