Yeast Buns with Cheese and Ham

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Pour 50 ml of lukewarm milk into a small mug. Then add cane sugar to the mug, crumble in the yeast, and mix everything thoroughly. Next, sift the spelt flour into a larger bowl, make a well in it, and pour the contents of the mug into it. Then cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest in a warm place for at least 30 minutes for the leaven to rise in the well in the flour – during this time, the volume of the mixture from the mug should increase at least 3 times.
• 2
  Once the leaven has risen in the bowl, add 1 egg, the remaining 250 ml of milk, and a pinch of salt to the bowl. Knead this mixture into a compact dough (you can use a kitchen robot with a kneading attachment or a regular wooden spoon; with the latter, kneading will take 15–20 minutes). Once the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, cover the bowl again with cling film and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
• 3
  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C and prepare a small baking dish for the buns (approx. 30 cm × 20 cm), greasing it with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
• 4
  From the risen dough, shape 12 buns (each weighing 35–40 g) and arrange them side by side in the greased baking dish. Then, whisk 1 egg separately and use a pastry brush to coat all the buns in the baking dish. Next, transfer the baking dish to the preheated oven and bake for 25–30 minutes at 170–180 °C.
• 5
  After baking, remove the finished buns from the oven and let them cool to at least room temperature. Then, halve each bun, spread ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard on its bottom half, layer 15 g of cheddar, 50 g of turkey ham, and 7.5 g of sliced pickles on top of the mustard, and cover everything with the top half of the bun. Finally, bake the filled buns: preheat the oven to 180 °C, arrange the buns on a small baking sheet, place them in the oven, and bake for 5–7 minutes at 170–180 °C, until the cheddar has melted.