Shruti's Blog: When pumpkin and cross meet in a bun…

Vegan Pumpkin Hot Cross Buns

In “The Ballad of East and West” Rudyard Kipling says:

Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

In “The Ballad of North and South” I would say:

Oh, North is North and South is South, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth orbits the Sun elliptically, and spins with its axis at tilt;

But there is neither vernal nor autumnal, seasons, nor poles, nor girth,

When pumpkin and cross meet in a bun, though they come from the ends of the earth!

What does one do, when one is supposed to celebrate the vernal when everything around you glows autumnal? When Australia celebrates Easter in Autumn?

One makes pumpkin hot cross buns.

Correction - Vegan Pumpkin hot cross buns!

Ingredients

½ cup coconut milk, warmed

¾ cup pumpkin puree

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup coconut sugar

3 tablespoons oil

½ teaspoon salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

½ tsp allspice powder

½ tsp nutmeg powder

1 tsp ginger powder

2 packets active dry yeast plus 1 teaspoon white sugar

½ cup lukewarm water

2 cups all-purpose flour + 3 tbsp

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

2 tbsp marmalade +2 tbsp warm water for glazing

Method

Pour warm coconut milk in a mixing bowl, add oil and stir to melt. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, salt to the milk and combine well.

In a small bowl take half a cup lukewarm water and add a teaspoon of sugar. Mix well. Bloom the yeast in this solution by sprinkling it on the water and covering the bowl. When it gets foamy add the yeast to the pumpkin mixture.

Add in flour gradually and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. The dough will be sticky.

If using electric mixer, attach a dough hook and beat the mixture until the dough itself pulls from the side of the bowl.

Turn the dough out to a wooden board dusted with a little flour. Knead with hand for 1 minute.

Form the dough into a ball shape, place in a greased bowl and cover with a cloth. Let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, for about 1 hr.

Punch the dough to deflate and knead it for a minute or two on a wooden board. Cut the dough into equal size portions– the size of golf balls and roll into balls.

Place the balls about 3- 4 cms apart, in a baking tray lined with parchment paper, cover the tray with cling film and let them rise again in a warm spot to be doubled, about 45 minutes.

I was very tired last night, so when I reached this stage, I decided to put away the cling film lined tray in the fridge. This morning I took the buns out and let them prove for an hour or so before baking them.

As a result the buns did not form perfect round tops, as some of the leavening was lost while the dough was in the fridge.

However, the buns only look like blocks – they are actually very light and spongy.

Preheat oven 170 degrees for at least 10 minutes.

Mix 3 tbsp of plain flour with enough water, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar to make a thick paste.

Brush the tops with some soymilk and then pipe the white crosses across each bun with the thick paste using a piping bag or a zip lock bag with a little hole cut into it.

Bake for 12 -15 minutes until the top gets slightly golden.

Mix the orange marmalade and water in a bowl and heat it for a few seconds in the microwave. Brush the rolls with glaze to give it a shine.

Cool a little and serve warm with some vegan butter and vegan nutella.

The vegan nutella was made by Amruta my daughter, with hazelnut meal and cocoa powder.

And thereby hangs a recipe!