Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter, chopped
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp wildflower honey
• 6 large eggs
• 4 cups bread flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar, divided
• Generous pinch of salt
• 2 tsp instant yeast 

Directions

1 In a small saucepan, warm the butter, milk and honey over low heat until the butter is just melted. (The liquid should be lukewarm, not scalding.) Meanwhile, use a fork to lightly beat 5 of the eggs in a small bowl; set aside.

2 Sift the flour, ⅓ cup of the sugar and the salt into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast. Pour the milk mixture and the beaten eggs into the flour mixture, stirring until the ingredients come together to form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead until smooth  and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

3 Wash and lightly grease the dough bowl with oil. Form the dough into a ball and transfer back to the bowl, rolling it around the sides to lightly coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean damp tea towel and set somewhere warm to rise until the dough is doubled in size, 1 to 11⁄2 hours.

4 Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the dough has risen, knock it back with your knuckles and shape into eight smooth balls, each roughly the size of a large apricot. Arrange the balls on the baking sheet with a bit of space between them, as they will puff up as they rise and bake. Cover with plastic wrap and set somewhere warm to rise until nearly doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5 Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a small bowl, lightly beat the remaining egg and use a pastry brush to glaze the top of  each bun. Sprinkle the tops of the buns generously with the remaining sugar.

6 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the buns are lightly golden on top and sound hollow if you tap them on the bottom. The buns are best eaten on the day you bake them.

Serves 16
 

BUY THIS BOOK 

Excerpted from A Table in Venice. Recipes Copyright © 2018. Excerpted by permission of Random House. All rights reserved.