Pain aux raisins (French Raisin Buns)

It is a French Sweet bread traditionally filled with a pastry cream and mixed with raisins.

Ingredients:
100 ml warm milk
2 beaten eggs
½ tsp salt
60 g sugar
400g all purpose flour
100 g warm softened butter
1 packet of dry yeast
¼ Liter cream (crème patissière)
Dry grapes

Method:
Kneading:
Mix together the sieved flour and the salt;
If a bread maker is used for kneading, put the ingredients in the following order in the machine: (We are going to take care not to let the yeast get in contact with the salt directly)
Milk
Beaten eggs
Flour (mixed with salt)
Butter in small cubes
Sugar
Yeast at last

Put the machine on the kneading program; Let it rise for an hour in a warm place.

If we are going to use our strong hands to knead, then:

Mix yeast with 3 or 4 tbsp of the reserved milk and let it dissolve for 15 minutes.
Mix the flour and the salt together in a large bowl. Add the milk, beaten eggs, sugar and then the butter, by adding 2 or 3 times in small quantities. Start kneading and then finally add the yeast solution and knead and knead and knead until we get a soft but elastic kind of non-sticky dough. Cover with a plastic food wrapper and let it double the volume for an hour in a warm and air-tight place; (I place it in a warm oven)

In the meantime, prepare the cream
the traditional method of the crème patissière here or an express method:
Mix together in a mixer:
500 ml milk
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
4 tbsp corn flour
Pour this mixture in a double bottomed vessel and cook on medium heat by stirring continuously until creamy.

Back to the raised dough:

Knead once again the dough by pressing it with your palms to remove the CO2 formed in the dough.

Roll and give it a big rectangular form


and apply the cream all over the pastry.


Sprinlke some dry grapes all over.


Form a log by rolling it like in the picture.



Cut the log into small spirals with a sharp knife (let?s say about 5 cm thickness).
Place some more dry grapes on top of each bun.

Place them on a baking sheet by leaving enough space in between them.

Cover it once again with a plastic food wrapper and let it rise this time for one and a half hours in a warm place.

Baste them with a beaten egg yolk.

Preheat the oven at 160°C and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the top browns;
Apply a mixture of hot milk (3 tbsp) and sugar (1/2 tsp) on the top of each bun as soon as it is removed from the oven.



This is one of the tea time favorites of my teddies. It can also be served for breakfast.