JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Friday, April 10, 2009

Hot cross buns



















I've made all the bread eaten in this house for well over a year, so today I'm making hot cross buns, a great British tradition for Good Friday. These are just notes so that I can make them again next year. I've simply tweaked the pizza dough I mix in my machine.

for 5-6 hot cross buns

1/2 tsp instant yeast
300g strong white flour
20g melted butter
a handful of sultanas
150g water
pinch of salt
dssp honey
tsp mixed spice

When the dough is mixed, form into buns and leave to rise in a warm place. Decorate with a cross - either by slashing, or with a flour and water paste. Bake in a hot oven.

While they are still warm, brush with melted honey. Mmmm


PS as I forgot to put a tsp mixed spice into the mixture, I added it to the honey, which I melted with a drop of water

PPS putting the sultanas into the machine at the beginning means that they get cut up into little pieces, which sweetens the dough, but means you don't have whole sultanas. My machine isn't reliable at mixing in additions, they're often left sitting on the edge of the dough - next time, I think I'll add a few as I'm forming the buns.

PPPS there are so many alternative views about making the flour paste for the crosses, and I'm running out of time - so I simply slashed the buns

8 comments:

silverpebble said...

Delicious Joanna - nothing like home-made and they look sticky and divine to me. Emma x

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Looking loverly Joanna.
I did some several years ago vegan - I was so pleased!

Celia Hart said...

I made some too! I don't know what went wrong - need more practice I guess?!!

We have eaten a few toasted - the rest could be used as missiles a coconut shy ;-)

Celia

Joanna said...

Thanks silverpebble for kind words.

Tanna - if vegan, what did you use to enrich the dough?

Magic Cochin ... I've made my share of bullet buns, but these weren't like that .... HOWEVER, next time, I'd make them half the size, and steam the oven for a better crust .... they really were delicious, and I'm going to make some more later this morning

Joanna

Trish said...

Hot cross buns were a staple on Easter weekend in my home although I did not develop as much of a taste for them as the rest of my family. I tried some sourdough recipes this past few weeks for hot cross buns...okay but not the same. This sounds like a great little recipe. Excuse my ignorance but do tell...what is 'strong' white flour?

Joanna said...

Trish - I wonder what you call bread flour in Canada - perhaps you need to specify softer flour for cakes and sauces. The flour we grow here doesn't have enough gluten for good bread-making, so we mix it with harder (ie more gluten-y) flour, almost always from Canada. The flour I used for these buns was 80% from about 30 miles away, and 20% from Canada .... and that's what we call strong flour. I am obscurely pleased that this explanation was asked for by a Canadian .... Happy Easter Trish

Joanna

Sandra said...

They look gorgeous Joanna. I had two attempts with Andrew Whitley's hot cross buns recipe this week. The first one came out quite nice but the second one was delicious. I'm quite proud to be able to add them to my repertoire.

Your new chooks are beautiful also.

Sam said...

I love making these, they make your house smell fantastic!

Yours look sticky and delicious!