Try Making Your Own Hot Cross Buns This Easter
The Internet suggests that the origin of hot cross buns date back to the twelfth century, when an Anglican monk baked the buns and marked them with a cross in honor of Good Friday. And over time they gained popularity and became a huge part of the Easter weekend. This topic has become such a traditional part of our stories leading into Easter, that one might say there could not possibly be a different way to make cross buns than the array of methods we’ve already explored. But for the sake of the younger ones who might want to try their own hand at it, News Five’s Marion Ali brings you the recipe in this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
It’s cross bun season and for those who have never attempted but would like to make them, we visited with commercial cook, twenty-nine-year-old Shantel Reneau who walked us through the first stage of the process. She made her cross buns with six pounds of flour.
Shantel Reneau
Shantel Reneau, commercial cook
“We have flour here, we have our yeast. We have cinnamon powder, some ginger, and regular nutmeg for flavour.”
Marion Ali
“And then you have some secret ingredients as well.”
Shantel Reneau
“Yes, well secret touch, I have the secret touch finish right. This is six pounds of flour inside this right now. And then for the sugar, the way I do my sugar is I feel my sugar in the flour.”
Marion Ali
Feel it? Explain that.
Shantel Reneau
“When I say I feel it I put it in and feel the texture in it.”
Marion Ali
“How ih suppose to feel?”
Shantel Reneau
“You’re supposed to feel grains of sugar, not too much, not too little.
Mix this again, then my vanilla. Soh ah wa use this same container and ah wa put wa cup ah the oil as well.”
Reneau says that she normally does not measure her ingredients and it’s really just a matter of knowing what texture the dough should have. Too much sugar can make it too soft; too much flour means it will be hard. After getting it just right, the next step is kneading the dough.
Shantel Reneau
“Sprinkle the flour pahn the table then throw out the dough onto the table. If yoh could yoh put the bun in the sun fi bout fifteen to twenty minutes, da way ih raise properly.”
After this stage, it’s time to knead the dough one more time and portion them off into half pound rolls. The cross is set on top with a piece of the same dough. Reneau said the cross bun holds its own significance to her.
Shantel Reneau
“The cross is for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.”
Marion Ali
“Why do you bakers put it on the bun, though?”
Shantel Reneau
“We put it on the bun to mainly symbolize the season that we’re in and for the sake of the loaves of bread or bun and fishes that the Bible mentions.”
Having gotten that bit of reasoning, it was time for baking. At three hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit it takes about twenty minutes to half an hour in the oven, giving the top a chance to brown as well. Once out, Reneau has an important finishing touch, which for many of us is a treat that makes the bun that much tastier.
Shantel Reneau
“And now I’m going to glaze it with some special ingredients. Just make sure it gets on every corner of the bun.”
Marion Ali
That glaze, what taste is it? What flavour?
Shantel Reneau
“It’s more of a sweet (taste) with cinnamon and spice.”
The buns smell great and they taste even better. They’re soft and sweet and delicious.
Marion Ali for News Five.
Shantel Reneau not only sells Creole bread and bun but also stewed beans along with a selection of cooked meats to choose from for supper every evening near the stop light at Central American Boulevard and Vernon Street in Belize City.
