One for the poker,
Two for the tongs,
Three for the dust-pan,
Hot Cross Buns!
Good Friday rhyme recorded by Allan
Jobson in An Hour Glass on the Run, 1959.
The Living Tradition of Hot Cross Buns
Katherine Button, Church Historian
During my growing-up years in Medway, my grandmother, Nanny, produced hot cross buns every Sunday during Lent and, ultimately, for Easter. When she took to bed toward the end of her life, I carried on the tradition of baking buns for Easter. One such early attempt, in 1970 or 1971, when I lived in Boston, ended in abject failure. In my kitchen at 96 Gainsborough Street, Apt 4A, I put the dough to rise at the back of the stove. Unbeknownst to me, the back burner was set on low. A not quite right smell emanated from the kitchen. I removed the cloth to check the dough. The sides of the plastic bowl came up in my hands. The bottom had fused to the burner. Bubbling dough oozed all over the stove. I could scrape off the gunk but not the plastic. I then cranked the burner to high to incinerate the residue. Yuck, what a stink!
Fannie Farmer is my guide for making hot cross buns. I follow, more or less, the recipe from the 11thedition (1965) revised by Wilma Lord Perkins. I treasure the book, a gift from my mother. The last edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, the 13th, by Marion Cunningham, was published in 1994. I also own a facsimile copy of The Original Boston Cooking School Cook Book, 1896, by Fannie Merritt Farmer.
For the chalice lighting at the Green Sanctuary’s Ethical Eating service March 17, 2019, I read from the preface of the 1896 cookbook. Fannie Farmer’s words were reproduced in the 11thedition. Those words are worth repeating.
PREFACE
‘But for life the universe was nothing; and all that has life requires nourishment.’
“With the progress of knowledge the needs of the human body have not been forgotten. During the last decade much time has been given by scientists to the study of foods and their dietetic value, and it is a subject which rightfully should demand much consideration from all. I certainly feel that the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the principles of diet will be an essential part of one’s education. Then [humankind] will eat to live, will be able to do better mental and physical work, and disease will be less frequent.” F.M.F., 1896.
Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915) grew up in a Unitarian family in Medford that valued education. After suffering a paralytic stroke as a teenager, and no longer able to go to school, she took up cooking. At the age of 30, she enrolled in the Boston Cooking School, and in 1891 became its principal.
In her cookbook she explained scientific methods of cooking and the need for exact measurements. It was a book which called for a cupful, a teaspoonful and a tablespoonful. As indicated in the preface, she was very interested in nutrition and promoted a well-balanced diet. It was equally important that food taste good. Some people say that Fannie Farmer’s style also lead to over-consumption of sugar.
In comparison, the 1896 and 1965 recipes for hot cross buns call for the same ingredients: milk, sugar, butter, salt, yeast, flour, cinnamon, eggs and raisins. The 1896 recipe also list currants. I used to put raisins into my hot cross buns, but my sister would pluck them out. Then I would make one batch with raisins and another without to accommodate my sister’s appetite. Now I don’t bother with the fruit. Too much work. Yeast technology has certainly changed from 1896. I am glad I don’t have to wait for the dough to rise over night. One year I doubled the amount of butter by mistake. My family loved the error of my ways! Now I increase the butter as a matter of course.
Fannie Farmer’s original instructions for the buns say, “with ornamental frosting make a cross on top of each bun.” My 1965 edition recommends Portsmouth Frosting with butter, cream or milk, confectioners sugar, vanilla or rum. I love it. Elizabeth David, in English Bread and Yeast Cookery, New American edition, 1994, eschews frosting for knife cuts. “The cuts are made fairly deep, with the back of an ordinary table knife, or with a thin wooden or metal spatula. As soon as they have opened out, the buns are ready for baking.” Then she goes on,
“To emphasize the cross, some bakers superimpose strips of candied peel or little bands of ordinary pastry, Both these methods involve unnecessary fiddling work. Neither, in my experience, is successful. There is no need to worry overmuch about the exactitude of the cross. You have made the symbolic gesture. That is what counts.”
I humbly disagree with the author! It’s the frosting that makes the buns. However, this year I may experiment with knife cuts, too. Most likely the “one a penny, two a penny, Hot Cross Buns” sold on the streets of London were the un-frosted, less messy, variety. Legend has it that the earliest cross buns predate Christianity. A sacred cake or sweet bread with a representation of two horns. If that is indeed the case, I like participating in a ritual of pagan origins, a celebration of the living tradition of hot cross buns.