Sticky plum buns recipe

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We picked our first (and only) crop of plums recently, and it would appear that we picked them just at the right moment, as they were soft enough for the stone to fall out easily, yet firm enough to hold their shape.

A few were eaten straight from the tree and were lovely and sweet and juicy, and I can’t wait until next year for a (hopefully) bigger crop.

I wanted to use them in a recipe that would highlight them rather than hide them away under a pie crust or crumble topping. I decided that they would be a perfect topping for a sweet bun, and I was right. Once the plums are cooked they soften and turn almost ‘jammy’ whilst still retaining their sharpness, which contrasts well with the sweetness of the icing.

500g of strong white bread flour
1 pinch of salt
50g of caster sugar
7g of dried yeast
50g of butter, melted
milk, 225-250ml
8 plums, de-stoned and halved
50g of butter, melted
100g of icing sugar

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Add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast to a bowl. Pour in the butter and 225ml of milk

Mix well and bring everything together to form a dough, adding more milk as necessary. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and smooth

Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film and leave until doubled in size (approx 1.5-2 hours)

Once the dough has proved turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it again for a minute and roll into a sausage shape

Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces - you may want to weigh your dough to make sure your buns are equal in size

Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place on a floured baking sheet, spaced well apart

Using the end of a rolling pin (or similar implement) make an indentation in each ball of dough, and place a plum half on top

Cover the baking sheets with cling film and leave for an hour

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6

Brush the buns and plums generously with the melted butter

Bake for approx 15 minutes until golden brown and the plums are soft and just starting to ooze their juice

Allow to cool before icing them – mix the icing sugar with a little water until a drizzling consistency is reached, and then pipe or drizzle the icing over the top of the buns