Seasonable on Good Friday
Mrs Beeton's recipe for "Buns, Hot Cross" is a very simple one compared to its modern counterparts: there are fewer ingredients and a lot less kneading. Nevertheless, they were quite a success when I baked them according to her recipe: (The wineglass of yeast I took to mean the type of wineglass served in pubs, i.e. small).Ingredients for 2 dozen buns:
2lbs (1 kg) of flour
1/2 lb (250g) of sugar
1 wineglass of yeast (or 2 tablespoons)
1 pint (568 ml) of milk
1/2 lb (250g) of butter
1 lb (500g) of currants
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
- Mix the flour and sugar, spice and currants; make a hole in the middle of the flour, and put in a glassful of thick yeast and the milk, warmed; make a batter of the surrounding milk and flour, and set the pan covered before the fire, till the leaven begins to ferment. (About an hour, and don't worry if you don't have a fire, just use a warm place and cover the mixture in plastic wrap). Put to the mass the butter melted, and enough milk to make a soft paste of all the flour. Form the buns and lay them a little distance apart on buttered tins to rise for half an hour. Cross them with a knife and bake in a quick oven for 20 minutes.
A 200 degree oven is what my buns were baked in and they turned out well, if a little scone-like. Interestingly, Mrs Beeton omits to tell us when to add the salt into the dough, but I put it in at the very beginning with flour with no ill effects. The wineglassful of yeast turned into 2 tablespoons of dried yeast in my recipe and the buns certainly did rise.
And no fiddling around with a flour paste cross for the tops of the buns:Mrs Beeton merely slashes them with a knife. I would however recommend making a glaze from 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of boiling water to brush over the buns after they are turned onto a cake rack and while they are still hot.
- Allow to cool on the rack for 10 minutes before serving on Good Friday.
