Spiced Stout Hot Cross Buns

Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross buns!
But if you have none of these little elves,
Then you may eat them all yourselves.

So goes the nursery song, describing the traditional English spiced buns that were eaten on Good Friday. (For a bit more history, check out my last year's hot cross buns post here.) Reading between the lines, it appears that if you have any hot cross buns, you are supposed to give them away. The preferred recipients appear to be any daughters that you might have. Failing that, hand the buns over to your sons. No children? You get to eat the buns yourself!

I baked a big batch of buns this year, and by chance my daughters were visting home this week! I sent most of the buns home with my older daughter to share with her Easter weekend guests.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- Hot cross buns are a kind of celebration bread, filled with fruit and spices. The smell of this dough reminded me of some of the celebration breads that I've baked in from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

- The recipe for these hot cross buns is from Dan Lepard, part of his "How To Bake" weekly series for The Guardian. I love to check the site each Satuday to see what Dan is baking up. Ingredients for these buns include stout, tea, raisins, spices, and candied citrus peel. It sounded like an intriguing combination of ingredients, so I was very eager to see how the buns would turn out.

- This is the first time that I've followed a Dan Lepard recipe that employs an overnight pre-ferment; in this case stout, yeast, some of the flour, and the spices are mixed together, covered and put aside overnight.

- In a separate bowl, the raisins and peel soak in black tea for the same length of time. I ran out of regular raisins, so I measured out a combination of raisins, golden raisins, and currants.

- A big bag of homemade candied citrus peel (lemon,lime, tangerine, orange) was resting in my freezer and I was very excited to find a great use for it. (I posted about the candied peel recipe that I use here)

- The next day, the dough is mixed in typical Dan Lepard style: combine all ingredients, rest briefly, knead for 10 seconds every 10 minutes (3 cycles) then shape, rise, bake.

- I had run out of bread flour (it happens, even to bread bakers!), so I combined 2/3 all purpose flour with 1/3 high gluten flour (approximately).

- I measured out 100g for each bun, and ended up with 20 1/2. If I'd been a little more thoughtful when I was working, I could have avoided that half roll, but warm from the oven the little bun made for a great taste test for my daughter.

- Last year's buns featured a piped cross made from icing, but the crosses on these buns are a flour and water paste. After the buns come out of the oven they are brushed with a sugar glaze.

- I'm submitting these buns for Bread Baking Day #28. The theme this month is "Bread Buns" and is hosted by Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen. Rachel will be posting a roundup, so be sure to check back to see the wonderful bun-ny bread!

The happy little half-bun, in bad artificial light!

the verdict:

After the rolls had mostly cooled, my daughter ALE tasted the little half roll. Here's her reaction: "yum. That's good. (pause) That's really good." After a few more bites, she gave a more complete assessment: "I like the glaze. I can taste the stout. I usually don't like fruit in breads, but I'm dealing with it. That candied peel is good."

She shared the buns with her friends, and reported that they made a big hit. Her boyfriend loved the peel and the complex variety of flavors.


Wishing a blessed Easter to all who observe the holy day.

BBA Slow & Steady #11: Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread roundup

Back in, oh, October, the Slow & Steady subgroup of the BBA Challenge - in our slow and steady march trhough Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice - baked Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread, I have to be honest here. Most of us were less than enthusiastic about the prospect of baking this bread. We'd been in a run of sweet breads and/or fruit-filled breads and we were longing for a lean crusty hearth bread. But this BBA adventure is meant to be a challenge, right? We rose to the challenge and all of us loved the versions of this bread that we baked.

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Natalia of Gatti, Fili e Farina baked the most beautiful double-braid loaf for her celebration bread. She substituted raisins for the cranberries and pecans for the walnuts, and found herself cutting thinner and thinner slices to stretch this delicious bread! Read her post: BBA Slow and Steady Raisin Pecan Bread

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Karen, of the blog Shortbread found this bread the perfect way to enjoy Fall baking in November, even if it did remind her just a bit of her favorite December fruitcake. (Hey, Karen, I'm a fan of fruitcake too!) Here's her story: Celebrate Fall Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread

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Although she was tired of sweet enriched breads, Jessica of The Singleton in the Kitchen soldiered on and baked the (huge) loaf of bread (plus a little roll for her to taste - wasn't that clever of her?) and luckily found that it is really delicious. And added bonus, the loaf came in handy as a hostess gift. Here's her post: BBA S&S: Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread

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Because nuts in bread are no cause for celebration at her house, Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table baked her celebration loaf sans walnuts and the bread was a hit. Her family found it especially delicious as the base of grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches. A little taste of Thanksgiving! Nobody can say it quite like Kayte, so read her post BBA Challenge: Cranberry (not Walnut) Celebration Bread

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Despite my initial reluctance to bake this bread - I thought I was tired of enriched, sweet, fruit-filled bread - I sucked it up and baked two small loaves, intending to give at least one of them away. My hybrid braids-in-a-loaf-pans bread was so delicious that we kept it all for ourselves! Here's my post: Cherry Walnut Whole Grain Celebration Bread

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Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook loved the raisin bread we made in the BBA Challenge a few breads back, but wasn't in the mood for another fruit-filled loaf. Being a very creative baker, Di turned the Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread into Cranberry Pecan cinnamon-type rolls - it was a regular party going on at her house! Check out the details here: There's a party goin' on right here

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Margaret of Tea and Scones has realized that she loves "really good Home Made Bread" including this loaf. She tackled the double braid shaping method, and despite a bit of slippage, look how beautifully her bread turned out! Here's her post: Slow and Steady BBA - Cranberry Walnut Bread

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No braided loaf for Sarah of Blue Ridge Baker! Following Di's lead she took this bread in a completely different direction, baking date pecan rolls with orange caramel sauce. Her rolls look and sound amazing; I just wish I could have had a little taste. Read more: BBA Challenge: Date Pecan Rolls with Orange Caramel Sauce

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A bit apprehensive about the upcoming complex breads in the BBA book, Leslie of Lethally Deliciouswas grateful for a simple, forgiving bread to bake. She eschewed the braiding and baked her dough into a mama and a baby loaf. The bread was a huge hit at her house, as you can imagine from looking at the beautiful picture above. Here's Leslie's post: BBA - Cranberry walnut celebration bread

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So there you have it: a plethora of celebratory breads baked by the Slow and Steady bakers of the BBA Challenge. With this bread we have true cause for celebration, as we finally exit the "C" section of the book!

BBA Slow & Steady #2: Artos (Greek Celebration) Roundup

Last week the Slow and Steady subgroup of the he Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge posted the second recipe, the Artos, or Greek Celebration Bread. Author Peter Reinhart gives three different varieties of the same basic bread; each is for a different traditional purpose and each has a different shape and added ingredients.


We'll start first with Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table. Kayte never does anything halfway, and she made all three variations of the celebration bread consecutively (complete with optional glaze). In one weekend Kayte's family experienced Christmas (Christopsomos, top picture above), Easter (Lambropsomo, pictured just above) and a good old general celebration (boule, see picture below) Here's her post: BBA Challenge: Artos: Greek Celebration Breads .

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The next baker is Cathy of The Tortefeasor. Although her "baby" bread loaf was not totally unplanned, Cathy was surprised at her little one's hefty birth size. Her post:
It's a . . . .

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Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen killed two birds with one stone, baking a cinnamon-roll version of Artos for her sister to enjoy. She used the monkey bread method to quickly shape a fun loaf. Read her post:
BBA: Artos (or) Greek Celebration Bread

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Audrey of Food From Books divided her dough and made two smaller loaves. She worked hard on her shaping, and I think it really shows! Here's her post:
Bread Baker's Apprentice #2: The art of Artos My favorite part of her post is the list of things she's learned from baking this recipe.

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I tried two of the shapes and learned that shaping bread is an art that will take me a good bit of practice! Especially braids...
Here's my post:
Artos, Greek Celebration Bread {bba}

Our next BBA post will be Bagels! Look for it on our blogs around June 14 or 15!

Artos, Greek Celebration Bread {bba}

Moving right along in Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, bread #2, still in the "A"s, is Artos, Greek Celebration bread. Reinhart gives a general-celebration version, and elaborations on the theme for Christmas and Easter, each incorporating a different set of fruit and nut add-ins.

The first yeast bread I ever made was a celebration bread, in November 2008. My success with Dorie Greenspan's Kugelhopf (and the instant yeast that I used in it) planted the germ that incubated into full blown yeast fever once the calendar turned to 2009. In the past 6 months, I've made a variety of celebration breads: stollen, kugelhopf (different recipe), hot cross buns, and Italian Dove Bread. We've never been able to finish a batch before it goes stale, so I put it in the freezer. There are so many celebration breads up there, I'm pretty sure there's always a party going on when I close the freezer door!

Because of this surfeit of fancy fruited bread in my life, I planned to make a partial recipe, bake a small loaf for us to taste and a larger one to give to a friend, and call it a day. But, enter Kayte, who is journeying through the BBA Challenge with me in the Slow & Steady sub-group, and who announced that she was going to make all three of the Greek Celebration variations (read her post!). That works for her, because she has a houseful of boys and their friends, all of whom are voracious eaters and don't gain an extra ounce besides what is needed for growing, naturally. Even though our house has just two middle-aged folks (and two middle-aged dogs), I was inspired to try the different shaping techniques. I skipped the boule and went straight for the fun stuff: the Lambropsomo and the Christopsomos, known affectionately as the braid and the octopus (do you see the resemblance?) Any of the loaves can be topped with a traditional honey citrus glaze and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The rich dough, aromatic spices, and dried fruit and nuts that I've used in all of the previous celebration loaves gave me a certain confidence when I approached the Artos, although Reinhart's method is different.

- Reinhart's Artos formula uses a poolish, a particular type of pre-fermented dough. Equal amounts of flour and water and just a touch of (instant) yeast are mixed up, and allowed to ferment until the following day. Other ingredients are then added to this bubbly poolish to make the final bread dough.


- I made half a recipe of the poolish, which yielded enough for two small batches (3/4 size) of Artos.

- For the final dough in each batch I used SAF Gold yeast, which is specially formulated for sweet rich doughs. The dough also has a combination of spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and extracts: almond and lemon.

Lambropsomo

- This bread is traditionally baked for the Greek Easter celebration. It is a braided loaf that traditionally includes red-dyed hard boiled eggs tucked among the strands of the braid. I figured if I were going to make this bread, I was going to do it right! So I dyed a couple of eggs for the bread.

- I divided my dough and made 2 braided loaves, each with a red egg. As the recipe instructed, I placed the egg into the braid before the final rise. By the time the loaf was ready to go into the oven, red dye had run onto the surrounding bread dough. Even more dye bled while the bread was baking in the oven.

I proved to myself that my braiding technique needs more practice!

- Although I had measured out the fruit and nuts to add to the bread, I totally forgot to mix them in until I was halfway through shaping the loaves. I left one loaf plain (had already braided it ) and hastily worked some fruit into the other one before braiding. I used golden raisins, dried cherries, and toasted chopped walnuts (which are actually the preferred fruits for the other version of Artos - the Christopsomos)

These slices are from the plain braided loaf.

- The loaves turned out to be a fair size; it was hard to believe that each was half of a 3/4 batch of dough. To see the size of one full recipe-sized braid visit Cathy's post, Di's post, or Caitlin's.

- I gave one Lambropsomo braid to a dear friend, B. She is getting her master's degree in divinity, and I knew she would appreciate receiving a traditional Easter bread while it was still in the liturgical Easter Season. I was hesitant to give the loaf because of the mess from the red dye, but I had already promised it to her (and she really didn't mind it). B had a fabulous suggestion for the next time: bake the bread with an undyed hard boiled egg, then after baking, substitute the red egg for the plain. Genius! There's a reason she's in that high-powered academic program!

Christopsomos

- This loaf is traditional for Christmas, and is shaped as a round loaf, or boule, with a curly-ended cross across the top.

- For this batch, I used nearly 1/3 white whole wheat flour, along with a bit of white all purpose flour and the white bread flour.

- I separated out 1/4 of dough and used the monkey bread technique, with 3/4 oz balls in a mini loaf pan. To see a full-size monkey-style Greek Celebration loaf, see Wendy's post.

- With the rest of the dough, I made the traditional Christopsomos shape, which required the dough to be shaped into a round boule before rising, and some dough reserved in the refrigerator for forming the curled cross just before baking the bread. This was my first boule, ever, and I tried to maintain the bread's surface tension. I might have let it rise a bit too long, as a rip developed in the top of the boule. The dough also ripped in holes around the nuts and fruit, especially in the cross pieces.

- My Christopsomos ended up being approximately half the size of a full recipe's loaf (mine was 3/4 of 3/4 recipe). Audrey's post shows two loaves approximately the size of my one. For a full size octopus, see Natashya's!

- This time I remembered to add the fruit and nuts to the dough at the correct time. I again used golden raisins, dried cherries and toasted walnuts.


- Once cooled, I popped the Christopsomos into the freezer. When my book group day rolled around I thawed the Christopsomos and made the glaze for it. I warmed the bread, thinking that it would help the glaze sink into the bread, but I think the reheating might have dried out the bread. Nonetheless, it was still good, especially with brie and honey.

- I made French toast with leftover Christmopsomos, and used the extra glaze as syrup on top.

the verdict:

This bread had a soft, tender crumb with understated sweetness and spice. It was less cake-y and more bread-y than some of the other celebration loaves that I've baked. I enjoyed trying the different methods of shaping the dough - I learned that I need lots more practice with braids and boules. But the bread is worthy of celebration!