Japanese Milk Buns with Chocolate

Ingredients

• 400 g plain white flour
• 100 g sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 ½ dl milk
• 3 tsp dry yeast for sweet baking
• 40 g butter
• 3 x pretzel sticks
• 150 g chocolate-hazelnut spread

Method

1. Mix flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a kitchen bowl. Next, heat the milk over a low heat until it is lukewarm. Lift it off the plate and stir in dry yeast.
2. Turn the machine on low speed (1 of 10 levels) while adding the milk mixture in a thin, even stream. Let it knead for 1 minute before turning up to level 2.
3. The dough should be kneaded for approx. 7 minutes. It should release the ball and be smooth and nice. Then add room-temperature butter and knead the dough for a further 7-10 minutes on continued level 2.
4. Take the gluten test: take a small handful of the dough, and carefully stretch it out to a thin film through which the light can be seen. If it smokes straight away or feels too tight, the dough should be kneaded a little more.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and set to rise to a large bowl. Place a towel over. I place it in the oven at 50 degrees with top and bottom heat, for approx. 1.5 hours. The dough should rise to more than double its size.
6. Knead the dough lightly when it has risen, sprinkle some flour on the counter and divide into 9 equally sized and round pieces.
7. Cut up approx. 9 x 1 meter long strings. Feel free to roll them with a little flour so that it will be easier to remove the strings later. Tip: here it is important that you do not tie too tightly, as the dough will rise and rise even more in the oven.
8. Place the dough in the middle of the string. Take each end and cross the dough in the middle, turn over and tie, like you would have wrapped a gift. Remember not to tighten.
9. Repeat the process to get 8 marked parts. Double knot the string and cut the ends. Place spaced apart on a lined baking tray and cover with a tea towel. Raise in the oven at 50 degrees for approx. 45 more minutes.
10. Remove the buns when the rising time is almost finished and preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
11. Brush all the buns evenly with milk and bake in the center of the oven for approx. 13-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for approx. 5-10 minutes before carefully removing the string.
12. Add nutella to a piping bag and pipe into the center of each pumpkin bowl. Here you adjust the quantity according to how much you prefer.
13. Break pretzel stick in three pieces and use as a twig. Feel free to sprinkle a little icing sugar on top and enjoy hot or warm, preferably with a glass of milk, tea or coffee.
14. For å oppbevare disse best mulig til neste dag; legg de i en luftett boks eller pose. Ønsker du den helt nybakte følelse, kan du varme de i maks 15-20 sekunder i mikroen.