Sweet smelling spiced buns

ntewllocks
Mar 24, 2016
5 min read

It’s very personal as to whether you think supermarkets put Easter eggs and hot cross buns on the shelves too soon. Usually I haven’t come to grips with the fact that it is a new year and my new year’s resolutions to eat healthier and exercise better are already under threat as they are throwing tempting chocolates and sweet smelling spiced buns at me.

The Baking Association of Australia and the National Baking Industry Association have even attempted to get supermarkets to agree to only sell hot cross buns no more than six weeks out from Easter. That hasn’t worked. My rule is no Easter treats outside the month of March and then in all my foodie snob glory, only buns from bakeries not supermarkets. It’s better than the law Elizabeth I brought in in 1592, declaring sweet spiced buns could only be eaten on Good Friday, Christmas and at burials. That’s food blasphemy!

This year however I decided to make my own hot cross buns. If you read my last blog entry you would have seen my confession that bread is not my forte. So I thought if any bread is going to still taste delicious if it goes wrong, it’s hot cross buns (my family has been cutting off burnt bottoms on a few batches but are still liking their fingers after devouring what’s left of the tasty morsel).

Traditionally these are made with currants, raisins, mixed peel and spiced with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Delicious as they are, for me it’s a bit too close to the flavours of Christmas. Taking a different approach, my recipe uses organic apricots (the colour and flavour of dark caramel), coconut, cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla.

Here’s the result, and it is yummy!

Ingredients

Buns

150ml coconut milk

150ml milk

1½ tsp vanilla

50g butter

7g dried yeast sachet (if fast action or easy blend look at note for recipe change)

1 egg, beaten

500g strong flour

75g caster sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbs sunflower oil

300g organic apricots chopped

120g shredded coconut

zest 1 orange

zest 1 lemon

3 tsp cinnamon

1½ tsp cardamom

Cross

75g plain flour

5 tbs water

Glaze

3 tbs apricot jam

Method

1. In a saucepan combine the two milks and vanilla and bring to the boil. Take off heat and add the butter. Once melted and it’s warm to touch (between 41-46 degrees) whisk in yeast and leave for ten minutes until bubbles start to form.*

2. In a bowl combine the flour, salt and sugar and make a well in the centre. Pour in the milk and yeast mixture and the beaten egg. Mix well with a wooden spoon, then bringing it together with your hands to form a sticky dough.

3. On a floured surface tip out the dough and knead until it is smooth and elastic. Being wet and sticky you will be tempted to add more flour, DON’T! If you have a bread spatula use it to help scrape up the dough and knead it by picking up half and holding it over in a slapping motion.* If you are an experienced kneader this should only take around 5mins, unlike myself, who lacks the upper arm strength, it can take double the time. You could also use a mixer with a dough hook (I’m very partial to this cheat).

4. Once kneaded, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with glad wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. You can check if it is done by pressing a finger into the top, it should leave a dent.Leave the dough in the bowl and add the apricots, coconut, zest and spices. Knead into the dough until it is all well combined, this can take a little work and manipulation, and more toning of the arms.

5. Cover and leave to rise again for another hour or until doubled in size.

6. Take the dough out and weigh it, then divide the dough into 16 equal pieces (about 85g each). Work each piece by tucking all the sides underneath to form a rough ball, then cup your hand over the top, move you hand in a circular motion to shape it into a nice ball.

7. Arrange the buns about 1cm apart onto your baking tray covered in baking paper. Here’s where you can be creative! You could arrange them in a circle or ring rather than rows. Again cover with glad wrap or a clean tea towel and leave to rise for another hour.

8. Pre heat the oven to 220C or 200C fan forced.

9. For the cross, add a tablespoon of water at a time to the flour and mix together, making a thick paste for the cross. Spoon it into a piping bag (or you could us a snap lock bag) and cut a small hole about 3mm.

10. Pipe one way across each row left to right, then top to bottom to form the cross over the buns. If you not in the mood for crosses you could write a letter on each one spelling out HOT CROSS BUNS

11. Bake for 20mins on middle shelf until they are golden brown.

12. Heat to melt the apricot jam and remove any chunks. Slather over the top of the still hot buns using a pastry brush, until they shine.

* If using fast acting yeast combine with the dry ingredients in the next step.

* Video on how to kneading wet dough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dUZ0O-Wv0Q

Other things you can do with Hot cross buns – they’re not just for eating.

The blessed cross

The cross on the bun is said to have symbolised the four seasons in pagan beliefs and to commemorate Christ’s suffering on the cross in Christianity. People in the middle ages thought it would banish evil spirits.

My favourite symbol though is of good friendship. Take a bun and with a friend hold a side each and pull to split it along the cross, ‘half for you and half for me, between us two, good luck shall be’.

This belief changed to preventing kitchen fires from starting, as well as being kept by sailors on voyages for protection against shipwreck.

But the real reason you should make your hot cross buns is, they are meant to guarantee that all bread made in the next year will turn out delicious.