lemon poppyseed morning buns/lemon poppyseed scrolls
4 Aug 2025
I've made laminated dough before but this time I made a batch of the Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough - from Beatrix Bakes – Another Slice. It's made more like rough puff pastry, something I've not made before and is a tiny bit less labour intensive than laminated dough.
I followed Natalie's instructions for the Orange ras el hanout sunshine buns from her book which are baked in an 11cm springform pan but I made the buns a little smaller to fit into a Texas muffin tin. However when I rewatched the video, I realised they'd made scrolls and as I wanted to recreate their recipe, I made another batch of Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough. This time I used a food processor to sort out the butter because grating butter is a very messy process and with that batch of dough, I made scrolls. The dough yields 8 scrolls and the bake time is much the same.
Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 morning buns or 8 scrolls and you’ll need to start the process the day before baking. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.
If you're making the morning buns, as well as a Texas muffin tin you'll need a baking tray to place on top of the buns while they're baking. If you're making the regular scrolls, you'll just need 2 baking paper lined trays and of course, a cooling rack.
Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough - from Beatrix Bakes – Another Slice - makes approximately 570 g (1 lb 4 oz) dough.
Ingredients
120g unsalted butter
200g bakers' flour
50g wholemeal plain flour
50g caster sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp bread improver (optional)
1½ tsp dry yeast
70 g/ml full-cream milk
70 g/ml water
Method
Grate the butter on the coarse side of a box grater. Line a shallow tray with baking paper and loosely distribute the butter over the surface - tease it out if it is clumping. Keep chilled. You can also cut the cold butter into 1 cm cubes and pulse in a food processor with the flour, sugar, salt and improver until the butter is pea sized before decanting into a large bowl and continuing with the recipe.
In a small bowl, whisk the yeast into the milk and water with a hand whisk until it has dissolved, then set aside.
Swizzle the flours, sugar, salt and improver (if using) together in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and toss together, squeezing the butter through your fingers just a few times. Rubbing too much butter in will diminish the final flakiness - still a great dough though!
Add the liquid/yeast mix to the butter/flour mix and toss together. Squeeze and press with your hands until it comes together. Lightly form into a small, thick rectangle, 15 cm x 20 cm (6 in x 8 in) and wrap lightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
Place the dough on a generously flour-dusted work surface. Roll the dough out to a long wide rectangle around 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in). If any large cracks start forming at the edges, just smoosh them back together to keep the sides as smooth and neat as possible. The rectangle will neaten after each roll, and the final block will have tidy sides. Fold into thirds like a letter, re-wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.
After the rest, bring the dough out again to a lightly floured work surface and position the dough with the open end facing you. Re-roll the dough to a rectangle 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in) again. The butter will be lovely and lumpy and may poke through the surface throughout. Fold into thirds like a letter and chill, lightly wrapped, for 30-60 minutes.
Repeat the roll a third (final) time exactly as above. Wrap fully but not restrictively tight and chill overnight, for a long prove (cold ferment). The dough won't proof dramatically, but you will feel a subtle pillowy puff. It will be ready to use between 24-48 hours. Freeze after that.
Add the liquid/yeast mix to the butter/flour mix and toss together. Squeeze and press with your hands until it comes together. Lightly form into a small, thick rectangle, 15 cm x 20 cm (6 in x 8 in) and wrap lightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
Place the dough on a generously flour-dusted work surface. Roll the dough out to a long wide rectangle around 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in). If any large cracks start forming at the edges, just smoosh them back together to keep the sides as smooth and neat as possible. The rectangle will neaten after each roll, and the final block will have tidy sides. Fold into thirds like a letter, re-wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.
After the rest, bring the dough out again to a lightly floured work surface and position the dough with the open end facing you. Re-roll the dough to a rectangle 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in) again. The butter will be lovely and lumpy and may poke through the surface throughout. Fold into thirds like a letter and chill, lightly wrapped, for 30-60 minutes.
Repeat the roll a third (final) time exactly as above. Wrap fully but not restrictively tight and chill overnight, for a long prove (cold ferment). The dough won't proof dramatically, but you will feel a subtle pillowy puff. It will be ready to use between 24-48 hours. Freeze after that.
Lemon Poppyseed Morning Buns/Scrolls – makes 6 morning buns or 8 scrolls
1 batch croiss-ain’t/faux-ssaint dough (see above)
Filling
100g caster sugar
4 tsp grated lemon rind
Pinch salt
80g room temperature unsalted butter
1 tbs almond meal
For the tin
20g softened butter
¼ cup of poppyseeds
Lemon Syrup
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
30mls water
¼ cup lemon juice
Lemon sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs finely grated lemon rind
Filling
Combine the sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a small bowl then using your fingers rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a spoon until you have a smooth paste.
To assemble
Generously butter the wells of a jumbo muffin tray and then coat with poppyseeds.
Take the cold dough from the fridge and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a 40-cm x 12 cm rectangle. Using a very sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough on the short side into 6 x 2 cm pieces. If making scrolls, roll the dough into a 25 x 24cm rectangle and cut the dough on the short side into 8 x 3 cm pieces. Spread the filling evenly out onto the dough then roll each piece up firmly, again from the short side.
Set the buns into the wells of the prepared muffin tins. If making the scrolls, wet your finger and tuck one end of the dough under the bun and lightly brush the outside of the scroll with your damp finger. Place the poppyseeds into a small bowl and roll the scroll on it's side to coat with the poppyseeds. Place 4 of the buns onto each prepared baking trays, spaced well apart. Spray the tops of the buns lightly with cooking oil, then cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a mildly warm space or at room temperature in a warm kitchen (longer in cooler conditions) to have the final proof for 2-3 hours.
These buns need a very long cool proof to fully puff the internal structure. Too warm and the butter will melt before the dough is fully proofed and fluffed. If this happens, bake them still delicious. In addition to the poke test, look for the internal layers to separate and puff a little. I do like to take an internal temperature of 25°C (75°F) for the perfect proof - underproof and the baked bun dough will be gummy inside.While the buns are proofing, prepare the syrup and lemon sugar.
Syrup
For syrup, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Mix in the lemon juice; bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat and set aside until needed.
Lemon sugar
Place the sugar and lemon rind into a bowl. Thoroughly combine, then set aside until needed.
Bake
When the buns are almost proofed, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Remove the plastic; place a second baking tray on top of the muffin tin, then place in the oven. Turn the heat down to 180°C conventional and bake for 20 minutes until pale gold, then take the top tray off and bake another 8-12 minutes, until tanned brown. If they look like they are browning too fast, carefully cover with a sheet of foil. No second tray is needed if you're making the scrolls.
To test for doneness, tug at the heart of a swirl. The interior should look fluffy and bready (not raw and stretchy) and should have an internal temperature 95-98°C. The exterior should be a deep tawny brown. Remove the tray from the oven and place it on a cooling rack.
Using a knife loosen each bun from the tin/tray before the melted sugar sets, then brush 1-2 tbs of the syrup over each bun. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes to let the buns absorb the syrup then remove from the tin. Dredge each bun with the lemon sugar then place on a wire rack to cool. Allow the buns to cool for 30 minutes before eating, so the butter re-sets. Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.
Cooling briefly before removing the buns from the tin helps keep the scroll from unravelling while ultra-hot. Too long and the dough will sweat and compromise the crisp exterior. The second cooling, after removing from the tin, sets the butter-laden structure beautifully for a proudly set form.
Cooling briefly before removing the buns from the tin helps keep the scroll from unravelling while ultra-hot. Too long and the dough will sweat and compromise the crisp exterior. The second cooling, after removing from the tin, sets the butter-laden structure beautifully for a proudly set form.
The morning buns are nice, but the scrolls are next level. The baker from Duo described these scrolls as a guilty pleasure and I have to agree. These lemon poppyseed scrolls are absolutely magnificent!
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian