These buns are a bakery classic that most Danes have only tasted once – and never forgotten. The base is a lightly spiced yeast dough, the middle holds a dollop of soft vanilla custard, and the top is brushed with icing and sprinkled with coconut. In Norway, you will find them in every bakery and in half of all lunch boxes. In Denmark, they are still a bit of a secret.
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In the air fryer, they turn out really well. The basket holds onto the heat, so the buns rise upward instead of spreading flat, and you do not have to heat up a whole oven for eight buns. The whole bake takes 140 minutes from bowl to wire rack, but most of that is rising time, when the dough looks after itself.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Table of Contents:
Why I love Norwegian School Bread in the air fryer
Yeast dough and the air fryer are a better match than people expect. The heat is close to the dough all the way around, and at 160 °C the buns get an even, light golden crust without the base drying out. 20 minutes is enough. Then there is the batch size: the buns taste best on the day they are baked, and the air fryer makes it easy to bake a small batch at a time instead of a whole baking tray that ends up dry the next day anyway.
The difference between air fryer and oven
An oven has to heat up a whole room, and it takes a good while before you are even up and running. The air fryer is ready almost instantly and uses a fraction of the power. That said, the fan is more powerful, so the temperature needs to come down. The 160 °C the recipe works with is lower than bun dough is normally baked at – and that is exactly the secret behind the buns baking through without the top burning.
My kitchen test: Norwegian School Bread
I baked the buns in my Cosori Dual Blaze, and the recipe’s 160 °C for 20 minutes is exactly where they hit the mark: golden on top, soft all the way through, with a vanilla custard that is still creamy rather than set. The first time, I placed them too close together, and they grew together into one big slab. Four buns at a time in a standard basket is the max if they are going to keep their round shape.
Do not cut corners on the 90-minute rising time. The dough is sweeter and richer than an ordinary bun dough, so it rises more slowly. Prep takes around 30 minutes, and the rest of the 140 minutes is pure waiting time. Icing and coconut go on only once the buns have cooled – otherwise the icing melts and runs down the sides.
Press the indentation down with the bottom of a glass before the buns rise for the last time – that way, the vanilla custard stays exactly where it should, instead of running over the edge.
Tips and tricks from the author: Morten Jensen
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
The first mistake is turning up the heat because it seems faster. It does not – it just gives you a dark top and a raw middle. Stick to 160 °C, and give the buns the 20 minutes they need. The second mistake is overcrowding the basket. The buns need room to rise during baking, and if they touch each other going in, they stick together and lose their shape; bake in two batches instead. The third mistake is putting the vanilla custard onto a flat bun. Without a clear indentation, the custard runs over the edge and burns onto the basket, so press down firmly and do not fill all the way to the rim.
How to serve Norwegian School Bread
The buns are best slightly warm, about half an hour after coming out of the basket, once the icing has just set. Here is how to get the most out of them:
- With afternoon coffee, where the vanilla custard does all the work
- In a lunch box, just like the Norwegian original – wrapped individually, so the coconut stays on the bun
- For a slow weekend breakfast, with a glass of freshly squeezed juice on the side
- As a dessert with fresh berries and a spoonful of crème fraîche
Storage and reheating
The buns stay soft for a couple of days in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not put them in the fridge – the cold makes the dough dry and floury. If you want to keep them longer, freeze them without the icing and coconut, and add the decoration after thawing. A cold bun is almost as good as new after a couple of minutes in the air fryer on low heat, but keep an eye on it as you go: the icing melts fast.
Norwegian School Bread looks more complicated than it is. Once you have made it in the air fryer one time, it earns a permanent spot in your weekend baking – and you might as well make a double batch while you are at it.
Frequently asked questions
The buns bake for 20 minutes at 160 °C. Allow 140 minutes in total, of which 30 minutes is prep and 90 minutes is rising time.
The fan in an air fryer moves hot air around far more powerfully than a regular oven. At a higher temperature, the top turns dark long before the dough is baked through. 160 °C gives an even, light golden crust and a soft middle.
Yes. Freeze them without the icing and coconut, so the decoration does not get sticky. Thaw them at room temperature, warm them briefly in the air fryer, and add the icing and coconut at the end.
Recipe
Norwegian School Bread in the Air Fryer
Cooking Guide
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Shopping list
Ingredients
Yeast dough
Vanilla custard
- 2.5 dl whole milk
- 2 pcs egg yolks
- 40 g sugar
- 20 g cornflour
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
Egg wash and decoration
- 1 pcs egg (For brushing)
- 100 g icing sugar
- 1.5 tbsp water (For the icing)
- 40 g desiccated coconut
How to make it
Vanilla custard
- Whisk together 2 pcs egg yolks, 40 g sugar, 20 g cornflour and 2 tsp vanilla sugar in a bowl until the mixture is pale and smooth.
- Heat 2.5 dl whole milk in a saucepan until it almost boils. Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture in a thin stream while whisking constantly, then pour it all back into the saucepan.
- Stir the custard continuously over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until it thickens. Pour it into a bowl, place cling film directly on the surface, and put it in the fridge until completely cold.
Yeast dough
- Dissolve 25 g yeast in 2.5 dl whole milk, warmed to about 37 °C. Stir in 60 g sugar, 1 pcs egg, 1 tsp ground cardamom and 0.5 tsp salt.
- Add 400 g plain flour a little at a time, and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. Finally, knead 75 g butter into the dough until it is smooth and elastic.
- Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel, and let the dough rise somewhere warm for 45 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, and shape them into round buns. Place them on baking paper, press a clear indentation into the middle of each bun with the back of a tablespoon, and let them rise again for 30 minutes.
- Press the indentations down again, and fill each bun with about 1 tbsp of cold vanilla custard. Brush the edges with 1 pcs egg, lightly beaten.
Baking in the air fryer
- Preheat the air fryer to 160 °C on the fan setting.
- Line the basket with baking paper, and bake 4 buns at a time at 160 °C for 9-10 minutes, until golden and baked through. Bake the second batch the same way.
- Let the buns cool completely on a wire rack. The icing will run off if they are still warm.
Icing and decoration
- Stir 100 g icing sugar together with 1.5 tbsp water to make a thick, white icing that can just barely be spread.
- Spread the icing in a ring around the vanilla custard on each bun, and immediately sprinkle 40 g desiccated coconut over while the icing is still wet.
Our notes for the recipe
Let the vanilla custard cool completely before it goes into the buns — warm custard will run out during baking. The buns will partly push the indentation back out as they rise, so press it down again just before filling. Variation:
Replace the cardamom with finely grated zest from an organic lemon, or add a thin layer of raspberry jam to the bottom of the indentation, under the vanilla custard. To serve:
Serve the buns chilled with coffee, tea or a glass of cold milk. Serving size:
The recipe makes 8 buns — 2 per serving. Bake in two batches so the buns have room to rise in the basket — if your air fryer is small, bake 3 at a time.
Your notes for the recipe
Nutrition per serving (Guideline)
Important about shelf life and nutrition
Nutrition per serving (guideline): Calculations are based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Shelf life (guideline): Shelf life data is provided, as far as possible, by public institutions, including national food authorities. Our information is therefore only indicative, and it is your responsibility to obtain and calculate accurate information about shelf life and nutrition for all recipes on airfryerkogebogen.dk
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