Bake hot cross buns with Dan Lepard, Mon 29 March, 10.30am to 12.30pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're very glad that baker and food writer Dan Lepard is back for another Mumsnet webchat and bakealong on Monday 29 March from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

This time, as it's nearly Easter, Dan will be making hot cross buns. You can see his recipe for easy hot cross buns, plus lovely picture of a batch he made earlier here.

While Dan's (and your) buns are in the oven , he will answer questions and swap tips about baking, 1001 ways with yeast, and the like.

Please share a picture of the finished result on your profile, so we can all gawp in admiration.

If you don't have time to bake but still want to quiz Dan, please join us anyway.

And, of course, if you can't make it on Monday but have a question you'd like to ask Dan, please post it here.

Please Dan, you are so good at GF baking, could we have a GF hot cross bun recipe ? My attempts in the past have been foul

Oh, goody. Last webchat was good. I hope I can get all the ingredients here.

I thought baking with Def Lepard! What a novelty! Then I put my bifocals on...

Oh yeay. He was so great last time AND tesco failed to deliver my HCBs AND the DCs want to make some.

whoops me too, I got all excited and then a little confused.

I dont even wear glasses.

Dan Lepard's recipes are great. I don't know that I've made his hot cross bun recipe, but all the ones I have made have turned out fantastically.

I can't do Monday but I have a question too. I've been trying to make sourdough bread lately, and the same thing keeps happening: it doesn't rise very enthusiastically in the tin during its second rise, despite being in the airing cupboard for ~6 hours, but then when I bake it the top rises a lot and starts to split off the bottom. Do you have any idea what might be going wrong?

I have a question- how do you make GF cakes less dry is it to do with which flour you use? I'm currently using rice flour but I'm not sure if thats right.

I posted my own recipe for GF Hot X loaf, I would have to see what Dan thinks of it though!!

Good for slicing freezing and toasting individual slices!

www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F2670471?thread=5236423&show=100

CMOT dibbler, GF Hot cross loaf : have now figured how to add my recipe to mumsnet:

www.mumsnet.com/Recipes?call=RecipePage&pid=4134

Cheers mayonaise - will give that a go.

Thislittlesisterlola - rice flour always works out dry. Try a gf flour blend like Doves Farm - mine aren't dry at all with that, even a plain sponge mix

Pour Some Sugar on Them...

....

PMSL at baking with Def Leppard

The last time I made Hot Cross Buns, I was in the kitchen ALL DAY LONG! Anything quicker and easier? I didn't think my buns tasted any better than ones from the supermarket.

not a question for Dan but I wondered if MNHQ realised (I am guessing not) that the blurb for this on the front page says 'Join us on Mon 29 Mar from 10.30pm to 12.30pm' I was a little confused about baking at that time of night!

Just a quick question. Had another look at the recipe and noticed that it requires two rising pauses - one of 45 mins and one of 90 mins. Is it better if we start baking earlier?

Hi everyone, just setting off to head to mumsnet. MmeLindt, yes, do start baking earlier if you want to bake with me. I'll be bringing one batch of dough with to shape, and mixing another batch of dough as soon as I arrive. I find that you can leave the dough happily for a few hours after mixing and it makes good - maybe even better - buns.

SilentC, these buns should take about 3 - 4 hours - 1/2 a day - but to keep the time short use my trick of sitting the tray over a mixing bowl half-filled with boiling water. The added warmth gives an oomph to the rising and helps to keep the rising time short. Like you, I've had problems when they're taken an age to rise and found that, once shaped, that the dough gets cold easily and slows down.

thislittlesisterlola, I agree with CMOTdibbler, though I think it's the tapicoa starch they use that makes cakes so soft. So a combination of 3/4 rice flour. 1/4 tapioca starch plus extra liquid (the tapioca S absobs many times its weight in moisture)is a good substitute.

Dan

P.S. If you use currants instead of raisins, don't use as many as they spread out during mixing/baking, and if there are too many they tear the dough as it rises.
D

I'll start an hour earlier then.

Hi Dan. The crosses, are they just flour and water, please?

Hi Gill, yes, just flour and water but I've found that if you mix it into a soft paste about an hour before you need it then it pipes easier.
Dan

I do think that too much tapioca flour can make cakes a bit chewy - it has a quite odd texture if you make things just with tapioca, but this can result in amazing brazilian cheese breads which are naturally gf and yummy.

Off to find gf hcb ingredients...

Have just started & crossing fingers as I have never made hot cross buns before!

Dan - Can they be frozen & how long for if they can?

Ok, have started baking. Am using a mix of white and wholemeal flour.

Hi Mme Lindt.
I'm just starting too, set the yeast and am boiling the 75g milk.

I'm using 175g plain white and the remainder strong white (I've run out of plain flour).