What We've Always Known About Hot Cross Buns But Were Too Afraid to Ask

 A BIT OF HISTORY AND INFO YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE HOT CROSS BUN.

According to the Reverend E. Cobham Brewer in the Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, hot cross buns date back to pre-Christian times when round buns called ``bous" (representing the full moon), topped with a cross (representing the four quarters of the moon), were made by the ancient Roman priests in honour of Diana, Roman goddess of the moon and hunting and protectress of women.


It is not clear when hot cross buns became traditional Christian fare, but it is believed the Easter custom evolved in 1361 when a monk from St Alban's Abbey gave cakes resembling hot cross buns to the poor on Good Friday. The idea was so well received he continued to give them each year.


Goodman Fielder's baking division, Quality Bakers Australia, bakes about 12 million hot cross buns each year, and about a third of its total sales are made in the week of Easter. How do bakeries accommodate the huge Easter demands?


Twenty years ago the Bread Research Institute's baking manager, Bill Hogan, was a production manager for a large commercial bakery. In preparation for the busy Easter period, he says the bakery would start making hot cross buns at the beginning of the New Year and then freeze and defrost as required.


Hesitant to comment if such practices continue today, the brand manager at Quality Bakers Australia, Lorna Bruce, says: ``We start planning for Easter in July of the previous year and trial bake before the season commences. When necessary, our bakeries put on extra shifts to cope with the demand and will also call on other local bakeries to help meet the increased requirements."


At the independent bread shops, Hogan says, bakers ``just work their guts out over the Easter period", and it is not uncommon for bakers to work 18 hours straight in the lead-up to Easter.

At Brumby's Bakeries, where everything is baked daily on the premises, the Thursday before Good Friday is known as ``Bun Thursday". It is Brumby's largest trading day of the year and all hands are on deck to keep up with demand.


``Most people traditionally eat hot cross buns over the Easter weekend so virtually all our stores are operating 24 hours beforehand to bake the product required," says Brumby's marketing manager Astrid Rickard.


In an attempt to get a larger slice of the hot cross bun action, some bakers are diversifying away from the traditional spicy fruit-loaf recipe. Brumby's and Banjo's Bakehouse offer chocolate hot cross buns with choc chips instead of fruit, and Coles supermarkets seemingly cater for every hot cross bun idiosyncrasy imaginable, including buns with extra fruit and buns with no fruit, mini-buns and buns with no peel.


Specialist bakeries such as Uncle Rick's and Silly Yaks are also baking gluten-free alternatives.


Some commercial hot cross buns contain preservatives to prevent mould, in particular preservative 282 (calcium propionate), which, according to Sue Dengate, a food intolerance counsellor and author of Fed Up, may cause behavioural problems such as irritability, restlessness, inattention and sleep disturbance.


Highly recommended are Canticle Bakery's (Croydon Hills) hot cross buns. Canticle has been using the same recipe for the past 19 years.




RECIPE

Hot cross buns

500g unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon bread improver

1 teaspoon salt

30g butter

150g dried fruit

3 teaspoons dried yeast

2-3 teaspoons sugar

65g (1/2 cup) skim milk powder

1 teaspoon mixed spice

340ml warm water

Place all dried ingredients (except mixed spice) in a bowl. Rub butter into flour. Knead by hand for five minutes. Add the mixed spice. Knead for another five minutes and then add fruit. Return to bowl, cover with a plastic bag and rest in a warm place for 15 minutes. Knock down and divide dough into two equal portions. Form each piece into sausage shape. Cut each sausage into eight pieces then roll each one into a ball. Re-roll each ball to improve the shape. Place the rolls on to a warm greased tray, cover with plastic and prove for about 50 minutes. Make flour and water paste for crosses, then pipe a cross on to each bun. Bake at 210 degrees for 20 minutes. Glaze buns immediately when removed from oven.

Cross mixture:

65g (1/2 cup) flour

65ml (1/4 cup) water

1 dessertspoon oil