Conchas

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 9g instant dried yeast
• 8g fine sea salt
• 180ml whole milk, warmed to blood temperature
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 110g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
• 100g unsalted butter, softened, for the topping
• 100g icing sugar, for the topping
• 130g plain flour, for the topping
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, for the topping
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 egg, beaten, for glazing

Before you cook

• Take the butter and eggs out of the fridge at least an hour before you start so everything is at room temperature.
• Warm the milk until it feels neither warm nor cold on the inside of your wrist.
• Whisk the bread flour, caster sugar, yeast, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl, keeping the salt and yeast on opposite sides until you mix.
• Line two baking trays with parchment.

Steps

1. Beat the eggs, warm milk and vanilla together, then pour them into the dry ingredients.
2. Mix to a shaggy dough with a wooden spoon, then knead it in a stand mixer with a dough hook on medium speed for six minutes, or by hand for twelve.
3. Add the 110g of cubed butter a few pieces at a time, waiting until each addition disappears before adding the next.
4. Keep kneading for another eight minutes, until the dough is smooth, glossy and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Shape the dough into a ball, put it in an oiled bowl and cover it.
6. Leave the dough somewhere warm for ninety minutes, until it has doubled in size.
7. Beat the topping butter and icing sugar together until pale and fluffy.
8. Add the plain flour and the teaspoon of vanilla and work it with your hands into a smooth paste with the texture of marzipan.
9. Split the paste in half, knead the cocoa powder into one half, and wrap both pieces.
10. Knock the risen dough down and divide it into twelve equal pieces of about 80g each.
11. Roll each piece into a tight ball by cupping your hand over it and dragging it in circles against the worktop.
12. Space the balls well apart on the lined trays and brush each one lightly with beaten egg.
13. Divide each colour of topping paste into six pieces and roll each one into a ball.
14. Flatten each topping ball between two squares of baking parchment into a disc slightly wider than the dough ball.
15. Lay a disc over each roll and press it gently down the sides so it clings without tearing.
16. Score the shell pattern into each topping with a sharp knife or a concha cutter, cutting through the paste but not into the dough.
17. Cover the trays loosely and prove for a final sixty minutes, until the rolls look puffed and the topping has cracked open along the score lines.
18. Heat the oven to 180C.
19. Bake the conchas for sixteen to eighteen minutes, until the exposed dough is golden but the topping is still pale.
20. Move them to a rack and let them cool for at least twenty minutes, as the crumb is still setting when they come out of the oven.