hot cross buns

hot cross buns

24 Apr 2017

Passover coincided with Easter this year so I wasn't able to taste these hot cross buns until after Easter was over. I don't like posting a recipe until it passes the taste test, so apologies for bringing this recipe to you after the event, but let's face it, hot cross buns are good at any time of the year.



I've been making hot cross buns for years using this Margaret Fulton recipe but this year I decided to tweak the recipe a little. I doubled the quantity of dried fruit in the recipe and swapped dried apricots for the mixed peel (which many people don't like) then soaked the fruit in earl grey tea.



I defrosted one of the hot cross buns on Saturday; toasted it before slathering the bun with butter and enjoyed it with a cup of tea. 




The hot cross bun was delicious and I think the chopped dried apricots added a nice zing.



Here's the recipe for you. Please note, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Hot Cross Buns adapted from a Margaret Fulton recipe - makes 8

Ingredients
¼ cup currants, sultanas or a mix of both
¼ cup chopped dried apricots
1 Earl Grey teabag
2 cups plain flour
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
7g (1 sachet) dry yeast
30g butter, diced
50g caster sugar
125mls lukewarm milk or water 
1 egg, lightly beaten

Paste for cross
2 tbs self-raising flour
2 tbs plain flour
2 tbs cold water
1 tsp sugar

Glaze
¼ teaspoon powdered gelatine
2 tbs water
1 tbs sugar

Method
1-2 hours before preparing the dough combine the dried fruits, the early grey tea bag and half a cup of boiling water in a small bowl. Steep the fruit until plump then drain well, discarding the tea bag.

Sift the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter, then mix in the well drained fruit. Stir in the dry yeast with the sugar. Combine the milk or water with the beaten egg  and add to the flour. Mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Shape into a ball, place in a clean, greased bowl and turn the ball over so that the top of the dough is greased. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently press out to 1 cm thick. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a small ball. Place balls on a greased baking tray, at least 2.5 cm apart, or arrange in greased round cake tins. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size and soft to the touch. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

To make the paste for the cross, combine the flours, sugar and water and beat to a smooth paste. Put into a baking paper funnel or a small piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe the prepared paste into cross. Bake the buns for about 20 minutes.




While the buns are baking make the glaze by sprinkling the gelatine over the water in a small saucepan. When softened, dissolve over a low heat. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat. Remove the buns from the oven and brush with the glaze while still hot. Stand the buns in a warm place, such as near the opened door of the turned off oven. This helps to set the glaze. Serve warm with lashings of butter.

I'll be back again next week so until then,

Bye for now,

Jillian

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hot cross bun kugelhopf

hot cross bun kugelhopf

23 Mar 2015

Just before Passover arrives I get a hankering for hot cross buns. On Sunday I decided to make some hot cross buns but at the last minute decided to bake the mixture in a kugelhopf tin.

I made the dough then realised I didn't have enough currants and sultanas in the cupboard so off to the shops I went. As the dough was already resting in the fridge I changed the technique a little by soaking the fruit first then adding the plumped fruit to the dough after it's first rise.



As I'd not baked the kugelhopf version before I wasn't sure the best way to shape the dough. I did 2 layers, the first layer used a cylinder of dough. For the second layer I formed it into small buns. Next time I'd probably just use the cylinder method.



Once the kugelhopf came out of the oven, I turned it out and returned it to the oven to crisp up a little before glazing the outside. A little dusting of icing sugar and the kugelhopf was camera ready.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from a Margaret Fulton Hot Cross Bun recipe. If you'd like to make regular hot cross buns, this recipe will make 8 buns. If you'd like to make a larger kugelhopf or 16 buns, just double all the ingredients and follow the instructions. 

For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Hot Cross Bun Kugelhopf

Ingredients

¼ cup mixed peel, sultanas and currants

boiling water

2 cups bread or plain flour

½ tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

30g (1 oz) butter, softened, plus extra to serve

¼ cup caster sugar

1 x 7g sachet (1½ tsp) dried yeast

1 egg, lightly beaten
100 mls lukewarm milk/water

extra milk, for glazing

Glaze

2 tbs warm water

1 tbs sugar

¼ tsp gelatine

To serve, icing sugar, butter and jam.

Method

Place dried fruit in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave for an hour until the fruit is soft and plump. Drain off the water.

Sift the flour, spices and salt into a bowl. Using a dough hook or by hand, rub in the butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and yeast.

Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients. Combine the egg with the milk/water mix and gradually add to the flour mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic or mix in the stand mixer using the dough hook for 7 – 8 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl. Turn over once so that top of dough is greased.

Cover bowl completely with plastic wrap and a tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until doubled in bulk. At this stage you can put the covered dough in the fridge overnight, otherwise gently knead in the drained dried fruit mixture.

Lightly grease a small Kugelhopf tin. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll out to form a long sausage. Cut into equal halves and place in the base of the Kugelhopf tin, gently squeezing the two ends of the dough together. Place the tin into a large plastic bag and leave to rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200ºC/400°F. Place a small container of cold water on the lowest shelf of the oven. Brush the top of the kugelhopf with the extra milk and bake for 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Meanwhile make the glaze by stirring together the water, sugar and gelatine in a small container. Heat the mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute or until the gelatine is completely dissolved.

When the kugelhopf is cooked, remove it from oven and unmould it onto a rack. Return the kugelhopf to the oven still on the rack and cook for a further 5 minutes to crisp the outside. Remove the kugelhopf from the oven and liberally brush the outside with the glaze and return the kugelhopf to the turned off oven until the glaze is dry. Lightly sprinkle the kugelhopf with icing sugar just before serving. The kugelhopf can be served warm from the oven, cold or even better, with lashings of butter.



I hope you enjoyed my twist on hot cross buns. See you all again next week for Passover week.

Jillian

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olive oil orange cake - passover week

olive oil orange cake - passover week

7 Apr 2014

Hi Every-one,

welcome to Passover week on the blog. Now trying to work your way around what can and can't be eaten during Passover is tricky so I've used these 2 websites as references. This site is from the US and you enter the name of the item you wish to check. It reveals all kinds of things that we can't get on our shelves in Australia, which is kind of frustrating. I'd have loved to have brought you a cheesecake recipe but there is no local Passover cream cheese supplier. I was going to try and make some mascarpone cheese at home and give that a go but simply ran out of time. This second site is an Antipodean one and reflects what's available on the shelf at my local supermarket. 

Now onto some recipes. This Chez Pannise Olive Oil Sauternes Cake recipe has been around for a long time. I looked at the recipe and decided with a few tweaks I'd be able to make it Passover friendly.



The first thing that had to go was the Sauternes and I replaced it with orange juice. The flour was changed to my Passover baking mix, which is equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato flour and the rest pretty much stayed the same.



The first thing that had to go was the Sauternes and I replaced it with orange juice. The flour was changed to my Passover baking mix, which is equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato flour and the rest pretty much stayed the same.

I topped the cake with a dusting of homemade icing sugar (caster sugar that was blitzed in the food processor) and decided to pair it with some old fashioned oranges in caramel which were absolutely delicious and should be resurrected from the vault. 

I made the cake in my little bundt tin but it was a struggle getting it out of the tin so if/when I make it again I'll use a regular tin thoroughly lined with baking paper. I think this recipe would make a 6 -7 inch round cake. I you want to make the larger version, you'll need to use the quantities mentioned in the LA Times recipe. Here's the scaled down recipe for you. 

Olive Oil Orange Cake 

3 egg yolks 
⅓ cup caster sugar 
3 egg whites 
½ tsp grated orange rind 
½ tsp grated lemon rind 
½ cup Passover baking mix
¼ cup orange juice 
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 
Optional - home made icing sugar/oranges in caramel
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form then gently fold through the cake batter. 
 
METHOD 
Using an electric mixer beat the egg yolks with half the amount of sugar, until pale and creamy. Add orange and lemon rind, along with the orange juice and olive oil and mix to combine. Gently fold through the Passover baking mix.

Pour cake batter into a lined 16 cm round cake tin, and bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F oven for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 160°C/300°F and bake for a further 20 minutes. Turn the oven off, and cover the cake with parchment paper. Allow to cool in the oven for approximately 10 minutes. Once cake has cooled, remove from the tin and invert on a clean surface. Dust with icing sugar.

 

I'll be back again tomorrow with another Passover friendly blog post. if you're looking for some more of my recipes, here's my latest Delicious Bites post for decor8.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Gingernut Biscuits

Gingernut Biscuits

17 May 2009

My family has a thing about ginger. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in Queensland, home of the Buderim ginger factory but I like anything flavoured with ginger. When I was growing up, I used to dunk my Arnott's gingernut biscuits into a glass of milk or a cup of tea.

It's been a while since I last ate a gingernut biscuit and decided to try baking some at home. I opened my trusty Margaret Fulton Encyclopaedia of Food and Cookery and followed the recipe but added some chopped glace ginger to the mixture. The gingernuts are packed away in the biscuit tin ready to take into work tomorrow but I did try one last night with a cup of tea. The biscuits are hard, crunchy, spicy and taste just as I remember. You can find the recipe below.



Gingernut Biscuits
150g plain flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
60g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
55g extra caster sugar, (optional)

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease baking trays or line them with baking paper.

Sift the flour with the remaining dry ingredients. Melt the butter with the golden syrup and pour into the flour mixture. Mix well and roll into balls the size of a walnut. If liked, roll the balls in extra sugar before baking for super crunchiness.

Place on the prepared baking trays and press lightly. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 7–10 minutes. 

Cool on the trays.

I've been searching for some new styling products so dropped by Surry Hills last weekend and visited the shop When David met Nicole where I bought the sweet little milk bottle that features in the photos. 



On Friday I discovered the new Donna Hay General Store tucked in the back streets of Woollahra. It's housed in the building where The Bay Tree once lived. When I have a bit more time I'll revisit the store and take some photos for you. I can tell you that the store is filled with some beautiful products, including a floor devoted to childrens' goodies and it's not just stocked with Donna Hay products.

I'm on the hunt for a cake stand and after a fruitless search last weekend, I think I've found what I'm looking for at the Donna Hay General Store. The cake stand is on back order and won't arrive until late June so I bought a nice wooden board and a few little goodies to spice up my photos.

Lots more baking this past weekend so there'll be another post later in the week.

Jillian

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