SD vs yeasted hot cross buns - this year's winner (recipe now posted)
As kids, my siblings and I were never permitted to eat a hot cross bun before Good Friday (or an Easter egg before Easter Sunday, or meat on Good Friday). While formalised religion and I have parted ways, I've continued to observe the Easter culinary traditions I was brought up with. I think it's no bad thing to delay gratification with treats like hot cross buns. The building anticipation enhances the experience, and I suspect you savour them all the more for holding off. Anyway...
All my adult life I've switched into Ultimate Hot Cross Bun Quest mode on the Thursday afternoon before Good Friday. I used to search all over the city for the UHCB, then extended my forays to the suburbs. When the shops opened on Easter Saturday, the quest continued. Was always pretty hot cross bunned out by Sunday night!
5 years ago, I gave up my quest to find great hot cross buns in the shops. In the last decade or so, most of the bakeries and supermarkets here have dumbed down their hot cross buns in response to a mystifying public antipathy towards peel - hardly any commercial bakeries include peel in their doughs! What's a hot cross bun without peel? Huh?
What was I to do, then? Continue the quest in my kitchen, of course! Sometimes it takes a long time to find the right path, no? So, I started plundering newspaper and magazine recipes, taking notes from TV cooks, googling etc. First couple of years, results were patchy due to inexperience on my part and some very ordinary recipes. Then 3 years ago, I 'discovered' home-baking of sourdough bread. Sounds like a prologue to an evangelical rant, or an MLM presentation. It very well could be the former, but I'm preaching to the converted here, so jump cut...
Most of my HCB recipes in the last 3 years have come from the generous online artisan bread community, and surprise surprise, my results have improved markedly. Being a sourdough nut, I usually include at least one SD recipe in my annual HCB bakes, and this year was no exception. I had highlighted 3 HCB recipes during the year that I just had to try when Easter finally arrived, and at this point I must make a confession. Due to extended fermentation periods in the recipes and a full fridge, I realised that I would not finish baking until after Easter Sunday unless I started before Good Friday - so I made my first batch earlier in the week without crosses! Is that cheating? I've convinced myself that it's not, since what makes a hot cross bun a hot cross bun is the cross.
As it happens, the first recipe I tried yielded the best hot (un)crossed buns I've made, and I ended up making some small tweaks and doing it again, this time crossed (on Good Friday morning)! So, this year, I've only managed to do one recipe twice, and one more yeasted recipe. Still, Easter is not over yet, so that third recipe may yet get a run.
Here are a couple of pics of the SD buns and the yeasted ones I baked the next day (in that order). The SD buns were far superior in every way. While they look a bit rustic (I'm not big on aesthetic finessing), I'd have to rate them as amongst the best I've sampled in all my years of questing after the Ultimate HCB. I'm excited by the prospect of elevating them to another level with a little more tweaking... I'm out of time right now, but will post the recipe (current tweaked version) a little later.
Sourdough hot cross buns...
...and crumb shot
Yeasted...
...and on the way to Judgment Day.
Safe and happy Easter Sunday, folks.
Ross
OK, back. Here's the recipe for the SD HCBs. I've changed hydration and made other tweaks to the point that it now departs significantly from the recipe on which it was based, which was in turn based on another on Den Lepard's site. The original link is now 'broken'. This is how it goes in the baking community - everything is in a state of flux, with the possibilities always wide open to tweak in line with your own preferences. Goes without saying that anyone trying this recipe should feel free to continue this tradition.
SD Hot Cross Buns (makes 6 large buns)
My ambient temp was 24C.
Pour boiling water over fruit, cover and leave overnight
Preferment
Mix up 75gm of white SD starter (80% hydration) + 87g organic baker's flour + 137gm soy milk (yes! - doubtless cow's milk would be fine, but I suspect the soy lends a slight sweetness and creaminess that cow's milk wouldn't). Leave overnight to ripen - 8 hours was sufficient for mine.
Next morning, add 30gm ripe white starter (80% hydration) to preferment, or whatever is required to bring its useable weight to 300gm.
Dough
150gm organic baker's flour
20gm wholewheat organic flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
40gm white sugar
5gm whole cream milk powder
40 gm melted butter
300gm preferment
Spices:
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground green cardomom (just the seeds, not the pods)
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
Fruit:
75gm soaked sultanas
25gm soaked peel
Method
Mix dry ingredients, except fruit. Add melted butter, mix in, then add preferment.
Knead briefly in bowl twice, 10 minutes apart. Fold in fruit.
Bulk proof 3.5 hours (adjust according to your ambient temperature), with hourly stretch and folds.
Divide into 6 (or more if you prefer smaller buns). Best to weigh them out, so you get uniform buns. Shape into balls, flatten slightly, and arrange on a greased baking tray. The buns should be close together but not quite touching each other or the sides of the baking tray. Cover well, and put in fridge overnight.
Next morning, preheat oven to 200C/390F (no fan, no steam). While preheating, make mix for crosses (can do this the previous night if preferred; store covered in fridge).
Cross mix (combine and mix well):
35gm flour
10gm canola oil
25gm water
1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon sugar
This mix can be piped on to the buns, but for such a small quantity I prefer to lay it out on a lightly oiled bench, roll it out thinly, and lay the crosses on the buns by hand.
Baking:
Bake buns @ 200C/390F for about 25 minutes. (The second time I baked these, to get a better browning, I started @ 215C/420F for first 7 minutes or so, then dropped to 190C/375F, then dropped to 175 - all depends on the finish you are after. You might need to reduce baking time, also - you just need to watch the buns during the bake and use your intuition).
While buns are baking, make sugar syrup glaze:
15gm caster sugar
15gm water
Bring to boil, stir until sugar dissolved.
When bake is complete, remove buns and with silicon or bristle pastry brush apply hot glaze (reheat if necessary) to tops of buns. As soon as possible, get buns off baking tray and on to cooling rack.
Best to wait a while before splitting and eating with bounteous spread of fresh unsalted butter. I actually prefer these a couple of hours later, cold. The flavour and structure seems to develop during that time. Gorgeous toasted up to 2 days after bake, also.
Comments
Those look great. Happy Easter!
And hope you had a pleasant Easter break, too.
Cheers
Ross
Delectable looking. I think I've managed to go through life w/o ever having a hot cross bun -- but your post has me rethinking that. Look forward to seeing the recipe.
Happy Easter to you!
...recipe up. Thanks for your generous comments.
Cheers
Ross
I must say, having never had a Hot Cross Bun, yours are to drool for. I'll be right there with bnom waiting for the recipe. It's time to try these beautiful buns.
Happy Easter to you Ross!
Eric
Appreciated.
Now I'm curious...I wonder why you and bnom have never tried a hot cross bun? Not that your reasons are necessarily the same, of course! And naturally, you're entitled to ignore me as a busybody. But I am interested...!
Hope your Easter break was enjoyable.
Cheers
Ross
Dear Ross,
you must be a real hot cross bun connoisseur. we all have our obsessions :)
This year i finally baked Dan Lepard's spiced and "stout-spiked" (well, it goes into the pre-ferment) HCB. I wish i could attach the photo but it's at home. They were very nice. I was surprised at how moist they were and stayed, and it's not cloyingly rich nor sweet at all. Having eaten one too many sugared buns masquerading as HCB, this one gets my vote.Do try it if you get a chance to!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/13/spiced-stout-buns-dan-lepard
Your post must have crossed while I was adding the recipe to mine. As you'll have noted, the recipe from which mine evolved initially appeared on Dan Lepard's site (not sure if it was one of Dan's recipes or a forum poster's). Whatever, Dan's The Handmade Loaf was one of my earliest bread books, and his ale barm bread recipe from that book one of the most flavoursome I've tried, so I'm most interested in his stout-spiked HCBs! Top of the list for next year (or more likely, uncrossed and this year...probably within days!).
Am I a hot cross bun connoisseur? Not sure I can claim that. My interest level is about as high as it gets, but my tasting samples have mostly come from Perth bakeries, apart from two Easters in Sydney and one in England (don't recall trying any particularly special buns in either place). So, the intent is there, but not the geographical range!
Cheers!
Ross
Hello Ross,
Thanks for posting your sourdough HCB recipe.
Both versions of your HCB's look very nice.
Thanks to ww too, for posting the link to the 'stout buns' - what an idea - those must be tasty too.
Happy Easter, from breadsong
I post little enough, considering the enormous amount I have learnt from the generous community here. Figured this recipe was so special, it was time to contribute something back.
Happy Easter break to you, too!
Ross
They look yum-o.
Soy milk in the recipe is interesting. I would love to borrow that idea sometimes.
Sue
http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com
Yeah, soy milk is not something I would have tried in a HCB dough without coming across it in the recipe I ended up modifying. I usually resist tweaking until I've done one bake of a recipe as is, and this is the only reason I didn't change to milk. After the first batch, I upped the spices and reduced the fruit content, but decided to stay with the soy milk. The second lot were so good I think the soy is there to stay, although I'll probably try milk next time just to see if there's any appreciable difference. I use Vitasoy Original by the way, which I think is a particularly good quality soy milk.
Cheers!
Ross
I must not have spent enough time in churches and bakeries I guess. Most kids love bakeries and candy shops - my childhood haunt was the deli.
Thanks for posting the recipe. I note that you call for soaking peel (you're working with dry orange peel I assume). Is there any reason not to simply use fresh grated orange peel?
Like that response, bnom! I was thinking that you might practise some religion that precluded participating in Christian-based culinary traditions - I couldn't have been further off the mark! By all means, leave the crosses off, but don't deny yourself the pleasure of a hot (un)crossed bun any longer!
The peel I use is packet candied lemon peel, so it's not dry. Home-made candied peel would no doubt be better still. I don't suppose it would matter much if you didn't soak the peel, but it is a good idea to soak the sultanas (you guys call them 'golden raisins', I think?). Two reasons: ensures they are nice and moist and succulent, and also they increase the hydration of the dough when you work them in. If you choose not to soak them, you might compensate by adding more milk to the dough at the mixing stage.
Really interested to hear how you find these babies - pls lemme know.
Cheers
Ross
before I came to the US, and wasn't tempted to try any of those I saw in the supermarket. But your photos are very convincing! Something to try next Easter.
I use soymilk in cupcakes and sometimes in bread. I also find the taste quite good.
Karin
Yeah, I can't say I can recall seeing any hot cross buns during the Easter period I spent in Munich. I think they were originally an English tradition? Anyway, if you're going to try any next Easter, this SD recipe is a good place to start I reckon.
I've come across various cake recipes that use soy milk, but these SD HCBs are the only baked goods I've made with soy instead of cow's milk. Agreeably surprised. Interesting that you use soy sometimes and like it. I'm thinking it may be worth substituting soy in other recipes in which I habitually use milk, such as bananabread. I think it's important to use quality soy milk, though. There are big differences in quality between brands in my opinion. And as usual, you generally get what you pay for.
Cheers
Ross
Every year i review my saved collection of HCB recipes and try to remember which one is best. I can't remember if i'd tried this before but now that i have, i agree it is the winner. The 20g of wholemeal seems important to the authentic HCB taste and the spice mix is perfect. I also appreciate the timeline for production. On the third day, they rise again ;) Thank you for sharing, rossnroller!
Your hot cross buns looked great! Mine, not so much so I hope you can give some advice.
When you pull the HCB;s out of the fridge, how long do you let them rise? It seemed like you went from fridge to oven, which I did and the HCB's seemed dense.
Put another way, how much rise should I be looking for!
Thanks,
Mike
I made a test batch of these last weekend to make sure I'd like the results. They were good, but dense and heavy. My wife assured me that they were supposed to be like that, and that they tasted great. On that, at least, we agreed.
This weekend, a second, and much larger, batch for church tomorrow (Easter 2023). This time I didn't have the Flame organic raisins I usually use for raisin breads, and used generic raisins from the store. Last week i didn't soak the raisins or orange peel in water as the Flame raisins are usually moist enough. (I REALLY like the Flame Organic raisins and have used them for years.)
I drained the raisins and orange peel, and then added them to the dough at the end of the mix cycle. The mixed in nicely and they moistened the dough to where it was a joy to handle!
The test bake tastes great and is much lighter than last week's.
On a historical note, the hot cross buns are loaded with as much symbolism as raisins. The frosting cross is symbolic of the cross Jesus died on. The herbs and spices symbolize the herbs and spices used to embalm Jesus. The orange symbolizes the bitterness of his time on the cross.
To those of you who are observant, Happy Easter!
-Mike