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Hot Cross Buns
2 cakes yeast 2 cups milk, scalded and cooled 2 tablespoons sugar 7 1/2 cups sifted flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 cup shortening 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup raisins or currants Dissolve yeast and 2 tablespoons sugar in lukewarm milk. Add 3 1/4 cups flour to make sponge. Beat until smooth; cover and let rise until light in warm place free from draught, about 1 hour. Add shortening and sugar creamed, eggs well beaten, raisins or currants which have been floured, remainder of flour or enough to make a moderately soft dough, and salt. Turn out on board, knead lightly and place in greased bowl. Cover and set aside in warm place until double in bulk, which should be in about 2 hours. Shape with hands into medium sized, round buns and place in well greased, shallow pans about 2 inches apart. Cover and let rise again about 1 hour, or until light. Glaze with egg diluted with water, and with sharp knife cut a cross on top of each. Bake 20 minutes in hot oven. Just before removing from oven, brush with sugar moistened with water. While hot, fill cross with plain frosting. Makes two dozen.
A straightforward sponge-and-dough sweet bun from the era when yeast came in foil-wrapped cakes and ovens were described rather than numbered. A few of the instructions reflect 1930s ingredients and can be adjusted or skipped.
- YeastTwo cakes means two 0.6 oz cakes of compressed fresh yeast, which is about 4 1/2 teaspoons of active dry or instant yeast (two standard 1/4 oz packets). Fresh yeast is still sold in some markets; either works in the sponge.
- Scalded milkScalding was standard practice for raw and variably pasteurized milk; the usual explanation is that heating denatures whey proteins that would otherwise weaken gluten. With modern pasteurized milk many bakers simply warm it to about 105F and proceed, though some still scald.
- Hot ovenA hot oven in this period is generally given as roughly 400 to 450F. At 425F check the buns at 15 minutes; they should sound hollow and read about 190F inside.
- ShorteningThe original assumes vegetable shortening or lard. Softened butter gives better flavor in the same quantity, but the dough will be slightly firmer when chilled.
- Flour splitThe sponge takes 3 1/4 cups of the 7 1/2 total; the remaining 4 1/4 cups go in with the eggs and sugar. Hold back the last half cup and add only enough to reach a soft, slightly tacky dough.
- Flouring the fruitTossing raisins or currants in flour keeps them from clumping and from sinking through a slack dough. Plumping them in warm water first, then drying and flouring, keeps them from scorching on the bun surface.
- The crossThe knife cut is decorative and closes up as the buns rise in the oven, which is why frosting is piped into it afterward. Cut shallow and pipe while the buns are still warm so the icing sets into the groove rather than sliding off.
- Yield and timingTwo dozen medium buns, with roughly four hours of rising in total. The three rises are judged by look, not clock: sponge until bubbly and light, dough until doubled, shaped buns until they hold a fingerprint.