Friday 29 March 2013

Hot cross buns – Mr CC guest blogs…..


A rare guest post on my site in which Mr CC puts me to shame and shows his mastery of yeasted buns...OK, now I've typed that it just sounds weird, so I'll say no more and hand over to Mr CC:



Inspired by the “Great British Bake Off” Easter masterclass show on BBC2, I decided that I would make Hot Cross Buns this Easter, as they have always been a favourite of mine.  I used Paul Hollywood’s recipe on the programme’s website and followed the recipe’s instructions.  As both Mrs CC and I aren’t big fans of mixed peel I left it out of the recipe, but everything else is the same.

All the ingredients were mixed, kneaded and left to prove in warm room for an hour, but I was disappointed to find that there was very little rise in the dough and it was nowhere near the doubling in size that the recipe suggested would happen. Leaving it for another half hour made little difference, but I decided to carry on regardless. I divided the dough into 12 roughly equal parts and placed on a baking tray to prove for another hour.




Again, there was very little increase in size after an hour and my patience was beginning to wear quite thin at this point. Assuming that something terribly wrong had occurred in my preparation and in a fit of pique, I tore the recipe into satisfyingly small pieces and binned them…then I had my lunch and forgot about the buns.

I looked in on them about an hour later and, by some miracle, they had risen and were getting quite friendly with each other on the baking tray.

I piped the crosses (not the neatest of jobs, I like to think of them as being impressionistic) and put them in the oven. They seemed to darken quite quickly and had to be removed after 19 minutes to stop them from burning. Whilst still warm, melted apricot jam was bushed on them to give a shiny glaze.




Despite my efforts and the problems encountered, the buns came out fine and went down very well with a cup of tea.




So what went wrong with the dough? Answers found whilst searching around on the Internet seemed to suggest that the milk was too hot when I added it to the mix. This might have had the effect of killing some of the yeast, which would have reduced the rise in the dough. That might be why it took so long to rise.

14 comments:

sensibilia said...

Ha Ha! Very amusing, the different style of a man in the kitchen. I loved the fit of pique, but it all working out all right in the end! Buns look stunning.

Victory Rolls & Mixing Bowls said...

Aw well done Mr Cc! I'm still not sure on the apple but they look lovely! And I love the idea of them getting friendly with each other on the tray :)

Nom! X

Xinmei @ Pudding Pie Lane said...

Great job mr CC! I think the piping looks fine, very rustic :D I do love Paul Hollywood but I agree I'm not a big fan of mixed peel either!

Caroline said...

They look absolutely great! For what it's worth, I always find that sweet yeasted breads take far longer to rise than the recipes state. I'm also sure I heard somewhere (Dan Lepard?) that cinnamon specifically inhibits the action of yeast so maybe that's why they took longer to rise.

Jo said...

Great job Mr CC! I like your impressionistic piping :)

Debs Dust Bunny said...

Bravo Mr CC! I tried making HCB's for the first time this week and I know they aren't as easy as they look. Your crosses are masterful! Happy Easter to you and Mrs CC!

CookingDragon said...

Nice job Mr CC. If my other half could make buns as good as these I'd be in seventh heaven!

Unknown said...

Your (well, mr CC's) piping is a darn sight neater than mine - we have Hot Splodge Buns in our house. Ditto re: rising sweet bread dough like this - takes a lot longer fgor the initial rise and I tend to get bored and get on with it anyway, but then get a good rise once the buns or whatever have been formed. Nigella's cinammon bun mix rises very slowly, and there's no cinammon in the dough so that can't be the only reason

Katie said...

They look lovely even if they didn't rise as you wanted them. I love how glossy you got them. WIsh I could eat one, sadly most gluten free scones or buns are like housebricks and I haven't had time to bake my own. Bet your kitchen smells amazing now
Have a great Easter

Choclette said...

Goodness they look mighty impressive and even more so for a first attempt Mr CC - that Mr Hollywood has a lot to answer for. The piping looks a lot neater than mine which was all over the place. Mine took ages to rise too, but we didn't have anywhere particularly warm in the house, which probably accounted for it. They got there in the end and tasted fantastic.

Happy Easter both.

trash said...

Not just cinnamon but spices generally inhibit yeast.

Cakelaw said...

What wonderful buns you made Mr CC - bravo!

Tigger said...

Love the buns Mr. CC! I misread and thought you'd binned the buns and then retrieved them! I have to say that some 'tv chef' recipes are not always up to scratch but glad your came through anyway.

Lisa said...

This is exactly what happened to me too! I was inspired to make the same recipe from BBC2.
It WAS the milk that was too hot, because I made a second batch and they came out much better. I didn't have peel in mine either but I did love the addition of apple which I was sceptical about.
All in all, yours turned out fab!