Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

This year I have been using more and more sourdough, and less commercial baker's yeast. One major step into this world was using sourdough starter for the annual ritual of making hot cross buns - the regular version found here.

I currently use a rye sourdough starter, based on organic whole rye flour from Powlett Hill farms, even when baking with wheat or spelt. Using the rye starter to create a leaven with the desired flour as the interim step, I finish the bread dough with the less yeast-friendly elements like fat and salt.

In this case I re-engineered the traditional recipe, to produce the same sized batch as the regular one - and the results I must say were very good. These did not rise as much as with commercial yeast, but that's par for the course. Using spelt adds an additional challenge to the puffy-light expectations of buns too. However the texture and flavour of these were fantastic. I can barely wait another year to repeat the experience.

Start the day before you want to bake; depending on the activity of the leaven, you may find this works faster or slower. If necessary you can slow either the leaven or the final proof in the fridge, eg.:

• Mix leaven in the morning, allow to develop through the day. Make dough and form buns in the evening, and do a slow proof in the fridge overnight, bake in the morning.
• Mix leaven at night, prove overnight (in fridge in warm weather); make buns in morning, prove and bake when ready later in the day.

These did have a bit more 'oven spring' than some of my other sourdough products.

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
Step 1: Leaven
50g Rye Sourdough starter (or sufficient of your sourdough starter to raise 1kg of dough)
200g wholegrain wheat or spelt flour
375g milk

Warm milk to more than lukewarm; your finger should bear it comfortably. Blend sourdough starter,  and flour in a large bowl, mix in warm milk. Cover with a plastic bag or similarly, and leave in a warm place; an insulated shopping bag or picnic basket is ideal. Depending on the strength of your sourdough culture, leave overnight, or for a morning or afternoon at least. This very wet leaven should bubble appreciably, but you want to use it before it collapses on itself.

Step 2: Dough
400g flour - ideally 50% wholegrain and 50% strong white flour, or according to preference
60g butter or margarine
60g sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup of dried fruit and/or peel, as desired
1 tsp cinnamon, or a mixture of cinnamon and other spices (ground cloves, ginger, allspice, coriander, nutmeg)
Pinch of salt
Leaven

In a separate bowl, combine flour with spices, sugar and salt. Rub in fat. Add lightly beaten egg and leaven. Mix to combine, and knead resulting dough on a lightly-floured board until elastic.

Grease two 8 x 8 tins or equivalent, for 18 buns.

Divide dough into two pieces, then each piece into 9, rolling buns between palms into a round shape. Place buns evenly spaced into tins (3 x 3 in a two square tins) and prove until doubled in size. The time will depend on the power of the sourdough culture. Spelt will tend to move sideways more than up in such conditions, but they will rise further in a hot oven.

Step 3: Bake and Finish
1/3 cup plain/all-purpose flour
1/3 cup water
1 tsp plain gelatine
1 Tbp sugar
1 Tbp hot water

Pre-heat a hot oven (250C/475F). When ready to bake, make a paste from half a cup of white flour with a third of a cup of water, and a little oil. Pipe this as crosses onto buns with an icing set (or improvise with a plastic bag with the corner cut off, and squeeze).

Bake 15 minutes, until tops are well browned. Turn onto wire rack, and brush with a mixture of gelatine and sugar dissolved in water.