The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [101]
Hot Cross Buns
2 cups raisins (300 g)
1 cup dried apricots (130 g)
1 cup walnuts (120 g), or use filberts or other flavorful nuts, chopped
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml)
6 cups finely ground whole wheat bread flour (900 g)
2 teaspoons salt (11 g)
2 large eggs, beaten (some set aside)
3 tablespoons honey (45 ml)
1 cup water, very hot (235 ml)
1 cup cold buttermilk (235 ml)
more water as required ¼ cup butter (56 g), room temperature
We love to serve these Easter breakfast, when there is a vast crowd of people to please, because the pleasing is certain, and there is not much fuss that morning—just warming the buns and maybe making a splendid fruit salad.
As usual, we have substituted natural ingredients for the traditional candied fruits, with results that to us seem far superior both in taste and appeal.
Prepare the fruit: steam the raisins briefly, drain and cool. Either steam or bake the dried apricots so that they are about as soft-firm as the raisins. Chop apricots to the size of raisins. Toast the nuts lightly and chop them into similarly raisin-sized pieces.
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside. Mix the flour and the salt in a bowl, making a well in the center.
Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them slightly, setting aside about three tablespoons to use for egg wash later. (If you forget to save some out, or someone gives it to the cat, just use another egg for the wash.) In a separate bowl, mix the honey and the hot water and add the buttermilk; stir in the beaten eggs.
Pour the liquids and the yeast into the well in the flour and mix, then knead. Keep your hands wet as you work the stiff, sticky dough, letting it take in as much water as it requires to become soft and supple. When the dough is silky and elastic, add the butter in the French manner by smearing it on the tabletop and kneading until all the butter has been incorporated. Gently knead in the fruits and nuts a handful at a time.
Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half check the dough to see how it is doing. Gently poke the center of the dough about ½ inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn’t fill in at all, the dough is ready to deflate. Because of the weight of the rich ingredients, it may rise more slowly than you expect, so be prepared to give it a little extra time. This dough should rise very well indeed, but do keep an eye on it, and go on to the next step before the pressure of your finger-poke makes the dough sigh. Press out the accumulated gas, carefully shape the smooth round again, and let the dough rise once more, as before. The second rising time will be about half as long as the first.
While the dough is rising, plan your baking strategy. The dough for one recipe will make about 30 big buns, and will fill two 12″ 18″ inch cookie sheets, three across, five down. Not everybody can claim two such pans or the oven space to bake them together: you may need to bake in two stages—for example, to fill two 9″ 13″ pans twice. Also, should you want to make smaller rolls (the recipe makes 60, very dainty)—you will need not only more pan space, since little ones take more room, but also more shaping time. For staggered bakings, and/or extra shaping time, you can refrigerate the portion of the dough that you will not be able to shape within half an hour or so. If you have a scale, you can calculate all this very accurately, but whether you do or not, the dough is amazingly tolerant, and there is a lot of leeway.
For estimating,