Know Tea

In the British Isles (and among those of Anglo-Celtic ancestry), Hot Cross Buns are a traditional food for breakfast on Good Friday (or anytime of the day on Good Friday, really). These sweet, sticky, spicy buns are marked with an icing or pastry cross as a reminder of the sacrifice that Christ made for us on this important day. (A cross made with icing is common, but Scottish Hot Cross Buns often feature a shortcrust cross.) Making Hot Cross Buns is a great educational project for Good Friday!

You may want to make them Maundy Thursday night after church.

For the Dough:
1/4 cup water – at 110?F
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup butter (no substitutions), melted and slightly cooled*
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (we use unbleached, organic flour)
1/4 cup sugar (castor sugar if you can find it, otherwise granulated sugar)
2 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) active dry yeast (we use Fleischmann’s Bread Machine Yeast)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup golden raisins (sultanas) or dried zante currants
1/4 cup finely chopped, mixed candied fruit (or candied mixed peel, finely chopped)

For the Crosses:
About 2 oz. refrigerated shortcrust pastry (such as Pillsbury Pie Crust)
or your favorite homemade shortcrust pastry (pie crust)

For the Glaze:
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 Tbs. water

*If you can find European-style cultured butter, get it. You will never want to go back to “cheesy American butter,” as a Scots-American friend calls it.)

Place all the dough ingredients (except the raisins and fruit) in the bread machine pan, in the order recommended by your bread machine?s manufacturer. Set on the dough cycle. Add the raisins and candied fruit at the bread machine’s signal for adding extra ingredients (fruit/nuts). Remove the dough from the bread machine at end of dough cycle. Place it in a bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 12 roughly equal pieces. Shape the pieces into balls and place them about three inches apart on a lightly-greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in warm place until almost doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Roll shortcrust pastry out thinly and cut into narrow strips 2 to 3 in long. (If using store-bought, refrigerated crust, simply take it out of the package and cut it into strips.) Brush buns with some milk and place the pastry crosses on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 375? for 18 minutes, or until the buns are lightly browned on top and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven. Place the baking sheet full of buns on a wire rack to cool.

Combine the sugar and milk in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring frequently. After it comes to a boil, cook this mixture for one more minute, stirring constantly. Brush hot buns with glaze. Cool. Eat on Good Friday.