This recipe and photo come from Eva Pärtel. She loves to experiment with matcha at her bakery in Tallinn, Estonia, and has also written several cookbooks. 

Scandinavian cinnamon buns are so common in many bakeries all over the the world ,but you are going to love the same buns filled with matcha instead. Buns are best to eat in the same day, especially when oven-warm with a glass of milk.

 

Matcha Buns Recipe 

INGREDIENTS

Yeast dough:  

  2.5 dl whole milk

  12 g dried yeast

  500 g wheat flour

  1 dl sugar

  0.5 tsp salt

  100 g soft unsalted butter

 

Filling: 

  100 g soft unsalted butter

  3 tsp (high quality culinary grade) matcha powder

  3 tbsp sugar

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the dough:

Warm milk until 40 degrees C (104 F), stir in yeast, whisk until it is dissolved and a little bubbly. 

Put flour, sugar and salt into stand mixer bowl, add the milk-yeast mixture. Mix on low speed for 4-5 minutes, then add butter and mix for 3-4 minutes further until combined, smooth and soft. Dust the dough with some flour, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and tea towel and let it sit in a warm place for one hour.

 

Prepare the filling:  

Mix butter, matcha powder and sugar into a paste.

 

Assamble the buns:

Turn the dough out to lightly floured table and roll into a thin rectangle (about 35x20 cm/14x8 inches size). Spread the filling and fold the dough into thirds like a business letter to get a three-layered dough: starting from above, fold the dough over a third, then fold the lower side over.

 

Cut the dough into 12 strips (2 cm/0.8 inches wide). It is convenient to use a pizza cutter for this. Take one strip to your hands, holding from both ends and twist the strip 4-5 times. Coil the twisted strip around your two fingers. Remove your fingers and tuck the end of the strip underneath the bun. Place it on a baking tray, watching that the loose ends are carefully hidden underneath the bun. Continue so with the rest of the dough strips. Leave enough space between the twisted buns as they rise during the baking. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.

 

Bake the buns:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (400 F). Bake the buns for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and leave it to baking tray for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.