March 8, 2016 - 2:26pm
Hot Cross Buns
I have been baking these, fairly successfully, over the past couple of years. However, the biggest problem I face is the proving time. The recipe I use (from the Good Food Guide) calls for three separate 1-hour proving times, which make the process very time-consuming. I was wondering whether it was possible to refrigerate the dough just after adding the fruit (2nd lot of proving) and then finish off proving the next day?
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it will be fine. I toss all kinds oi breads in the fridge at various tine=-mes when they aren't supposed to be there and it always works out to my advantage
Last year I was making my Hot X buns using an overnight process - no fridge, just a fraction of the yeast and a cool place - even though the dough contained eggs & milk... However this year I'm just using a bog-standard one rise & one proof method. < 3 hours flour to bun. I put a lot of "bun spice" in my buns, but no cinnamon, so the underlying flavour of the bread isn't that important - 3 rises? No....
-Gordon
Meant to post my recipe earlier but was a bit busy loading the ovens...
My basic recipe for about 10 buns is:
I don't normally add any butter - if you want a richer bun, then add in 50g of softened butter (10%) and you might want to soak the fruit - I often use earl grey tea, but if you do that, drain it well and reduce the milk a little.
For the liquid, put jug on scales, zero scales, crack 2 eggs in, then top up to the desired weight (310g in this case) with milk. Whisk then warm through to take the chill off. (microwave, but don't make scrambled eggs!)
Basically, throw the lot into a mixer and mix until you think the dough is kneaded well, turn out, shape into a boulle then into a covered bowl for an hour or so until about double in size - turn out, do a stretch & fold on it just as part of the degassing then scale into ~100g pieces, round and put on a tray to prove for another hour or so. Should get about 10 buns from that batch. If you scale at 82g then you'll get 12.
The cross is just flour & water - about 10% more water than flour and 70g flour will be more than enough for a dozen buns. Mix well and pipe over.
Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes in a fan oven - might need turning and checking after about 10-15 minutes. Make sure buns in the middle are cooked (96°C)
turn out onto a rack. Glaze with your favourite sticky glaze - mine is honey brought to the boil with double cream added and brushed on ...
I often start with 700g of flour and scale accordingly (3 eggs) to get 15 good sized buns. I'm making these most days right now - I'll see if I can remember to take some photos tomorrow...
Happy hot cross bunnies :-)
-Gordon
If they're as good as your Chelsea bun recipe (and its assorted variants) they're definitely worth a try :-D
Thanks, Gordon. Why no cinnamon, particularly?
it seems to slow down yeast a little. (Mentioned by Hammelman too) And saying that I've just checked my current bag of mixed spice and it does contain cinnamon... So I'll see how this mornings ones rise.
When I make cinnamon rolls (or chelsea buns, etc. same basic dough recipe) I always put it in the filling paste rather than the dough.
Easter biscuits do have cinnamon in though.
-Gordon
I made 14 up this morning for some friends:
On the tray:
In the oven:
Glazed and in a box:
They seemed to go down well!
-Gordon
They were poolish with sprouted grains if I remember right
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/42202/3-sprouted-grain-poolish-hot-cross-buns
a bun and a half! Looks fab.
-Gordon
but it is the 'Mother Of all HC Buns' ;-) They taste good but a cinnamon roll is like 10 times better ! As a result , HC bums get baked once a year and Cinnamon Rolls are their own food group and King around here.