Last year's buns with crosses and glaze - very pretty
A little late I know, but I did actually make these on time (i.e. before Good Friday) this year. I decided not to do the traditional crosses, making them into Not Cross Buns and therefore perfect for any time of the year, because these little beauties should definitely not be confined to the celebration of Easter!
I used the same recipe as last year, which can be found here: No Knead Mini Hot Cross Buns. The minor changes I made were to use all raisins rather than a mixture of raisins and cranberries, to use whole milk rather than semi skimmed (2%) and to use normal bread flour instead of extra strong. I got 17 50g balls of dough from the recipe.
This year's buns - not so pretty but equally delicious
It's perfect as far as I'm concerned - a little forethought for the soaking of the raisins to make them beautifully plump and juicy, no kneading of the sticky dough, minimal intervention on my part, and the loveliest soft, juicy buns at the end of the process. The only thing it requires is time really - I find sweet (enriched) yeasted doughs take much longer than you think to rise and I know this is where I've made mistakes in the past - not letting the dough rise enough has led to bullet like buns. The spices also retard the action of the yeast, so here patience is a virtue. I also like to arrange my buns to proove so that they batch together, maximising the softness.
Soft crumb with juicy raisins
I am the first to admit that these are not the most picture-perfect round, glazed hot cross buns but oh wow do they make up for that in taste and texture. J was chief taste tester for these and her first comment after finishing one (interspersed by comments such as 'Ooh, these are really good') was 'Have you brought any more for me....?' Make them, you won't regret it!
I'm entering these not cross buns into Calendar Cakes, where the theme this month is Easter Extravaganza. The host this month is Laura of Laura Loves Cakes, and the challenge is also hosted by Rachel of Dolly Bakes.
8 comments:
Those have an excellent structure! They look delicious.
They look great! I had no idea you were supposed to make Easter bakes before Friday. Oops I was a bit lates
Looks a fabulous soft and spicy recipe. Love that its no knead. May attempt it make it gluten free as no knead would probably be better for a GF attempt.
They look wonderfully soft and spiced. I agree they should not be just for Easter!
they do look very good, I made a batch this year which also turned out lovely... some you win and some you lose i guess...x
No knead sounds a brilliant idea!
Happy easter!
I've just made a batch of chocolate hot cross buns (bit late but nevermind) and I think I may have to copy your idea and turn them into not cross buns as I really don't want to wait another year to make them again!
Caroline, hope you had a wonderful Easter! Your buns look fantastic, and you're so right about the longer prove - that always throws me with hcbs as well! xx
C, they look excellent and a perfect structure too. Hard to believe they haven't been kneaded - I'm off to find out how you made them now.
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