So it’s April 2020 and the world
has been in the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic for about a month now. Lots of
people are working from home, we’re all practicing Social Distancing and the
interwebs are flooded with ideas on how to keep yourself busy while in
isolation. Baking and cooking (not surprisingly) are quite
high on the list. Not only does it mean you can stay at home for things you
would go out for, but I know of several people who are using this time to
perfect their sourdough bread technique, or make chicken stock from scratch.
I however, work in an
Essential Services Job. Which is great as it means my employment and income are
(luckily) fairly insulated from The Crisis, but it also means I have about as
much free time as I usually would; less even, as my non-working hours now need
to fit in Skype or Zoom chats with family and friends. Hence, not a lot of “iso
goals” being achieved by me at the moment.
But it is also
Easter, which for me means Four Days Off. Yes, I will be stuck at home
(probably being REALLY boring and doing some once-a-year cleaning jobs), but I
have decided to Seize the Day and to make Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday.
I have written previously before about my technique for the
HC Buns, but it has been a few years since I have made a batch. They always taste great
straight out of the oven, but by the next day can be a bit chewy and are only
good for toasting. This is not a problem when you take a batch to An Event but
it is tricky when you’re trying to eat your way through a dozen by yourself.
But Good Food did
have a Top bakers' tips, tricks and riffs on hot cross buns (https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/news/top-bakers-tips-tricks-and-riffs-on-hot-cross-buns-20200405-h1n67b.html)
which I scrutinized carefully and have found several variation which I’m going
to try.
1. Use Bread Flour. I will admit I was going
to do this anyway (and it had nothing to do with having a random 200-ish grams
hanging around in my cupboard). Hopefully this will give the dough a bit more
stretch and a bit more “life”
2. Pre-soak the fruit. This kind of makes
sense; if the fruit is “rehydrated” before it gets baked, it will pull less
moisture from the bun mix, leaving more IN said bun mix to keep it “fresher”. I
do have a whiskey chocolate cake recipe where the raisins are soaked in whiskey
before you add them to the mix; maybe I can make an adults boozy HC Bun batch
one year!
3. Add fruit after the kneading. I haven’t
had too much of an issue with my fruit becoming squashed, but why not? I will
knead the dough appropriately and then add the fruit in just before the first
rise
4. Add dates. Again – totally nothing to do
with having dates in my cupboard! This will make up for the lack of sultanas
(of which I had none in my cupboard), plus who doesn’t love dates in pudding?
5. Spray buns before putting them into the oven.
The theory is that “it moistens the skin of the bun, allowing them to rise more
in the oven leading for a fluffier bun”. Which is The Goal after all
6. Use apricot jam as the glaze – this WILL
be dependent upon whether I still have a small jar of it in the fridge! There
were lots of variations on glazes in the Good Food article, but I do remember
using strained apricot jam when I made a sachertorte (I don’t think I blogged
about that one….very fiddly but ultimately deliciously chocolatey).
I also remembered that I have a dough hook with my Kitchen
Aid so decided to use that instead of hand kneading or using my hand-held mixer.
1. It
worked out hat I had exactly enough Strong Flour (OK, it was pasta flour not
bread flour but I know they both have more protein) to make a half-half with plain
flour. So that was nice to empty out a container!
2. The
fruit did look a lot plumper. However, it was difficult to strain all of the
water out, which meant there was a bit more moisture going in to the mix, which
made it quite sticky. Not the end of the world but it did get stuck to my hands A LOT,
and they didn’t look as pretty and rounded as the should (more knobbly and “rustic”
looking); I sort of had to spoon them into the tray rather than rolling them
into nice balls. Extra water also made it tricky for step 3, as the fruit didn’t
want to mix into the dough. Perhaps for next time I will knead the dough for
the allotted time then tip it out and hand knead the fruit in (or leave it to
drain for longer before adding it)
4. The
dates weren’t a noticeable difference, again the main difference with mine versus
shop bought is the presence of mixed peel – it really changes the flavour. As it is the same bag of peel I have been using for probably 10 years or so I possibly
will not buy another bag when this one runs out; just mixed fruit is fine.
5. I
did spray them, but I didn’t really notice much difference in the fluffiness
6. No
apricot jam in the fridge so stuck with golden syrup for the glaze. Perhaps I
will switch to apricot jam when I finish the bag of mixed peel – swap one orange
thing for another!
 |
| Knobbly rustic buns before going in the oven |
The buns straight
of the oven tasted wonderful – very soft and light. By afternoon tea time, they
were a bit more solid but still easy to butter and slice. But again by the next
day they had dried out a bit further and thus got toasted for breakfast. So
luckily I only made a half batch and that I’m home for a few days to eat them!
 |
Piping hot just waiting for butter |
So some hits and misses with these tweaks – I think I’ll keep the Kitchen Aid, and the fruit
soaking. I may try and track down actual bread flour for the next batch, but
again – best to plan to eat them on the
day.
Happy Easter!
In other baking
news, whether it’s bravery or folly, I am going to try and make yo yos this
afternoon from my grandmother’s recipe (so its fair to say they will probably
not be as good as hers; she’s been baking them for 70+ years!
