There is a certain knack to being able to make things rise successfully and my buns have been known to be quite popular. As an apprentice, I was taught about food chemistry and how yeast works and I wanted to make a traditional yeast bun at home. From the first week of January through until Easter, you can buy them in super markets but there is a certain satisfaction in baking them yourself. Needless to say they are delicious.
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups warm milk 3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp dried yeast 2 tsp of cinnamon
¼ cup cater sugar ½ cup of currants
60 g melted butter 1 cup of sultanas
4 ½ cups (680g) plain (Bakers) flour (and some extra) ¼ cup of mixed peel
1 beaten egg 1/3 cup of water
½ cup sugar syrup (or apricot jam) 2 pinch of salt
METHOD
1. Warm the milk so that it is blood temperature or ‘just’ warm to touch. If it is too hot it will kill the yeast and too cold will not allow the yeast to grow. This step requires good judgement from the outset or your buns will not rise.
2. Mix the yeast in with the warm milk and stir vigorously. Allow it to sit a few minutes and then add 1 table spoon only, of the sugar and stir again. This feeds the yeast. Cover with a tea-towel to keep it warm and leave it in a warm draught free place for about 10 minutes. Or until slightly frothy. This is very important to allow the yeast to ‘grow’.
3. Mix in the melted butter (this slows the yeast down).Add the egg and combine.
4. In a separate large bowl, place the fruit, salt & spices. Add the flour leaving half a cup aside for making of the crosses later. Combine the ingredients and make a well in the centre .Pour the yeast milk into the well and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Finish working it with your hands.
5. Turn the dough out on a clean floured bench and knead it for 10 to 15 minutes. This is important to stretch the strands of gluten in the dough. Place the dough back in the large bowl and cover with a tea towel. Put it in a warm place away from a draught and leave it for an hour to ‘prove’ or until it doubles in size.
6. Pre heat oven to 200 C. Grease a deep sided baking tray. Push the air out risen dough and turn out onto a lightly floured bench. Knead for a few minutes and then portion into 16 buns. Shape each bun into a ball and place in the tray side by side so each bun is touching .Once again set the tray aside ,for another 30 minutes , in a warm draught free place and allow the buns to rise another 2 cm.
7. Meanwhile mix the remaining ½ cup of flour with the water and make a paste. Put in a small plastic bag and snip the corner to form a piping bag. Pipe the paste over the centre of each bun length ways and across, to form a cross on each one. When the buns have risen, put them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 180 C for another 20 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.
The glaze – mix ½ cup of water and ½ cup of extra sugar and heat until dissolved .Add a little apricot jam and brush the mixture over the hot buns and return them for a few minute to the oven.
These Easter buns are traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday but you can wrap them in plastic and keep them in the freezer for weeks to come.
