Hot cross buns for Good Friday.

Despite the date above, today is Holy Thursday (17 April ), the day of The Last Supper, and I made Hot Cross Buns for tomorrow.

When I was growing up we only ever had hot cross buns on Good Friday. This was in remembrance of Jesus who died on the cross that day, was buried and who then rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. Good Friday was a sacred feast day, and the only day we ever ate hot cross buns in our house. They were ordered about a week before, then had to be bought from the bakery on Holy Thursday because not one shop was ever open on Good Friday. No one worked on that day.

Leonardo da Vinci's, The Last Supper. on Holy Thursday

Making your own Hot Cross Buns really is far, far better than anything you can buy at the supermarket or even your local bakery. You also have the added satisfaction of creating a sweet bread dough, watching it prove and smelling the heavenly aroma of yeast and cinnamon whilst they bake, only to devour them hot out of the oven with 'lashings of butter' as the great Clarissa Dickson Wright would say ... oh how can you resist??

To start off, you probably have most of the ingredients already in your cupboard anyway, with the addition of orange zest, one apple, some sultanas and mixed peel. I bought Italian lemon peel and it was a very good addition.

Basically, milk is warmed and then taken off the heat to cool. Strong white bread flour, yeast, and butter are mixed in then the warm milk added to form a stiff, sticky dough.

Then the sultanas, chopped apple (mine was a bit too big), and peel are incorporated into the dough to form a cohesive lump, which should then be kneaded for approximately five minutes.

After this, the dough should rest for one hour.

having proved for one hour, the dough rises

After an hour, divide the dough into twelve balls making sure the dough is smooth on top by gathering it underneath, thereby stretching the dough on top. Leave these on a baking tray lined with parchment paper for another hour of proving.

After another hour, the buns need to be finished off with a cross (to represent the cross of Christ), for Good Friday. Form a smooth paste of flour and some water and put into a piping bag with a fine nozzle tip for piping

flour and water paste, piped into crosses on the buns

Once piped, they're ready for the oven. 350 deg C for approx 30-35 mins.

buns ready for baking

Then out of the oven, brush with a glaze of warm sieved apricot jam.

straight from the oven

Now all we have to do is wait until tomorrow to eat them. But this is no problem because they freeze well and reheat beautifully.

See if you can give this a go for Good Friday. Absolutely worth the time, and a pleasure to make too.

Recipe from Paul Hollywood, The Great British Bake Off, 2013, BBC Food.

Ingredients:
300ml whole milk
500g strong white flour
75g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
50g butter
1 egg beaten
150g sultanas
80g mixed peel
1 apple, cored & chopped SMALL (not like mine, too big)
2 oranges, zest only
2 tsp ground cinnamon

For Cross:
75g plain flour + extra for dusting

For Glaze:
3 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved.