Adventures in bakery - hot cross buns

[louiselux]

Using Delia's recipe I made a good start by forgetting to add the yeast, only remembering at this point:





So I was hot and cross by this stage. Unlike the buns. Haha. I left it there and began all over again, making a new batch of dough. Luckily I had lots of everything. While the new dough was rising, the idea of wasting all that other dough really began to get to me, so I decided to make some Easter flatbreads. I just squashed the dough out into flattish discs and cooked it with a little bit of butter in a pan. I broke my favourite spatula - I snapped it! Clearly I don't know my own strength.





They were pretty nice actually, for a flatbread. Eaten during Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I never realised how much make up Johnny Depp wore in that film. Finally, the buns were ready:




I made the crosses just by cutting into the dough, but this method failed almost totally. Visually they are a bit of a mess. Delia's suggestion is to use 'strips of wet pastry'. Right.

Verdict: 'quite nice'. They tasted great and the inner dough was lovely, but I think they were cooked too long or I made them too small, or perhaps the yeast was old because they were a bit tough on the outside, where I wanted them to be more squidgy. I glazed them with water and sugar and that helped a bit.

Not bad for a first go round, but I'm not wowed. It would've been more successful as a loaf, I think.

Comments

[toscas-kiss.livejournal.com]

Well I'm impressed! Baking is hard. They look very tasty. :-)