Ingredients
Makes 16 balls
- 1 kg cake flour
- 10 ml salt
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 sachet instant dry yeast
- 2 tsp aniseed
- 100 g butter
- 250 ml white grape juice
- 125 ml lukewarm milk
- 250 ml lukewarm water
- 30 ml sugar mixed with 30 ml lukewarm water (sugar syrup for brushing after baking)
Method
- Sift flour and salt together. Add sugar, yeast and aniseed. Stir well.
- Heat butter and grape juice in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Do not boil. Add to dry ingredients along with milk and water, then mix to form a soft dough.
- Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface, then knead for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is soft and elastic. Place in a large oiled bowl, then cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or doubled in size.
- Knock down dough on a floured surface, and knead until smooth. Divide into equal pieced and shape into balls (the correct technique is to squeeze balls of dough through a circle made by your thumb and forefinger, using oiled/buttered hands, this way you get nice smooth balls of dough). Pack the balls tightly into 2 loaf tins of about 22cm each. Cover and leave to rise for about 30-45 minutes.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 35-40 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks, then brush immediately with syrup.
