Sure to rise? We're not so sure

The Edmonds baking team is rushing to test its hot cross buns recipe after home-baking guru Jo Seagar declared it "crappo".

Seagar says the iconic Edmonds cookbooks have got the recipe so badly wrong that even when mixed, kneaded and baked correctly, the buns come out of the oven flat and virtually inedible.

"This Edmonds recipe is a rubbish recipe," Seagar told the Sunday Star- Times. "It's just dry, old crappo. There's something very wrong with the recipe - a cup-and-a- half too much extra flour."

An Edmonds spokesperson says the technical team would test the recipe, which has been in print since at least 1992, this weekend. "We are very concerned. We are taking this seriously."

The spokesperson said no complaints had been received - he checked as far back as five years. "I'm mystified," he said. "It is really weird."

The company would hold off sending any more books to retailers until the recipe was tested. If a mistake was found it would put erratum slips in each book, correcting the recipe.

Seagar is a hugely successful celebrity cook and author; she runs a cafe, foodie shop and cooking school in Canterbury and has published six recipe books in line with her "easy- peasy" mantra.

The Edmonds Cookery Book and its "Sure to Rise" motto hardly need an introduction. The first edition was printed in 1908, and since then New Zealanders have bought more than three million copies.

This baking drama started when the Star-Times made a batch of buns that were so hard we couldn't eat them. We threw them out, assumed we were bad at baking and went looking for tips online - and found other cooks in chatrooms who, like us, had tried the recipe and failed miserably.

So we asked Seagar to test the recipe. Don't use any of your inbuilt baking wizardry, we said, just follow this recipe, and see what you think. Seagar delivered her verdict before her trial-run buns even went into the oven.

She said that as well as overloading on flour, which makes the buns flat and tough, the recipe is overly fiddly. She also wonders why it includes gelatine in the glaze, as sugar and water would do the same job.

Seagar wants to be clear that she isn't perfect - there was one line missing from a recipe in her latest book. But that mistake has been corrected for future editions.

(In June 2007 the Star-Times had a baking blooper too - we published a pikelet recipe with four times too much sugar, but ran a correction and heartfelt apology the following week.)

Kiwis gobble millions of hot cross buns every year - the Bakers Delight chain alone expects to have churned out one million buns by the close of the Easter season. They recommend customers get in early to avoid the frenzied "Bun Thursday" rush before the holiday weekend.

This won't be a problem for Blenheim great grandmother Mary Parker. She has been baking hot cross buns since she was a teenager. In her heyday, she'd produce 100 at a time. Adding half a crushed vitamin C tablet, says the 80-year-old, will improve yeast action. She also cautions against adding more butter than a recipe calls for. "It's tempting, but it doesn't make them taste better."

Jo Seagar's hot cross  buns 

Ingredients

4t dried active yeast (15g)
1¼ C warm water, at bath  temperature
2t sugar
7 C white high-grade flour, or 3½ C white and 3½ C wholemeal
1½ t salt
¼ C caster sugar
¾ C raisins or sultanas
½ C currants
½ C chopped crystalised peel  (75g)
2T cinnamon
2T mixed spice
2C warm milk (500 ml), at bath  temperature
75g melted butter
1 egg, beaten

For the crosses 

¾ C flour
¾ C water

For the glaze 

¼ C sugar
2 T water

Method

In a bowl combine the yeast,  warm water and sugar.  Leave in a warm place until the mixture becomes frothy  (approx 15 minutes).

In a large mixing bowl combine all the dry  ingredients and fruit. Make a well in the middle and pour in the warm milk,  melted butter, beaten egg and yeast mixture. Mix well  then turn the dough out onto a floured bench and knead  the mixture. I find it will  take at least 10 minutes (200  times).

Divide dough into 30 pieces and roll into buns. Place on two baking trays sprayed with non-stick baking spray, cover with  cling film or a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place (hot water cupboard) until the buns have doubled in size, approximately one hour. 

Preheat oven to 220 [Degree] C. For the crosses, place flour and cold water in a small Ziploc bag, seal and squish it  together to form a sticky  paste.Snip one corner of the  bag and pipe out crosses on to the buns. Bake for about  20 minutes.

Mix the caster sugar and water glaze and brush over the hot cross buns as they come out of the oven. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 30.

- © Fairfax NZ News