They have risen indeed

Having diagnosed the problem with my rock-hard hot cross buns, I steeled myself for another attempt. I decided to wait until Easter Sunday, figuring that if there's any day I can expect something to rise, it should be Easter Sunday.

Being very careful to let my milk mixture cool down before adding the yeast made all the difference. You can't see it very well in the photo, but that's frothy yeast you're looking at! (I know: what a thing to get excited about) From then on, everything went smoothly. I did deviate from the recipe in adding my fruit to the dry ingredients before the liquids - I just think it makes more sense to do it that way. It's certainly easier.

My dough was far softer and easier to work with, and, most importantly, it rose the way it should! I had my 16 little buns on the tray before I knew it, and remembering the fiasco with cleaning the piping bag last time, I instead used a plastic bag to pipe the crosses.

So now I have a satisfactory result: 16 soft, edible hot cross buns. Yum. They are perhaps still a little crustier than your average shop-bought bun, but I don't care - I always toast them anyway.


Lessons learned from hot cross bun-making:

1. Read the recipe. CAREFULLY.
2. If you can work out what went wrong, try again. A good result is far more satisfying if you messed it up the first time!