It goes against my grain to adapt recipes for vegans / coeliacs / food intolerances in general. Not cause I dislike my friends who eat in special ways, but because I find most substitutes are either highly manufactured alternatives (i.e. Nuttalex, Melrose Spread, non-eggwhite etc) or something that alters the texture or taste.  There are a couple of things I can’t eat, but instead of hunting around looking for manufactured alternatives that are “similar” to the item, I just eat other things.

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BUT … on contemplating my Hot Cross Bun recipe last year, I realised I could make just a couple of changes to make a vegan version for the guys at work who tend to miss out on my baking.  I tried it – and it was good.  So here it is, and my traditional recipe is over here.

Ironically, I started making my own buns some 20 years ago because I was a vegetarian and didn’t want to eat gelatine (which is used in traditional hot cross bun glazes).  Now I’m an ethical omnivore and have reverted to my traditional recipe. It is really delicious and quite simple. But here’s the vegan version for those others.

• Hot Cross Buns – Vegan
• 14 g instant dried yeast (two sachets) (or 30g fresh compressed yeast)
• 500 g (4 cups) plain soft flour (not bread flour, just standard plain flour)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons orange flower water
• 1 tablespoon neutral flavoured oil like canola
• 100 g currants
• 50 g mixed peel
• 20g diced citron if available. (Cedron is variety of citrus and is sold as a glacé fruit.  It is the traditional flavouring for panettone so you will often find it in Italian delis.  I bought mine at Meditteranean Wholesalers 482 Sydney Road, Brunswick.)
• some grated citrus rind (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 tsp salt salt
• Paste for Crosses
• 30 grams plain flour
• ¼ tsp caster sugar
• Glaze
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• squeeze lemon or lime juice

Slices of cedron waiting to be sliced, frothy yeast mix on right

Spice paste and fluffy yeast

3. Add the yeast and spice paste and start mixing again, adding up to 185 ml of warm water in splashes until you achieve a soft and sticky dough. Knead on low setting (2) for 5 mins or so until smooth.

Vegan on left, traditional on right

Vegan buns on left and traditional ones on the right

The traditional buns are taller and slightly larger, probably due to the egg adding extra raising action.

Tips for success with buns:

Keep everything warm and if possible choose a humid day to bake.  If it’s neither – turn your oven on early and boil the kettle every now and then.

This entry was posted Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at 12:38 am and is filed under Recipe, Vegan . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.