By: Anonymous
They come once a year, and ideally show up at Good Friday.
People line up at neighbourhood bakeries to get their sweet sticky buns marked with a white cross. But this year, with a pandemic lingering just about a year now, orders to collect have been the trend, or perhaps trying your hand at making it yourself to spare the rush.
But have you ever wondered their history and why do they seem like a must have?
After all, if we are being honest, they are simply a sweet bread we can have all year round simply with a white iced cross, and while its usually sticky and sweet, they tend to be a bit dry, leaving you parched after its eating.
Well let’s see! Its origin stems from the British and seems to have been passed on too much of the countries within the Commonwealth. The bun is often shared after Good Friday or on the day, to signify the end of the Lenten period of fasting with the cross representing the crucifixion of Christ upon the Cross, while its spice are said to represent him body’s embalming.
The flavour of the bun in the Caribbean has always been a mix of ginger and lemon, while some use clove and nutmeg in other variations.
We also have a tendency to throw in some candied fruit or currants and raisins in the dough while mixing to add texture to it. I will admit, while its not something I enjoyed as a child, as an adult I have come to appreciate it simplicity, whether as a snack or something to have during the Easter weekend for breakfast or with your afternoon tea. Try toasting it and adding a dab of butter, you can even add cheese to it for your breakfast version. Serve with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea or your English Breakfast Tea, even coffee.
INGREDIENTS:
5 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of warm milk (Room temperature)
2 &1/2 Tbsps of instant yeast
2 eggs
6 tbsp melted butter (cooled)
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp of grated ginger (fine)
Zest of two oranges or lemons
1 cup candied fruit
½ cup currants
a drop of Yellow Colouring can be added.
METHOD:
Proof your luke temperature milk with the sugar and yeast for ten minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine your flour and salt, but putting aside 1 and ½ cups of flour. To the milk mixture, add your eggs and melted butter. Add your wet ingredients to flour and salt mixture, combining both wet and dry. Mix kneading the dough, if you find its too wet, add additional flour from the 1&1/2 cups set aside until it is combined to be a smooth textured dough. In a greased bowl, place dough, and set aside covered with damp cloth for 1 hour to rise. After it has doubled in size, punch down. This assists in removing the yeasty flavour. Allow to rise again for another half hour.
When the time has passed, empty dough onto floured surface, dividing the dough into 12- 15 pieces. Roll out each piece as a ball, and in a greased baking sheet, place the balls two inches apart. Cover the sheet with the dough balls once again with the damp cloth to raise for 20 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven at 270 C. Before placing baking sheet in oven, slice a cross mark on each bun. Place in oven for baking 15 to 20 minutes. At 15-minute mark you can take buns from oven and brush with egg or milk mixture to give glossy texture, and put back to bake if you don’t want the added sweet glaze. Or you can make the glaze, using
Equal parts water and sugar, with lemon zest added and brush only after baking has been completed but while still piping hot. For the cross, making butter frosting and apply using a piping bag, where the markings were made only when buns have cooled.