Monday 25 April 2011

Nice Buns!

My Year of Baking continued today with a rather splendiferous, Easter-themed foray into Hot Cross BunsNow this was a drama in three parts:

Act I:  The Cast (and a little creative workshopping)

Gathering all of the ingredients before me on the kitchen bench, I proceeded to make the dough and you know what that means - yeast!  I have not worked with this little devil since a disappointing bread-making incident in Year 7 Home Economics, way before the world actually had breadmakers called Kenwood, Panasonic and Morphy Richards.  Nor was I about to be put off by some diametrically opposed instructions: the recipe called for the yeast to be mixed with water whilst the completely contradictory and carefree directions on the yeast packet informed me to basically just toss it in with the flour.  Anyway, after getting in amongst it and ending up with mighty sticky/dough-y fingers, my little mound of yeasty goodness went down for an hour's kip in my sunlit front window.  As did I.

Act II  Rehearsals (and a little Diva-ish behaviour)

Roused by the insistent beeping of the 'timer on the stove', it was time for a little more kneading before separating the bigger-mound-of-dough-than-it-was-before into 12 equal (so they say) balls and fitting them nicely on to my greased baking tray.  However the incising of the cross (without which these would merely be 'Buns') was more than these poor darlings could take and they downed tools (or was that me?) and went off for a slightly long-ish 30min, window-warming power nap. 

Part III  Opening Night (for one night only)

The final act was to move these bigger-than-they-were-before mounds into the less temperate environs of the oven.  And just 15mins later they appeared in the wings for their curtain call, ready to be iced and glazed before appearing in front of their adoring public....

...and quite frankly, I couldn't wait to get myself an autograph!




Happy Easter everyone

5 comments:

Jenny said...

Can you believe I never tasted a hot cross bun until I moved to Australia? Now I can't imagine Easter without them. Yummy! Stopping by from Post of the month.

Travel With Lulu said...

Great title! I am crazy impressed with your buns :) I'd be really intimidated by it all. You know you can buy those already made at the store, right? (lol) Yours look fantastic - bravo!

Thank you for joining Post Of The Month Club! XOL

Unknown said...

Thanks ladies! I too loved a Hot Cross Bun (or five) as a kid and Mum used to heat them up in the oven and smother them in not-quite-so-good-for-you butter!

But then I moved to the UK where every single commercial Hot Cross Bun contains mixed peel. Since I am allergic to oranges, my life has been bereft of these little beauties...until now!

Thanks for stopping by...

LindyLouMac said...

Calling by from Post of The Month Club, I miss Hot Cross Buns as we do not have them in Italy.

Unknown said...

LindyLou, this recipe was not so challenging but just needed a bit of time...don't keep on denying yourself! Great buns are close at hand...