| Written By Recipe Coordinator |
A long established food tradition on Good Friday is hot cross buns. Stories abound about its origins but the common thread throughout is the symbolism of the “cross” of icing which adorns the bun itself. This hot cross bun recipe will allow you to keep up with a wonderful and delicious Good Friday tradition.
1 cup milk
2 tbsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1/3 cups butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
4 eggs
5 cups flour
1 1/3 cups currants or raisins
1 egg white
Glaze:
1 1/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped
lemon zest
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1-2 tbsp milk
1. In a small saucepan, heat milk to very warm, but not hot (110*F if using a candy thermometer).
2. Pour warm milk in a bowl and sprinkle yeast over. Mix to dissolve and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Stirring constantly, add sugar, salt, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and eggs.
4. Gradually mix in flour, dough will be wet and sticky. Continue kneading until smooth, about 5 minutes.
5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough “rest” for 30-45 minutes.
6. Knead again until smooth and elastic, for about three more minutes.
7. Add currants or raisins and knead until well mixed. At this point, dough will still be fairly wet and sticky. Shape dough in a ball, place in a buttered dish, cover with plastic wrap and let rise overnight in the refrigerator. Excess moisture will be absorbed by the morning.
8. Let dough sit at room temperature for about a half-hour. Line a large baking pan (or pans) with parchment paper (you could also lightly grease a baking pan, but parchment works better).
9. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces (in half, half again, etc., etc.).
10. Shape each portion into a ball and place on baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart.
11. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 400*F.
12. When buns have risen, take a sharp or serrated knife and carefully slash buns with a cross.
13. Brush them with egg white and place in oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350*F, then bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.
14. Transfer to a wire rack. Whisk together glaze ingredients, and spoon over buns in a cross pattern. Serve warm, if possible.
Makes 24 buns.
Recipe courtesy of Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday. Published 3/31/10.
Photo courtesy of britishfood.about.com.
Share this
Mister Wong
Webnews
Icio
Oneview
Yigg
Newsider
Seekxl
Newskick
FAV!T
Kledy
Social Bookmarking
BoniTrust
Power-Oldie
Bookmarks.cc
Favoriten
Linksilo
Readster
Linkarena
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Jumptags
Upchuckr
Simpy
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Netscape
Furl
Yahoo
Blogmarks
Diigo
Technorati
Newsvine
Blinkbits
Ma.Gnolia
Smarking
Netvouz
Folkd
Spurl
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Meneame
Diggita
Kipapa.cc
Notizieflash
OKnotizie
Segnalo
Ziczac
Print
E-mail
Comments