Hot cross buns are an Easter ritual for many

Hot cross buns are an Easter brunch staple, and it’s no wonder why.

With the brightness of lemon, richness and warmth of spiced yeast dough and gentle sweetness of a scant amount of icing, hot cross buns seem to embrace the hope of the springtime to come.

Because of the cross on top, the round and deeply browned buns are widely associated with the Christian celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. In England in particular, they’re a Good Friday tradition.

In late Tudor times, a London law was introduced banning the sale of spiced buns anytime except for Christmas and Good Friday and at burials.

Issued in 1592, the decree announced no bakers “at any time or times hereafter make, utter, or sell by retail, within or without their houses, unto any of the Queen’s subject any spice cakes, buns, biscuits, or other spice bread” – except at the aforementioned times – “upon pain or forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor,” according to “English Bread and Yeast Cookery,” by the late British cookery writer Elizabeth David.

No doubt the rule helped lead to today’s custom of hot cross buns with Easter weekend. But it was difficult to enforce, and the restriction went away sometime during the reign of Elizabeth I’s successor, James I, king from 1603 to 1625.

The buns’ beginnings likely go back even further, though, to a pagan celebration in medieval England in honor of the goddess of spring, Eastore or Eostre, for whom Easter is named.

Ancient Greeks also ate special small cakes to celebrate spring. And ancient Romans apparently had hot cross loaves; when archaeologists excavated Herculaneum – buried by the same volcanic eruption as Pompeii in 79 C.E. – they uncovered among the ruins two small, carbonized loaves, each marked with a cross.

Over time, the beloved breakfast buns – scented with allspice, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg – became associated with not only Easter but a wide variety of superstitions. It was widely believed, for example, that a bun baked on Good Friday would never grow moldy.

Legend has it that a London sailor in the early 19th century promised his widowed mother he’d return one Easter. He never did, but she didn’t give up hope, hanging a hot cross bun for him every year until she died. The buns were found dangling from a beam in 1848 in her East End cottage, now the site of the Widow’s Son pub.

These days, the cross on top is usually made with a basic white icing. Sometimes, crosses are fashioned from candied citrus peel.

Strips of pastry or a piped- or painted-on mixture of flour and water, applied before baking, are more traditional cross-making methods. This seems somehow less exciting than icing but is still more decorative than earlier times when the cross was simply cut into dough with a knife.

Dotting the dough with chocolate chips, toffee, dates, apples or dried cranberries has become popular in some places. But currants, candied citrus peel, raisins and sultanas are more traditional. Soaking the dried fruit in simple syrup helps keep the buns from drying out as fast – if there are any left to spare.

The buns are best when warm or toasted, split in half and served with a pat of butter.

Hot Cross Buns

From “The Best of Irish Country Cooking” by Nuala Cullen

1 1/2 pounds (about 4 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

1 ( 1/2-ounce) envelope instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons ground pumpkin pie spice, or to taste

4 tablespoons butter

1 1/4 cups warm milk

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons mixed dried fruit (such as currants and sultanas)

4 tablespoons candied citrus peel

1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/4 cups water, boiled together to form a syrup

Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and spice. Soften the butter in the warm milk and add the egg. Make a well in the flour and pour in the liquid, drawing in the flour from the sides and kneading well until a pliable dough has formed (this can be done in a food processor or mixer). Knead in the fruit and peel. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, dry place to rise for about an hour or so.

Knock the air out of the dough and knead again for a few moments. Divide into 12 to 14 pieces and shape into balls. Arrange these on oiled baking sheets, cover and leave to rise for a further 20 to 30 minutes.

Mix 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of water together and use it to paint a cross on the top of each bun. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake for about 20 minutes (when done, they will sound hollow when tapped underneath). With a pastry brush, paint the buns with the syrup and return to the oven for 5 minutes to set.

Yield: 12 to 14 buns

Gluten-free Hot Cross Buns

From http://nogluten-noproblem.com

For the dough

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon honey, divided

4 1/2 teaspoon yeast (2 packets)

4 cups gluten-free flour blend

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

3 large eggs

1/2 cup raisins

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Olive oil

For the glaze

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

For the icing

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the milk, 1 teaspoon honey and the yeast, and let set for 5 minutes until the yeast is activated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, allspice, cinnamon, salt, xanthan gum and ginger. Set aside.

In another small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, raisins, remaining 1/2 cup honey, and orange and lemon zest.

Add the wet ingredients to the yeast mixture, stirring to combine. Then add the flour mixture and combine to form a wet dough.

Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan.

In a small ramekin or similar, pour 2 tablespoons or so of olive oil. Lightly coat the fingers and palms of your hands, and pinch off a pingpong-ball-size amount of dough, and roll between your hands to form a smooth ball.

Repeat until you have 20, placing them evenly spaced apart on the sheet. Use a greased knife to cut a cross shape into the surface of each dough ball. Cover and let rise in a warm location for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the egg and milk to form the glaze. Brush the buns. Bake for about 15 minutes, until deep golden brown. (The internal temp should read 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the icing: Mix together the powdered sugar and milk to form the icing. Add extra powdered sugar to make it thicker. Use a pastry bag, zip-top bag with corner snipped, or similar to pipe the icing into a cross shape.

Yield: 20 buns