Chelsea buns with fennel seeds and apricots

30g unsalted butter, melted
150ml whole milk
1 medium egg
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
50g caster sugar, or vanilla sugar
5g powdered dried yeast
10g salt

For the filling
30g unsalted butter, melted
100g caster sugar, or vanilla sugar
200g dried, unsulphured apricots, chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds

For the glaze
70ml whole milk
70g caster sugar, or vanilla sugar
1 tsp fennel seeds

Melt the butter for the dough over a low heat, then whisk in the milk and egg. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt, add the liquid and mix to a sticky dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead until smooth and silky. Return to a cleaned bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.

Brush the base and sides of a deep, 28cm square or round baking tin with a little melted butter and coat with some of the sugar from the filling, shaking out any excess.

Tip the dough out of the bowl on to a floured surface, dust with a little more flour and roll out into a rectangle around 80cm x 25cm. Brush the melted butter all over the dough, and up to the edges, leaving a margin of 3cm free across the long edge farthest away from you. Sprinkle sugar, chopped apricots and fennel seeds over the buttered part of the dough. Press the fruit into the dough and moisten the unbuttered long edge with a little water. Start rolling from the long edge nearest you, pressing to seal the moistened edge. When you have a long "sausage", divide into 16 equal-sized pieces and arrange cut-side up in the tin.

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Leave the buns to prove for about 40 minutes, until almost doubled in size again. Sprinkle a little of the sugar for the glaze over them and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

To glaze, warm the milk, remaining sugar and fennel seeds in a pan, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then brush over the still-warm buns.