Mix the dried ingredients together in a bowl then pour in the milk and egg. Mix with your hand until there are no dry pieces left in a bowl. The official term is “shaggy mess” and don’t be scared of it!

Cover with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.

Now it’s time for your first “ten second knead”. All you do is oil your hands very lightly each time and steadying one side of the rough ball of dough in front of you with one hand, use the other to pull the side out and then bring back to the middle of the dough. Repeat about 10 times until you have worked your way around the dough so all unworked bits have been worked. Cover with cling film again. It will be very rough and knobbly at first - this is correct.

Leave covered for ten minutes.

Repeat the ten second knead.

Leave covered for another 10 minutes.

Repeat the 10 second knead process – the dough will be becoming very much more elastic and smoother by this point.

Leave covered for 10 minutes.

Now comes the fun bit – pop your dough on the worktop or a cutting board if your bench scraper has a sharp edge. Put the butter on top and then go to town chopping it into the dough. Turn it over as necessary and keep on going until the butter seems to be evenly distributed but not fully blended into the dough.

Leave to rest covered for 10 minutes then do a ten second knead one final time, this time do a few extra pulls if need be to get a nice smooth well blended dough.

Refrigerate for a minimum of 60 minutes (or overnight if you prefer) then remove from the fridge and shape into balls. You can simply shape into a soft rectangle and pop into a deep 500g/1lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment or shape into 4-8 small balls. No matter what, they rise very well so don’t be alarmed at the small amount of dough you have before you. I like to shape balls by forming a rough sphere then cup my hands around the ball, time and time again until the surface is taut but not torn and the seam is under the ball. Place the shaped balls on a baking tray.

Leave to prove for 60-120 minutes until at least doubled in size, depending on the warmth of your room. You may see one or two bubbles forming here or there and you want to bake them before too many form and they over-prove (which means the structure is lacking when baked). I cover mine with a large plastic box and put a couple of cups/mugs filled with boiling water in amongst the buns to provide steam as the buns prove.

Preheat your oven to 200°C (I always use an oven thermometer on the same shelf I am baking on) and when ready, glaze your buns with the reserved egg wash and bake the buns for 20 minutes or a whole loaf for 30 minutes. You can almost watch them grow in the oven as they bake if you have a glass door! They will rise by double again and go a deep, dark golden brown. Once baked, they are very light and delicate so need to cool to room temperature on the tray or in the tin until room temperature before you move them.