food to glow

A gently savory yeasted and seeded bun for slathering in butter. These are lovely spread with a little soft cream cheese and topped with thinly sliced cucumber, too. An Easter-time treat.

Delicious, pillowy, raisin-studded delights traditionally eaten at Easter. So, not these then. Well, not the raisin part. The above image is of Hot Cross Buns. But not as you know them.

Whether you are religious or not, I’m sure by now you’ve slung at least one packet of hot cross buns into your shopping trolley. Waitrose seems to have the most enticing iterations of this seasonal bake (I like the chocolate-orange ones).

But have you ever seen a savory one? Me neither. So I thought I would remedy that.

To be honest, I’m not sure where I got the idea from. I just kind of woke up one morning and had a huge urge to find out how a savory hot cross bun would taste. Should it be cheesy? Should it be spicy? What about herbs? I wasn’t sure. And then, as I was standing with a notebook waiting for my toast to brown, I saw the Marmite. Bingo.

Andrew was out for an early run, so I was free to get stuck in without him interrupting my creative/messy thang by rummaging for something to eat (the Saturday norm). I took over the whole counter with jars of seeds, eggs, flour, bowls, more flour, yeast, and sticky, brown Marmite.

Marmite, for those of you not inculcated with British food tradition, is a most unlikely foodstuff. Some would say yucky foodstuff. The name is even used as British code for something you will love or hate. As in, “he is human Marmite. You either love him or loathe him”. You get the picture. Their latest ad campaign even plays on this polarising effect.

In essence, Marmite is a vegan yeast extract spread with added secret ingredients. And it is gorgeous.

It is odd. And smelly. But many people – myself included – love, love, love Marmite. On the basis that it is extremely savory, it instantly qualified, on first taste 30 or so year’s ago, as my favorite condiment. This strange, addictive glossy-brown glop is the first thing I reach for to give a sauce (a dark one) depth.

It is the very definition of savory. And is deeply, deeply umami. I even used to take a little pot on holiday with me for breakfast emergencies. Other than toast, sauces and hot cross buns, it is glorious stirred into browning onions, vegetable bakes, these savory Chelsea buns (another pastry that is always sweet), pasta (with butter too – heaven!), soups (especially bought ones you wish to gussy up) and even added to brownies (miso is great here, too).  But a little goes a long way. If you can’t get Marmite, I would bet about 3 tbsp of nutritional yeast flakes – “nooch” – would work well, too. If you prefer the Australian version of Marmite, Vegemite, use that instead. Perhaps adding a bit more to account for its milder taste.

So, how did that first creative stab at savory hot cross bun making go? Meh. The flavour was great (a huge thumb’s up from Andrew), but the texture was a bit rubbish. I knew fairly soon that all was not going to go well. The yeast was a dud, and when I checked the teeny tiny print I saw that it had expired two years earlier. Oops. We managed to eat the small test batch in the day though. #nowastekitchen  Butter saved the day on that batch 🙂

Two batches later, and with in-date yeast and whole milk, these buns are pretty darn good.  Another previous mistake was that I had used almond milk – not high enough in fat to work here. If you need it dairy-free it will be good but you need to use something higher in fat. This helps the dough to be soft.

How To Eat Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns of any persuasion are best eaten freshly baked. Bought ones will have stuff added (usually enzymes) to keep them soft for a dew days, but homemade ones – i.e. the BEST ones – deserve your immediate and undivided attention. After the first day, hot cross buns are ideally eaten after first lightly toasting under your grill/broiler and buttering. I might try adding a little vinegar to a subsequent batch to see if that extends their life, but honestly, once made they really won’t last long anyway (chomp).

Hot Cross Buns are something that many people now eat all throughout Lent, but most especially on Good Friday when sweet, sticky fruited buns are traditionally eaten. If you fancy subverting tradition a little, and want to save the sweets for chocolate on Easter Sunday, why not give these a whirl?

Do you start buying hot cross buns as soon as you see them in the shops? What’s your favorite kind? Do you want to just skip over the buns and get straight to the chocolate eggs??