I hope you’ve all had a lovely Easter!
We’ve had a really enjoyable few days – pottering around the house, playing in the kitchen, and spending time with family and friends.
On Saturday, we had brunch with our friend Kathryn and her gorgeous sons. Naturally, with four teenage males in the house, we went a little overboard with food. It’s worth noting that it was almost all gone by 11.30am…
The Sunrise mocktail pictured above was made with equal parts of pineapple juice and lemonade (Sprite or 7-Up, to our US friends), with a little Grenadine poured in carefully at the end. The heavier syrup sinks to the bottom, creating the coloured layers. Based on a Tequila Sunrise, it was festive without the alcoholic punch.
Brunch included bacon and eggs, a blackberry and rhubarb crumble, an antipasto platter, and a baked bread, egg and prosciutto slice.
The antipasto plate included my first attempt at baked ricotta. A small tub of leftover fresh ricotta was drained until quite dry, and then turned into an ovenproof dish. I drizzled the top with lemon-infused olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt, cracked pepper and dried Italian herbs, before baking in a 160C (with fan) oven for about 30 minutes. It set firm and was quite delicious.
I also cooked a large pot of mograbieh and served it with pitta bread…
…and baked a batch of sourdough hot cross buns.
I’d planned to be lazy and make a giant one again, but Small Man complained – he wanted proper hot cross buns this year!
I posted my recipe for yeasted hot cross buns a couple of years ago, and the sourdough ones are made in a similar way, although the proving times were lengthened accordingly.
The ingredients for the sourdough version are as follows…
- 200g sourdough starter (166% hydration, ie. fed at a ratio of one cup of water to one cup of flour)
- 160g milk, at room temperature (I used UHT)
- 500g bakers/bread flour
- 8g fine sea salt
- 60g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground pimento (allspice)
- 60g butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large free range eggs
- 100g currants
- 30g good quality candied peel, finely diced
- Cross: 2 tablespoons self-raising flour mixed with 2 tablespoons water
- Glaze: 2 tablespoons milk and 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar, simmered together
Baking time: 220C (with fan) for 10 minutes, followed by a further 10 minutes at 200C (with fan). Brush the hot buns with two coats of glaze.
I personally find the milk glaze a little sweet, but all three of my men adore it – it’s a little reminiscent of the topping on Krispy Kreme donuts.
Have you been baking this Easter?
My friends Brydie, Heidi and Sally have all baked gorgeous hot cross buns, using completely different recipes to mine. Honey and Christine have made mouthwatering chocolate chip versions, and Doc’s buns are laced with stout!
Clever Sally has created a fabulous Italian Easter Pie, and C at Cakes, Crumbs and Cooking has baked an Easter mud cake, topped with Cadbury mini eggs.
I hope you’ve all had a relaxing weekend – hopefully you’ve found time to indulge in a little festive cooking as well!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 