Filled Snail Shell Buns

For school Pipsqueak and I are going through "Elementary Baking", by William J. Sultan.
The following recipes are from this book and were quite popular!

Basic Sweet Yeast Bread

1 package (= a scant TBS) dry or compressed yeast
1/4 c. warm water

1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening

2 eggs

3/4 c. milk
1 TBS. vanilla

5 c. flour

How to mix:
Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside. Dry yeast should be allowed to stand for ten minutes before it is added to the dough.
Place sugar, salt, and shortening in the mixing bowl and mix them to a smooth paste.
Break the eggs and check them for freshness. Add one egg at a time; blend it in well before the next addition.
Add the milk and vanilla and stir them in slightly.
Sift the flour and put about 1/2 cup aside to be used if the dough is too soft. Place the rest of the flour in the bowl and stir the mixture for a few turns. Add the yeast solution and mix the dough until it is smooth and does not stick the sides of the bowl. The dough should be of medium consistency. If the dough feels soft and sticky, add the 1/2 cup of flour you set aside. Be sure the to mix the dough until it is smooth.

To make the Filled Snail Shell Buns it had us add some more ingredients that make the dough richer
1 more egg
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. flour
1 package of yeast

Fruit or Jam jelly for filling

Filled Snail Shell Buns
1) Place the dough on the flour-dusted worktable and flatten it gently with the palms of you hands to remove any large air pockets. Roll the dough gently with the rolling pin in to a rectangular shape about 15" long, 12" wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Check the dough with your fingers to see that it is of even thickness. This is important in order to get buns of equal size. If the dough should stick while you are rolling it, roll up the dough gently on the rolling pin and dust the table with flour. Dust the top of the dough if the rolling pin sticks.

2) Remove any excess flour from the top surface of the dough and brush the dough evenly and completely with vegetable oil or melted fat or butter. Now draw a very light line with one finger across the center of the dough from the left to the right. Sprinkle that half of the dough closest to you with cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle the sugar evenly and completely. Fold the upper half of the dough over the half sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. You now have two layers of dough and with a cinnamon sugar and melted fat filling. Next, roll the dough gently with the rolling pin to seal the layers of dough and make the strip about 8" wide (it was formerly about 6" wide).

3) Measure and mark off the dough into 16 equal parts by dividing the dough in half, then in quarters, and lastly, cutting each quarter into 4 strips. Be careful to cut the units evenly.


4) Pick up one piece of dough at a time in the fingers of each hand and stretch it gently an extra inch or so. Then twist the strip of dough so that several spirals are made with the cinnamon sugar filling showing like the spiral stripes on a barber pole.

(See the pictures at the bottom)

5) Take one end of the twisted strip and roll it up along the strip of dough as if you were coiling a rope. Tuck the outside end of the strip under the snail you have made and pinch it together with the bun. Roll the strip of dough closely but do not pull it. Place the buns on the greased baking pan as you shape them, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

6) When all the buns are made and on the pan, flatten them gently with the palms of your hands and brush the tops with eggs wash (1 egg + 1 TBS water). Place the buns in a warm place to rise. Allow them to rise until they are almost double in size and feel soft and gassy to a gently touch.

7) Brush the buns very gently with egg wash again. Press the center of each bun lightly with two fingers of each hands to make an impression for the filling. (Do not press so hard that you tear through the dough. If you do, the filling will cause the bun to stick to the pan after baking.)
Now fill the centers of the buns with the fillings you have ready. Use a teaspoon to put the filling into the bun and place an equal amount of filling into each bun.

Note: You may sprinkle the buns with cinnamon sugar and chopped nuts instead of using fruit or jam jellies.

8) Place the pan of buns carefully into the oven and bake at 390 about 15 minutes. These buns are flat and therefore bake faster than thicker buns do. If the oven bakes unevenly, shift the pans after the buns have risen and show a light brown crust color.

9) Bake the buns until they are golden brown and the tops spring back gently when touched lightly with a fork. Brush them with warm syrup wash as soon as you remove them from the oven. (Be careful not to smear the filling in the center.) When the buns have cooled until they are barely warm, place a little simple icing in their centers. You may stripe the top of the bun by letting the icing drip from the spoon.