Bake of the Month - Hot Cross Buns

We're not a religious household, but I do love to keep the old traditions, especially around food. Good Friday is traditionally the day to eat these bread buns. The cross signifies the crucifixion, and the spices reflect Jesus's embalming. 

I originally planned to follow Felicity Cloake's masterclass recipe, but then I was given a jar of sourdough starter, from a batch that is as old at The Gentleman Farmer and I. So I fetched out my copy of James Morton's Brilliant Bread, and made the buns from there. 

You may remember James from the BBC BakeOff - he was the one with the Fair Isle jumpers. I'm not usually drawn to TV book tie-ins, but borrowed this one from the library, and had to have a copy.

This recipe uses sourdough starter, and dried yeast, with an overnight prove. Sounds like a lot of faff, but they were straightforward; they took a long time to make, but almost all of that was the yeasts doing their work. 

First off, I mixed the flour, eggs, salt, butter and yeasts, with some milk and honey. Using the doughhook on my Kenwood, I kneaded for 5 minutes. I covered with a shower cap, and left the dough in the fridge overnight to prove. 

Next morning, I added the spices and dried fruit, and shaped into 12 buns. 

They were then covered with a tea towel, and left to rise for a couple of hours. 

They were then baked at the top of a moderate Aga for about 25 minutes. 

While they were still warm, I brushed them with a glaze, and piped on a cross, in lemon icing.

Delicious served warm, with butter and a mug of tea. 

While I was searching for James Morton's book, I discovered that he has another - I appear to have just bought that, too. Happy Easter!

Vernal Equinox

Spring, you have been a long time coming, and we are so pleased to see you.

The days are lengthening; there's a real warmth when the sun comes out; there are lambs. We've started planting seeds; we have seed potatoes chitting, and onion sets waiting for planting. And there are lambs.

We still have plenty of snow around, but the spring bulbs are in full flower - snowdrop, crocus, iris, and dwarf narcissus. The daffodils are just waiting to flower. And did I mention, the lambs?

Big Garden Birdwatch

Since we've sited a bird feeding station outside the kitchen window, washing the dishes has become much more enjoyable. We have a peanut feeder and a seed feeder, which are visited by plenty of birds. Last week was the annual Big Garden Birdwatch, organised by the RSPB. The idea is that you watch birds (and other wildlife) for one hour, and count what you see.

In our hour, we saw chaffinch

blue tits

great tits

The birds which we see currently, but were absent through our hour were, long tailed tits, up to 12 at a time. My personal favourite. 

Gold finch

Green finch

woodpecker, both male and female

wren 

robin

dunnock

siskin

Anyone else take part? What do you have in your garden?