Biking, books and my Goldilocks Hot Cross Bun Experiment

Happy Easter!

After a lazy morning (and a dark chocolate surprise waiting for me in the kitchen), Mr BBB and I decided that a mountain bike ride would be the perfect way to celebrate this sunny Easter Sunday.

We headed straight to Bruce Ridge..

A little-known area filled with loads of single track,

That weaved in and out of the gorgeous bushland.

 

We both agreed that the tracks were a delight to ride, given they had a nice mix of climbs and descents, and weren’t too technical.

Biking aside, the remainder of my day was spent working on an experiment.

A Goldilocks Hot Cross Bun experiment.

See, before I was diagnosed as having a wheat allergy, one of my favourite parts of Easter were undoubtedly the hot cross buns. For breakfast, for morning tea, for lunch…you name it ;)

Sadly, I can no longer indulge in the fluffy fruit delights sold by our local bakery, so this year I decided to try and make my own wheat-free version.  Actually, I attempted to make a GF batch last year, however they turned out too dense, so it was time to try again.

Using a basic hot cross bun recipe as a a guide, I went with 3 varieties of flour…

Spelt (an alternative to regular wheat that I can tolerate), Buckwheat (gluten free) and Lupin flour (also gluten free). 

 

3 flours producing 3 very different hot cross buns.

The first thing I noticed was how different the doughs were.

 

The lupin flour was difficult to knead and very dense.

 

And not the soft elastic dough I was looking for.

The buckwheat flour, on the other hand, produced a dough that was relatively soft and pliable.

And much easier to knead.

The spelt flour, however, was by far the closest to traditional dough.

 

Although it was crumbly and sticky at first, after it came together it was quite elastic. Which I guess is the result of the gluten (that was missing from the other 2 flours?)

After each dough had been left to prove for 1.5 hours, I noticed that all 3 seemed to have increased in size.

I then divided each dough into 6 portions…

And placed them side by side in a greased baking tray. Then, it was time to let the dough rest again for 30 minutes, this time in a warm sunny spot by the window.

Before …

And After…

Again, I was pleased to see that the balls had increased in size. Although the lupin variety still seemed to dense for my liking.

Oh well, time to pipe the crosses…across….

And down….

  

Baked until gold brown.

 

Time for the most important part – the taste test! And to be honest, given how difficult some of the doughs were…I was dubious.

 

And it ended up being quite the Goldilocks experience.

Number 1 - the Lupin.

This hot cross bun was too dense.  A little hot cross rock if you please. And the flavour just wasn’t quite right,

Number 2 – the buckwheat.

This hot cross bun was too dry. Despite the pliable dough, it ended up being dry and crumbly, and not a palatable at all.

Number 3 – the spelt.

Now this hot cross bun was just right.

 

Perhaps it was the gluten content, but from start to finish, from dough to morning tea, this hot cross bun ticked all the boxes.  A soft and fluffy dough, with fruit and spice, and the quintessential hot cross bun flavours.  I think I have found a winning flour. Now I just need to sharpen the recipe ;)

Well after a day filled with baking and biking, its time for a hot cross bun. And an(other) Easter egg. Oh and perhaps time to go read for a while.

Check out these 4 books I picked up today!

 

Hi my name is Lisa, and I am a book-aholic.

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Day 4 – MOVE it, TONE it, DRINK it

• MOVE it  - Bike 1hr 10 mins
• TONE it – Situps 100 (50 crunches / 50 obliques)
• DRINK it – 1.5L

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What about you? How did you celebrate Easter?

Happy Baking :)