Friday 2 April 2010

Hot Cross Buns

Freshly baked hot cross buns
Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One a penny,Two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns!
Traditional nursery rhyme

Hot cross buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday. Nowadays they are available from supermarkets for weeks before Easter.
For my version I boiled the dried fruit in 4 fl oz tea in a pan until most of the liquid was absorbed. This makes the fruit juicier and makes it stay in the dough. With earlier attempts I found the fruit kept popping out of the dough as it was mixed.
I used a bread maker for the dough using 8 fl oz water to about 1lb flour. I added the fruit when the beeps went. When the dough was ready it was shaped and left to prove before baking in the oven. The water and tea took the place of milk and egg, otherwise the recipe is similar to Delia’s.
Lovely eaten still warm with a bit of unsalted butter.

2 comments:

LeelaBijou said...

*nom, nom, nom* Looks really yummy!

Julie G. said...

Tessa, I've never had hot cross buns, and I did not know that they were traditionally eaten on Good Fri.! They look absolutely delicious! Can you send me some????