This year, March is packing in both Mother’s Day and an early Easter means school is out at the end of the month. Busy times.
A study has revealed that engaging in creative projects, such as cooking and baking, makes us happier in our day to day lives. If you need further encouragement, think of it as an act of mindfulness which comes with a bonus sense of achievement – and something delicious as the end result. The research, published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, has been endorsed by local producer of regeneratively farmed flours, Chipping Norton’s Matthews Cotswold Flour. Their online Baking Club is designed to support and encourage home bakers and they’ve kindly shared with us their recipe for an Easter favourite, Hot Cross Buns.
We’ve been scoffing hot cross buns at Easter for centuries but there is some debate regarding when they became commonplace seasonal fare. It is alleged that buns marked with a cross were enjoyed by the Greeks in the sixth century AD. Those we enjoy today are loaded with significance; the cross representing the crucifixion, the spices reference embalming, and the raisins, the body of Jesus. Originally made to be given to the poor on Good Friday, they have become a popular marker of the end of Lenten fasting.
Ingredients
- 375g Strong White flour (we recommend Cotswold Churchill Strong White Flour)
- 9g salt
- 45g sugar
- 25g Fresh yeast
- 60g Soft butter
- 160g Whole Milk
- 80g mixed dried fruit (soaked in orange juice for 2 hours)
- 25g mixed peel
- 1tbsp mixed spice
Method
- Mix all of the ingredients together besides the dried fruit and mixed peel for 10 minutes on a medium speed until smooth.
- Drain off the orange juice and give the fruit a good squeeze before adding to the dough.
- Add all of the fruit and mixed peel to the dough and mix for another five minutes
- Once the dough is done, rest it for five minutes
- Weigh the dough to 50g and roll into balls.
- Place the dough balls into a tray with some space to grow.
- Let the dough prove for at least one and a hlaf hours at room temperature.
- Once proved, pipe on the cross mixture.
- Bake the hot crossed buns at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
- Straight out of the oven brush the buns with warm apricot jam that has been diluted in a little bit of water.
- Serve toasted with salted butter.
For more recipes head to the recipe page at cotswoldflour.com
