Jumping on the hot cross bun bandwagon with my taro enriched bread recipe. I realized that my 6″x9″x3″ rectangle pan is perfect for baking this recipe!
This hot cross bun is made plain, without raisins and mix spice. So I serve it with butter and kaya, local style.
Taro Hot Cross Buns
270 plain flour 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast 120g mashed taro 2 tablespoons raw honey 1 egg 50g water 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 20g butter for cross: 1 tablespoon plain flour water
In a mixer bowl, place plain flour, instant yeast, mashed and cooled steamed taro, raw honey, beaten egg and knead with a dough hook attachment on the lowest speed (KA 1). Slowly add the water with the mixer running, you may need more or less of the water stated in the recipe. Watch the dough, when the ingredients come into a ball, stop adding and turn off the mixer. Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes.
After resting the dough, sprinkle the sea salt on the dough. Start the mixer running on its lowest speed again to knead the dough for 1 minute, before adding cubed butter, one by one. Knead until the dough reaches window pane stage, this is when the dough becomes very smooth and elastic, and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the bowl from mixer, cover and bulk rise for 1 hour.
After an hour, the dough will rise and increase its volume, punch it down to release the gas, and transfer to a clean work top. Flatten the dough to push out gas trapped inside the dough, either by hand or a rolling pin. Flour hands and worktop with flour to help with shaping if the dough is sticky. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts, shape each into a ball and place it in a greased tin or pan, seam side facing downwards. Let this sit in a draft-free place to rise for another 50-60 minutes.
Make a flour paste with plain flour with just enough water to smooth but not runny paste. Pipe the paste on the top of each bun to make a cross.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan immediately after baking, and let it cool on a rack completely before slicing or serving.
Store in a covered container if not consumed immediately, to keep the loaf soft and the crumbs from drying out.
MONO and CO 