Hot cross buns

Easter weekend was fairly spring-like in O-town. The weather certainly wasn't as warm as our pre-taste of summer from a few weeks ago, but there was still enough sun to coax us outside.

We headed to the Experimental Farm for a walk about on Sunday. The parking lot was teeming with mini-vans full of families there to see the new lambs and baby calves inside the barn. But we stuck to the gardens, where not much was in bloom, but we entertained ourselves spotting the new green shoots on the lilac trees, and the yellow daffodils emerging from the dirt.

Below, my extremely un-horiticultural report of some of the things we saw.


Some pink magnolia (?) ready to bloom.

Bright yellow branches.

Teeny leaves ready to pop. (I'd better prepare to for the onslaugh of offers to write for gardening magazines after those descriptions!)

Before we set out on our walk, we fuelled up on a lunch of hot cross buns. Why lunch, you ask? I had initially planned to have the buns for breakfast, and in fact prepared Nigella's recipe the night before, leaving it in the fridge overnight to rise. When I got up Sunday morning, eagerly hoping to find a bowl of fluffly, fruit-studded dough to greet me, what I instead discovered was a hard lump of dough no bigger than when I left it the night before. Nigella Easter fail!

So, Jamie Oliver to the rescue. This recipe is from his magazine, published at Easter last year. It was quick to pull together, and most importantly, resulted in some buns we could actually eat. They were delicious warm from the oven, and nice the next day as well, toasted and spread with butter. I used dried fruit I had on hand, which included a mix of raisins, cranberries and candied ginger.

Hot cross buns
From Jamie Magazine

• 50g sugar
• 7g sachet dried yeast
• 450g flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 100g mixed dried fruit (currants, sour cherries, sultanas)
• 25g chopped mixed peel
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 egg, beaten
• 50g butter, melted
• 50ml milk, warmed

Decoration
• 100g flour mixed with about 50ml water to make a dough, or 100g readymade shortcrust pastry

Sticky glaze
• 2 tbsp sugar
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Mix 1 teaspoon of the sugar with the yeast and 150ml tepid water in a jug until frothy.

2. Sift the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and the mixed spice into a large bowl, then add the dried fruit, peel, orange zest and remaining sugar. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast mixture, then add the beaten egg, melted butter and 40ml warmed milk. Using a fork or wooden spoon, stir in a circular motion until you have a dough. Add a little more milk if the dough is too dry.

3. Place the dough on a clean surface dusted with flour and knead until it is smooth and glossy, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a large mixing bowl and cover with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place to prove until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour, then knock it back and knead again to its original size. Divide the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces and shape into round buns. Place on a lightly greased baking tray, spaced well apart. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise again until doubled in size, about 35–40 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. For the decoration, place the dough or shortcrust pastry on a clean surface dusted with flour and roll into a sausage about 1cm thick. Cut the sausage in half, and cut each half into 6 pieces. Roll out each piece again to make 2 thinner, 5mm strips of about 8cm long. You should have 24 strips in total. Brush the risen buns with the beaten egg and lay the dough strips on top in the shape of a cross. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

5. Meanwhile for the glaze, place the sugar and juice in a pan and gently heat until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is bubbling.

6. Brush the buns with the glaze and eat immediately, or cool and serve toasted.