Ingredients

• 250ml/9fl oz full-fat milk
• 2 tbsp honey
• 7g fast-action yeast
• 100g/3½oz butter
• melted and cooled
• 2 large egg yolks
• 10g flaky sea salt
• ground
• 400–450g/14–16oz plain flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 20–30g/¾–1oz unsalted butter
• 2–3 tbsp neutral oil
• for frying
• 300g/10½oz wild mushrooms
• 250g/9oz chestnut mushrooms
• 100g/3½oz onions or shallots
• finely chopped
• 1 eating apple
• cored
• skin left on and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• crushed
• pinch of ground cinnamon
• 150g/5½oz cooked chestnuts
• crumbled
• 1 egg yolk
• beaten to glaze
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• For the dough
• heat the milk to room temperature and then add the honey and yeast. Wait for the yeast to activate (you will see some froth)
• then add the cooled melted butter
• egg yolks and salt. Whisk until smooth and all the ingredients are incorporated.
• Add the flour gradually
• first whisking it in
• then working it with your hands. You will have a very soft and slightly sticky dough. Don’t be scared of it
• you will see later that it is very forgiving. Transfer to a clean bowl
• cover with cling film and place somewhere warm to rise for a couple of hours
• or until doubled in size.
• For the filling
• put two frying pans on the hob
• one larger with a heavy base for the mushrooms and one smaller for your shallots
• garlic
• cinnamon and apples.
• Heat a knob of butter and a little oil in each pan. Put the large pan over a high heat and the smaller one over a medium-low heat. Fry the mushrooms in batches in the large pan
• taking care not to overcrowd the pan
• and seasoning each batch with a little salt. Add more butter and oil if they start to stick.
• Meanwhile
• in the smaller pan
• gently fry the onions and cover with a circle of baking parchment to help them soften faster. Cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes
• then add the apple
• garlic and cinnamon and cook for another couple of minutes. Season with salt and add to the mushrooms.
• Crumble the chestnuts into the filling
• mix it well and taste. Season with a touch more salt
• if required. Now grind in quite a lot of black pepper. (We are using it as spice here
• not just as seasoning. The filling should have a little bit of heat.)
• Preheat the oven to 180F/160C Fan/Gas 4.
• When the dough has doubled in size
• divide it into 100g/3½oz pieces (weighing them makes sure they are evenly sized). You should have approximately 8 balls of dough.
• On a well-floured work surface
• roll each piece of dough into a 15cm/6in circle. Then divide the filling equally between each circle (about 3–4 tablespoons each). It might look like too much filling
• but the dough is forgiving and malleable so don’t worry.
• Bring the edges of the dough circles together and pinch really well to seal in the filling. Place on a baking tray seam-side down. They will merge together as they rise
• but that’s fine.
• Cover the buns with a clean
• damp tea towel and leave to rise again for 10 minutes.
• Brush the buns with egg yolk and bake for 15–20 minutes
• or until golden and cooked through. Serve hot or cold.