Delicious hot cross buns
First, I am very new to bread-baking, so I am bursting with pride to tell someone my little success story! I wanted to make hot cross buns, but wanted to make sure to make a tender rich dough and I wanted lots of fruit in it. So with great trepidation I actually adapted a recipe to fit. Those of you who bake regularly will chuckle at my naivete but I am just so tickled that it worked and not just tolerably well, even. These are actually the best hot cross buns I've ever had.
For the curious, this is what I did. I took Peter Reinhart's white bread dough recipe (variation 2, to be specific) from BBA, and added 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ginger. After the bread was mixed and had undergone the first rise, I slapped my hands to the sides of my head because I realized I'd forgotten to put in the fruit mixture! So I tenderly, lovingly, apologetically, added 1.5 cups of mixed fruit: 1/2 cup each of raisins, chopped dried apricots and chopped candied cherries. Rolled into 16 balls and set to rise again in a pyrex casserole dish, with trepidation. Added an egg wash. Baked at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. Made icing crosses with mix of icing sugar and orange juice.
I plan to make some more tomorrow and I will make a few small changes. And they're so obvious you will laugh. First, I've decided that candied cherries aren't really food - they are plastic. Yes, the hot cross buns were amazing, but I think they would have been even more flavourful and still very pretty with chopped dried cherries instead.
The other thing is that I didn't take the buns out of the Pyrex dish until after they were cool and I think this was a mistake. The middle buns sort of sank down a bit. Still tasted great but the size discrepancy offends my sense of order.
And finally, notes to self: Make a SMALL hole in the icing bag. Small means 1 mm. And make sure the rest of the bag is firmly closed so icing doesn't completely cover your hands. And for goodness' sake, calm yourself and wait until the buns are cool before icing. Now mop all icing globs off the floor. Hot cross buns should be eaten COLD.
Karen
in a glass baking form at that high temp the sids were cooked befor the center had a chance to reach the right temp to be done to the center which is why the center fell.
lower the temp to 375 and let it bake longer to make sure the heat reachs the center. at a high temp the sides wiill cook before the center had a chance to cook and if baked longer the sides would have burned when the center would be just done.
also don't forget to rotate the pan 90 degrees about 1/4 into the baking time and another 90 degrees 1/2 into the baking time and again 3.4 into the baking time to make sure the buns are cooking evenly.
Thank you nbicomputers; that's helpful advice. I'll take note of it.
Karen
I look forward to Easter every year, partly because it means toasted Hot Crossers, and they are magnificent. I only put plumped currants in mine, no other fruit, and I put a flour/sugar/water paste on the buns before baking, then add a sugar/milk glaze after baking. Absolutely delicious!
I have never thought of toasting them -- I'll have to try that!
Karen
scrape the icing off them if you are tosting them. the heat of the toster will melt the icing and will both make for a burnt top of the bun and a very sticky inside of your toster
I put my Hot Crossers in the toaster oven and they don't burn because there isn't any real icing on them, just the glaze. I just have to be careful, when I take them out, not to touch the glazed tops which are very hot.