Tribewanted: Vorovoro

HelloOOo, BULA, kia ora, bonjour, hola hola…to everyone on this sun blessed, calm day and welcome to Vorovoro’s bubbly kitchen!

To immerse ourselves into the sunshine season and embrace the Easter activities, we have been busy experimenting and perfecting the Hot Cross Bun recipe in the last few weeks. Team Kana and Team Fiji will be spending the Easter holidays relaxing, unwinding, going to church as well as spending time with their families. This means that the team and tribe will be left to their own devices in the kitchen and will be cooking up some colourful creations on Good Friday and over the weekend.

We thought Easter wouldn’t be Easter without Hot Cross buns on the table so after a few attempts and some tasty test runs (and a couple of just cross buns!), we have successfully found a scrumptious recipe that we are happy to share with all our lovely jubbly tribe out there…

Sooooo, to prepare for the eastery goodness…snap up the sultanas, shake the cinamon, leave behind the ready made, pre-packed supermarket snacks, start jiggling your imaginative making juices and get baking some delicious and nutritious homemade, wholesome buns!

BUN INGREDIENTS:

(makes approx. 22 buns…always good to make a lot so you can take some around to the neighbours!)

6 cups Wholemeal flour
2 cups Plain flour
1 cup dessicated coconut for that tropical island taste! If you don’t have this, substitute with another cup of flour
3 level tablespoons dried yeast
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 eggs
5 tablespoons butter (the secret to make soft bread!)
4 handfuls of raisins or sultanas. A pack of mixed fruit with lemon and orange pieces would be ideal but we used some lemon/lime rind to add that zesty tang!
¼ cup of cinnamon
2 tablespoons salt
2 cups of warm water

THE ‘CROSS’ and GLACE INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup lemon juice
2 eggs

METHOD:

Mix together the yeast, honey, sugar and eggs in a bowl and then pour in the 2 cups of warm water. Stir.
Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes to allow the yeast to get to work.

Now for the s t i c k y bit!

Throw in the two types of flour and coconut with the salt and mix together. Bind in the butter too.
Add extra water to the mixture and continue to squish together until you get away from the stickyness and form a good dough. Add a little more flour if the mixture is too wet.
Scatter in the sultanas/ raisins and mixed fruit or in our case, grate in some lime or lemon rind. (You will need the citrus juice for later) Also add the cinnamon in at this stage. We added tea masala too and this worked so if you have any other sweet spices like nutmeg or mixed spice, add several sprinkles in too…
Work ingredients together to make a soft but firm, elastic dough. It now shouldn’t feel sticky.

A brilliant baker tip: How do you know if your dough’s the right consistency? …cover a clean work surface with flour and roll the dough around, still kneeding it. Once the dough has enough flour in it, it won’t pick up any more. Clever Cookies!

Leave the dough for 30 minutes in a warm place and cover with a clean, damp tea-cloth to allow it to rise. Pre –heat the oven. (Pupu style: moderately hot, 200 ° C or Gas Mark 6)

…just enough time to eat a few easter eggs or decorate your easter tree…

Once the dough is about double it’s size, grease a couple of baking trays with butter.
Pull a small chunk away from the dough and roll into a ball (bigger than a table tennis ball but smaller than a tennis ball)
Place the balls in rows into the baking trays with a little gap in between each one. They will still rise in the oven.
If there are any raisins showing, push these into the dough as they will burn otherwise.

The buns are ready to be baked!

Place in oven for half an hour, checking after 15 minutes to see if buns are starting to go golden.

Now for the ‘cross’ preparation whilst the buns are cooking (and time for a few more sneaky chocolate egg samplings…)

Put the flour in a bowl and add water until the dough is soft and not sticky. (We threw in some grated coconut too…we can’t get enough of the stuff on Vorovoro!)
Roll into long, thin wiggly worm shapes and place down onto a flour-ed surface. Repeat until you have used all the white dough mixture and you have lots of strips in front of you.

…and now to make the glace…

Melt the sugar over a light heat and pour in the citrus juice to dissolve the sugar crystals.
Once off the heat, leave to cool for a few minutes, add in the eggs and s-t-i-r together. Glaze sorted.

Back to the oven!

If the buns have a golden brown tinge, take out carefully and place on a heat proof side. (an empty egg tray is a perfect place…)
You can make an individual cross on each bun OR lay the long, thin wiggly worms in one line, gently smoothing them down across each bun making sure they are tucked down around the sides.
Repeat until each row has a white line.
Then do the same with the horizontal rows to create a ‘white cross’ on each bun. Use any remaining pieces to fill in the gaps….
Brush each bun with the glaze making sure to cover the white crosses and sides too.
Now the trays go back in the oven for another 5-10 mins to allow the crosses to bond and the buns to go fully golden.

Buns finale! Yummy, scrummy

SERVING TIP FROM THE CRAZY CHICK AND EASTER BUNNY:

‘Always gobble up when fresh out the oven and drizzle with REAL butter. If you are a cinnamon supporter, a few more sprinkles on top won’t hurt. Also delicious with homemade jam, marmalade, zesty lemon curd or wild honey.’

V e R y e G G s – c i t i n g!

Ooh and don’t forget to share any Hot Cross Bun tips or any other easter recipes with the tribe.

H a p p y h a p p y e a s t e r everyone…. and take a little time to appreciate the lamb’s jumping, the bird’s singing, the warm sun ray’s, the land becoming alive again and all it’s wonderfulness :)