The fact that an iced finger is essentially a bread roll with a thick layer of icing does not stop it from being a British classic. I’ve switched things up with the addition of matcha powder to reinvent this dessert.
Notes
Makes 6 iced fingers.
These have a milk bread base and use a tangzhong for an extra fluffy iced finger.
Matcha gives a sweet earthy flavour as well as a vibrant green colour.
Make sure you add the water gradually to the icing, it needs to be very thick.
Ingredients:
Tangzhong:
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp bread flour
Matcha Milk Bread:
350 bread flour
12g matcha
50g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
115g whole milk, lukewarm
1 large egg
60g unsalted butter, melted
Icing:
200g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp water
Directions:
FOR THE TANGZHONG
In a small saucepan, whisk together the flour, milk and water.
Over a medium heat, keep whisking until the tangzhong becomes very thick. This will only take a minute or so.
Set aside to cool whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
FOR THE MATCHA MILK BREAD
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, matcha, caster sugar and salt. Whisk until combined.
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and add to the dry ingredients, Add the egg, melted butter and tangzhong.
Using either a dough hook attachment in a stand mixer or your hands bring all the ingredients together to form a dough.
Knead by hand or using a stand mixer for 10-15 minutes. Until smooth, springy and elastic.
Transfer to a lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover with oiled clingfilm. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 to 1.5hrs. Until puffy and nearly doubled in size.
Gently deflate the dough and cut into 6 equal pieces. I like to weigh mine to make sure they’re all the same size.
Shape each portion into a rough sausage shape. They don’t need to be neat as this is just the preshape to make them easier to shape later.
Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 15 minutes.
Take a sausage and use your fingers to dimple into a rectangle. Roll horizontally into a sausage. Use your finger to press down a seam. Tuck in the top, bottom and seam until you have a neat sausage. You can watch me do this on my Instagram if this isn’t making sense to you!
Grab a 12×8 inch baking tin and grease and line with baking parchment.
Gently transfer the fingers to the tin leaving a small gap between them. You want a small gap but as they rise they will come together, we want this so they can pull apart later!
Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 1hr.
Whilst the fingers have their final prove preheat the oven to 160c standard/180c fan.
Bake the fingers for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and gently transfer to a wire rack, making sure to not pull the fingers apart.
Leave the fingers to cool completely.
FOR THE ICING
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the water 1 tbsp at a time, please make sure to add the water gradually so you don’t add too much!
Stir in the vanilla extract, if you can use vanilla with seeds as the black flecks look the part.
Spoon the icing generously over the buns, smoothing as you go.
To serve, pull apart and enjoy!