Pumpkin Steamed Jack-o’-Lantern Buns

Dough

• 300 g Plain flour
• 4 g Instant yeast
• 30 g Caster sugar
• 2 g Fine sea salt
• 160 g Canned pumpkin purée, plain, not pie filling
• 45 ml Water
• 15 ml Sunflower oil

Faces

• 25 g Dark baking chocolate, dairy-free and soya-free
• 8 pieces Shelled pumpkin seeds

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the pumpkin purée, lukewarm water and oil, then knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and soft; the dough should feel supple rather than wet.
2. Cover and leave in a warm place for 60 minutes until roughly doubled. Cut 8 small squares of baking paper for the steamer.
3. Knead briefly to remove large air bubbles and divide into 8 balls. Score 6 shallow lines from the top down the sides of each ball with a sharp knife to suggest pumpkin lobes, then place on the paper squares.
4. Arrange in a large steamer with 3 cm gaps and leave covered for 20 minutes until puffy. Bring water to a steady simmer below the steamer without letting it touch the buns.
5. Steam, covered, for 15 minutes until risen and springy with no sticky dough inside a test bun. Turn off the heat and wait 5 minutes before lifting the lid away from your face; steam in batches if needed.
6. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Melt the chocolate in a dry bowl over warm water and pipe simple eyes and mouths onto the cool buns, then press a pumpkin seed into each top as a stem.

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