Ħobża ta' San Martin (St Martin's Sweet Bun)
Ħobża ta’ San Martin is a sweet mildly spicy soft bun that makes the traditional bag (borża) of St. Martin complete.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Bun
- 400 g bread flour
- 75 g butter room temperature
- 90 g sugar
- 250 ml milk lukewarm
- 1 sachet yeast 11g
- 1 tsp whole aniseeds
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Syrup and decoration
- 20 ml water
- 20 g sugar
- sesame seeds
- liquorice pastels
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix the lukewarm milk, yeast and 15g of sugar. Let the mixture foam for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix the flour and the butter until you get a crumbly texture. Once ready add all the remaining ingredients together and knead the dough for about 15 minutes.
- Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour in the warmest place in your kitchen until it doubles in size.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Once the dough is ready, punch it down and knead for a couple of minutes. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and form into balls.
- Place the buns on the tray keeping a good amount of space between each one. Cover and let rise for another 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C or 390°F. Make the syrup by mixing together the water and sugar.
- Before placing the buns into the oven, brush them with the syrup and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the bun have a nice golden brown colour.
- As soon as you take them out of the oven, place a liquorice pastel in the middle of the bun. Let the buns rest and enjoy!
Notes
- Ideally, the buns are to be served on the same day or the day after as they dry out easily.
- You can also cook them in an air fryer: 170°C or 340°F for 8 minutes.
- Don't forget to include these buns in your St Martin's bag of treats :)