HOT CROSSLESS BUNS

FL048: ETERNAL RETURN
April 5, 2021

A blank canvas for the religious insignia of your choice. If your guests are agnostic, feel free to make some royal icing and pipe a question mark on these.

Goal: medieval snacking
Yield: 15 buns

  • 2 cups currants, raisins, dried cherries (roughly chopped if large), or another small dried fruit

  • 4 1/4 cups (510 grams) AP flour

  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar

  • 5 teaspoons (15 grams) instant yeast

  • 2 1/2 teaspoons (15 grams) fine sea salt

  • 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground white pepper

  • 1 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground ginger

  • 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground nutmeg

  • 1/4 teaspoon (1/2 gram) ground cloves

  • 3/4 cup (180 grams) whole milk or oat milk

  • 2 large eggs (100 grams)

  • 1/4 cup (55 grams) quark, sour cream, or Greek yogurt

  • 1 orange

  • 8 tablespoons butter, cubed, at room temperature

  • nonstick spray

  • Egg wash made from 1 large egg and a pinch of sea salt

 

Steep the cherries or currants in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain. (For even more flavor, try soaking them overnight in the fridge in a combination of cherry juice and orange liqueur.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, yeast, salt, white pepper, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

Pour the milk into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the eggs and quark (or sour cream or yogurt). Take the orange and grate its zest directly over the liquid. Add the dry ingredients.

Mix on low for two minutes, then increase the speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes. Add the butter and mix on low for 5 minutes. Add the currants (or other dried fruit) and mix on low for 5 minutes. Remove the bowl, cover it, and let ferment at room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

Spray a quarter sheet tray with nonstick spray, line with parchment, and spray again. With a bench scraper, divide the dough into 15 pieces and form into balls. Array them on the tray in 3 rows of 5 rolls. Cover with a damp towel and proof at room temperature until doubled, about two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the center. Brush the rolls with the egg wash and bake until nicely browned on top, 30-35 minutes. When done, they should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.