Hot Cross Buns

 Hot Cross Buns is a bake not undertaken lightly.  Each year you promise yourself you will give them another try - after previous attempt 6 years ago, were more akin to rock cakes than fluffy Easter buns.  But as the day approaches you get far too busy to contemplate attempting to bake any, so you pick up a 6 pack at the local farmer's market as a good substitute.

But this year you convince yourself that you will give it a try, after all you are more knowledgeable with all that sourdough bread making that you have done. You know the feel of a good dough.  Ok let's try this, oh no they yeast went out of date last week, never mind.

I thank "Recipe Tin Eats" for the recipe, much easier than the one in the Delicious Magazine this month.  To break up the prep time I made to shaping of buns after initial rise then I popped in the fridge overnight, next morning brought out to room temperature and did second rise before baking and glazing.

My family all agreed they tasted delicious and were my best ever.  Encouraged for next year.

Not the prettiest of Easter buns

Ingredients

Buns

3 teaspoons of instant dry yeast (best if before date :) )

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1 1/2 cups warm milk (just to body temperature if too hot it will kill the yeast)

4 1/4 cups bread flour - I ended up adding at least another 1/2 cup as the mixture looked to wet

2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder

2 teaspoons of all spice powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sultanas and currants

1 - 2 oranges, zest only

50 g melted butter, cooled

1 egg at room temperature

Crosses

1/2 cup plain flour

5 Tablespoons water

Glaze

1 Tablespoon apricot jam - I only had strawberry

2 teaspoons water

Method

Place flour, yeast, sugar, all spice, cinnamon and salt into bowl of a stand mixer.

Give a short mix with dough hook attachment.

Add melted cooled butter, milk, egg, sultanas and zest.

Mix for approximately 5 minutes until a smooth elastic dough forms (I added my extra flour to achieve this) until dough forms a ball and comes away from the side of the bowl.

Remove from stand mixer and cover with an apiwrap or tea towel until dough has risen and doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 hours.

Line a 9 x 13" tray with baking parchment.

Remove apiwrap or tea towel cover and punch down.

Dust work surface with flour - roll dough into a log shape and cut 12 pieces.

Take one at a time and roll into a ball by pressing down with your palm and then gather into a ball and roll, place on tray.

Cover and pop in the fridge till morning.  If baking that day leave on the counter for another 45 minutes.

Next morning bring buns from fridge and let rise for 1 - 2 hours

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Crosses: mix flour and water until sticky paste (adjust consistency, mine was a little too runny as you can see from the photograph).  Spoon into a small ziplock bag and snip the corner off to make a piping bag.

Pipe crosses onto the buns.

Pop in the oven

Mix jam and water for glaze.

Cook for approximately 22 minutes or until tops of buns are a deep golden brown.

Remove buns from oven, pop on wire rack and glaze.

Delicious

Mamma Marmalade

Cacio e Pepe

 

They say sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to do.  Well that is certainly the case with this recipe.  I have been craving this pasta dish for some time and since hubby hasn't taken me to my favourite Italian restaurant I decided to investigate and make it for myself.  There are a few different interpretation's on google but I need to emphasise - good quality pasta makes, freshly ground black pepper and Pecorino Romano (sheep's milk) cheese are a must.  There are not many igredients so you must have top quality.  The main issue is trying to create a delicious creamy sauce with only a hard, dry aged cheese so follow carefully.

Ingredients

Good quality spaghetti, either dried or fresh

2 Teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

4 Tablespoons of EVOO

Salt to taste

30 g of unsalted butter

1 cup of very finely (microplane) grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus extra for serving

Method

Heat 3 Tablespoons of olive oil and approximately 1 teaspoon of crushed black pepper in a medium skillet over medium heat until is starts to sizzle, about 1 minute.

Set aside

Place spaghetti in a large pan and cover with water, season with a small amount of salt.  You don't want a huge pan of water because you need the pasta water to have a high concentration of starch. 

Stir with a fork to untangle.

Cook spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet, having it cook 1 minute less than suggested.

Spoon 2 to 3 Tablespoons of pasta cooking water to the pepper and olive oil pan, stir in the butter and then add the spaghetti.

Stir with a fork and then add the cheese and the remaining olive oil, continue to stir until cheese is melted.

Add a few more tablespoons of pasta water to the pan to adjust consistency, reheating as necessary until the sauce is creamy and coats each strand of spaghetti.

Season to taste with salt and more black pepper.

Serve immediately passing extra grated cheese and ground black pepper at the table.

Note: if you end up with a film of melted cheese on the bottom of the pan, the pan had too much heat when combining the cheese and pasta.

Absolutely divine

Mamma Marmalade

 

 

 Seems everywhere I look these days I see a Dutch Baby.  I had never heard of the soft oven baked pancake before.  But they look spectacular and are very easy to make. this one is inspired by Martha Stewart. Great for a breakfast for guests.  Below is a banana Dutch baby but softened apple works well also.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Granny Smith apple or 2 bananas, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup honey

1/4 Teaspoon ground cardamon

3 large organic/free range eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon icing sugar

Method

Heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat and add butter, and apples or bananna , cook until softened/lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in honey and cardamon and remove from heat.

In a bowl whisk the remaining ingredients apart from the icing sugar pour over the fruit and pop in the hot oven and bake until puffed and brown. About 20 minutes keep and eye on it, and remove when done. 

Dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a dollop of cream or maple syrup.

Mamma Marmalade