Wigs is a traditional British recipe for a classic sweet butter-based bun with spices that makes an excellent breakfast or tea-time dish and which has been put together from a combination of recipes from the middle ages to Georgian times. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Wigs.
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Wigs (also known as whigs) are rich, sweet, yeasted buns containing plenty of butter and sometimes containing eggs, spices and seeds represent some of the earliest versions of what we would call 'teacakes' (though they contain no fruit). Though most commonly associated with the 17th century, their origins actually go back to the middle ages, when the baker would take fine wheaten bread dough, slap it as a round onto the work surface before slicing it across and across again to form four wedges, the 'whigs'. By the seventeenth century, where light breakfasts served with coffee or tea became the fashion these light buns served warm and buttered were ideal early morning fare.
The recipe given here is more of an 'average' recipe for making lightly spiced breakfast buns in the style of wigs that are suited to modern tastes. Think of them as a cross between a bun and a muffin.
The name Wigs, Whigs, Wiggs, Whiggs, whiggs or whigges, by which they are variously known probably derives from the Dutch word “wedge” and refers to the way these tea cakes were sub-divided.
Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Sift the flour into a bowl, form a well in the centre add the milk mixture and combine together to form a dough. Add the butter and beat into the flour mix with your hands to combine.
Now add the sugar and spices and once more beat into the dough with your hands. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise for two hours (the dough should become light and bubbly).
Knock the dough back lightly then divide into two pieces. Take two 20cm diameter springform cake tins and butter them liberally. Pat the dough into the base of each. Take a sharp knife and cut four times across the top of each piece of dough so that you end up with two sets of eight even-sized wedges (16 in all).
Cover the tins with a sheet of clingfilm (plastic wrap) and set aside in a warm place to prove for 20 minutes. Remove the cover then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 190°C and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Remove the wigs from the tins, divide into wedges and serve warm with plenty of butter and jam or marmalade. These can be served for breakfast or at tea time. They are best served immediately, but can be re-heated by warming in the oven if need be.
