However, having seen the recipe for these buns in Mary's Baking Bible, in the run up to Easter I decided to have a go and see if these home baked buns would change my mind.
The recipe generally went to plan, although I felt the dough was not quite soft enough and the fruit kept falling out as I tried to knead the dough!
As this is an enriched dough it took longer to rise than a normal dough. It didn't help that it was a very cold day (a thick layer of snow outside towards the end of March!) and my kitchen wasn't particularly warm!
Also, I admit that for the crosses, I favoured Paul Hollywood's recipe for the pastry/white paste (75g plain flour and water) rather than Mary's as I felt that the mixture really didn't need 25g butter! The pastry/paste turned out fine and there was just enough paste to cover the 12 buns.
The buns looked a little rough before they went into the oven (I really need to perfect my kneading technique!) but I think they looked a bit better once baked.
I enjoyed brushing the sticky syrup made from warmed caster sugar and water (the recipe calls for granulated sugar but I didn't have any!) and this left a lovely glossy shine all over the buns.
Husband was impressed with the look and taste of the buns, although he did say the dough was a little dense - again, I think this is down to my poor kneading technique!
We enjoyed these buns after tea, straight from the oven, they were piping hot, we split them in half and smothered them in butter before devouring.
And am I converted? A huge YES! I thought these buns were absolutely delicious! The smell of the buns was very nice, not the chemical, slightly burnt currant smell which I am so used to and which has put me off hot cross buns all these years!
A definite bake again for Easter 2014. Looking forward to baking them again next year - hopefully my kneading technique will have improved by then!
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