Currant Buns | The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter

This year's Easter weekend is slightly different from the rest. It's probably the first one that I haven't had to work, standing behind a bakery counter and selling boxes upon boxes of hot cross buns. Instead I can join the masses that take these four days to relax, visiting family (not so much this year, obviously) and generally spending the time eating countless buns and drinking endless cups of tea.

I used my time stuck at home this year to experiment with making my own hot cross buns, which proved a bit more a challenge considering that everyone in the country seems to have had the same idea this last few weeks and all the yeast in stores had disappeared. After a few days of searching I was able to find a stall at a local market selling fresh yeast, and after using the fresh stuff, I can't believe I ever used dry yeast. I've made so many batches, the last few days have been spent doing nothing but eating buns, reading books and enjoying lounging on the couch.

I did a few variations of hot cross buns these last few days, the below recipe with currants and sultanas, one with sour cherries and chocolate and another with figs and cranberries. I used the hot cross bun recipe from Natalie Paull's cookbook Beatrix Bakes - which is filled with amazing recipes from her cafe Beatrix. A tiny corner shop that I used to frequent far, far too much before I went plant based. I made same alterations to the recipe, leaving out orange (I had none in the house and forget to get any) and the dry milk powder. Having tried her buns before at the cafe, I highly recommend getting a copy of the book here, as there are many more amazing recipes within.

*Note: you can use dry yeast instead of fresh, just follow the measurements of how much to use on the box. Also the mixed spices, you can use whatever you like - I recommend cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, but just go with whatever you enjoy.

Currant Buns
Makes approx. 12 buns
Ingredients
100g currants, sultanas and cranberries mixed
540g plain flour
60g caster sugar
3 tsp mixed spices *see note
1 tsp sea salt
170ml warm water
20g fresh yeast *see note
70g soft butter
Oil, for brushing pan and dough
Crosses
60g plain flour
1 tsp icing sugar
2 tsp oil
50ml water
Glaze100ml water
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence, or one vanilla bean

1. If you're using the fresh yeast, pop it into a large bowl and add a teaspoon of sugar, smushing it down into the yeast with the back of a spoon - leave for a few minutes and it should turn into a liquid, add in the warm water. If you're using dry yeast - do the same, minus the smushing, and add in the water and leave it to go frothy.

2. Combine the flour, spices, salt, sugar and add into the yeast mixture - mixing well to form into a dough. Add in the dried fruits as you're mixing the dough. At around this stage it's a good time to remove from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface, kneading to incorporate the fried fruits. You want to knead the dough for around ten minutes or so, until it's smooth - it should still be quite moist at this stage, you don't want it too floury.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside, covering with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for an hour or so, or until the dough has doubled in size.

4. While the dough is rising, it's a good time to make the glaze. Put the water, vanilla and caster sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil - the longer you cook it, the stickier the glaze will become, so do it as you like. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

5. Prepare a baking tray by oiling it lightly, and lining it with baking paper. Depending on the size of your tray you can squish the buns together so they can be pulled apart, or you can have them seperate.

6. Turn out the raised dough onto a lightly floured surface and press down lightly to deflate it. Split it into twelve even pieces (depending on how big you want your buns) and shape them into a ball by rolling them under your clawed hand on the bench. Place them on the baking tray and cover again with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and leave for another hour or so, or until the buns have risen again.

7. Preheat the oven to 190C.

8. During this time, make the mix for the crosses on top. Combine all the needed ingredients - it's gonna be a bit of a gloopy mix, add more flour or water as you think is necessary and put the flour mixture into a piping bag with either a thin piping tip, or snip the end of the bag off so only a thin line will come out.

9. Once the buns have risen, pipe the crosses on top - it's easiest to do them all in one row, doing long lines across all buns at once.

10. Bake for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them as they can burn very quickly (as my second batch showed).

11. Remove and leave on the tray, and spread the prepared glaze over the top of them thickly, ensuring that the tops are covered and nice and shiny.

12. Enjoy with a spread of a butter and tea!