Hot Cross Buns

YeastSpotting

I’ve never made Hot Cross Buns and so my friend Rachel, an accomplished artisan baker came over to my kitchen for a full day of baking, eating, taking photos, just to show me how to bake Hot Cross Buns. I was pressing the shutter a lot trying to capture everything via the lens, and if you asked me what I enjoyed the most, it would be the company of someone who loves to bake and shares the same passion and also the way how with ease of a seasoned professional Rachel’s hands shaped the dough within minutes into something beautiful. It is a true art form, bread making, skill one gains through years of dedication and hard work.

Rachel and I, we baked Savory pizza, Summer pizza and Hot Cross Buns. It was sunny out and on occasion we’d let some fresh air slip into the kitchen through the kitchen sliding door…it was a perfect baking day.

A Baker at heart will do anything in their power to create a delicious hugging aroma of freshly baked bread. Photo shoot set up made the kitchen less spacious and it was a bit funny to move around( we had to crawl under the table to get from the counter to the oven)… but it made for great pictures! Don’t you think?

Hot Cross Buns

2cups all purpose flour
2cups bread flour
4tbl sugar
1 cup currants, or you can also use raisins if you wish
1/2cup candied ginger , recipe, if you can’t find candied ginger in the store use crystallized ginger instead, and chop it into small pieces
zest of one lemon
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4tbl melted butter
1package of dry yeast, 2 1/4tsp
1/2cup warm water
1/2cup warm milk
1 large egg

Glaze for the Crosses
2 cups powdered sugar
milk, few teaspoons
lemon juice(optional)

In a small bowl, combine warm milk and warm water, add yeast and stir, set aside
In a large bowl combine flours, sugar, salt spices lemon zest, dry fruit
You can either use a stand mixer fitted with hook attachment or make the dough by hand, with the stand mixer, put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer, make a little well in the center, add melted butter, egg and yeast mixture and knead on low speed until the dough is smooth, place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise for an hour

Making the dough by hand(self explanatory)

The Art of egg cracking 🙂

Adding butter, yeast mixture and kneading the dough with your hands

Shaping the buns
Lightly oil the pan to prevent sticking
Cover the pan with a damp paper towel, kitchen towel or plastic wrap, let the buns proof for about 30-45 minutes
Preheat oven to 400F, bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown on the top

Baked Hot Buns sans the cross

Pipe the Crosses

Using a whisk, mixer or a wooden spoon, in a medium bowl mix together powdered sugar with few tsp of milk, don’t add to much milk or glaze will be too thin, if desired add a drop of lemon juice.

Take a small plastic bag, fill it with the glaze, snip of the corner and pipe the crosses on room temperature crosses.

These also freeze well.