Hot Cross Buns - My Last Sugary Supper

It's the season of Lent and for some people it is traditionally a time of giving up certain things that you like - chocolate, alcohol, meat etc.  For me on the other hand, it was different this year.  I did not really give up anything for Lent.  Rather, I spent most of the time reading up on fructose free diets and the positive effects it has been having on many followers.  I came to a decision - since I was feeling the same way that the people who had cut out sugar in their diets had described, I guess it was not going to harm me to try something good for my body.  So after the chocolate fest that is Easter, is over I am doing away with sweet things.  It is pretty intense at first and if you are interested I will post some links at the bottom of this blog that you can peruse.
How does this tie into Hot Cross Buns?  Well only a couple of colleagues at work were aware of my plans to abandon sugar, and one of them - Miss A was most kind to treat me to some of the best rated Hot Cross Buns in Melbourne, as a send off for my taste buds.  So after a week of Baker D. Chirico and Sugardough Bakery's finest, I decided to make up a batch of my own to take in to work as a thank you to Miss A for feeding my sweet tooth's addiction this week.
In this recipe, as I try to do each time, I have changed the regular Hot Cross Bun to something on a different tangent.  After trying Baker D's (and voting it the best one yet), I was most inspired to do a really fruity but light bun - and instead of the usual mix of dried fruits and citrus peel, these contain sweet ginger and are glazed in pineapple syrup - just to be different.
Ingredients - makes 16 buns
For the buns
100g x Sultanas
100g x Currants
½ cup x Pineapple Juice (used a a soaking liquid)
100g x Sweet Uncrystalised Ginger (available in the baking aisle at the supermarket)
700g x Plain Flour, sifted
60g x Caster Sugar
2 tsp x Dried Yeast
1tsp x Allspice 
½ tsp x Ground Cinnamon

300ml x Milk

100g x Butter, cubed

1 x Egg, beaten

For the crosses

50g x Plain Flour

¼ cup x Water

For the hot glaze

¼ cup x Pineapple Juice (retained from soaking liquid)

50g x Caster Sugar

¼ tsp x Mixed Spice

Directions

Soak the sultanas and currants in the pineapple juice for about 30 minutes

Chop the sweet ginger into small pieces

In a large mixing bowl combine the sifted flour with the sugar, yeast and spices

Drain the soaking fruits, reserving a ¼ cup of juice for the glaze

Add the fruits and the ginger to flour mixture, stirring to distribute evenly

Heat the milk on a low temperature and add the butter to melt, the mixture should be luke warm

Whisk the beaten egg into the luke warm mixture and remove from heat

Make a well in the flour mixture and slowly pour in the liquid

Use a wooden spoon to bring the ingredients together

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes

Then form into a ball shape and place in a large greased bowl

Cover bowl with cling wrap and allow dough to prove in a warm place for 1 hour

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knock the air out of it

Divide into 16 balls weighing approximately 100 grams each

Place the balls, evenly spaced in a large cake tin

Cover the tin with a damp tea towel and allow balls of dough to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius

Prepare the mixture for the crosses by combining the flour and water with a fork until smooth

Place the mixture into a piping bag with a small nozzle attached

Carefully pipe vertical and horizontal lines on the risen buns to form crosses

Place the tin in the oven and bake for 10 minutes on 220 degrees

Then turn heat down to 200 degrees and bake for a further 10 minutes

Prepare the glaze by combining the sugar, mixed spice and reserved pineapple juice in a saucepan on low heat

Stir continuously to ensure the sugar dissolves completely

Apply the glaze with a pastry brush, evenly on the buns as they come fresh out of the oven

When cooled slightly, remove from the cake tin and allow buns to cool further on a rack

Serve the Hot Cross Buns sliced in half, toasted and with a generous slather of butter

"Given the price that the bakeries around Melbourne charge for Hot Cross Buns, I reckon I could make a killing with these ginger and pineapple glazed numbers.  I will miss sugar as I enter into the "life less sweeter" - but it is for a greater good - besides, I can still cook non sugary things and blog about it.  Well, I am going to enjoy my last sugary supper and I hope these buns go down well tomorrow at work.  Happy Easter! Keep reading...and cooking."    

And here as promised are some sites worth a read if you are looking into a fructose free dietSarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar blogDavid Gilespie - Author of Sweet Poison - Raisin Hell Blog

Bye Bye Sugar!!!