Dinner Rolls & Bunns

Any regular bread recipe can be made up in other forms, such as rolls, and bunns. These different forms of bunns or rolls may be made from any of the bread recipes just by adding to the mixture butter, oil or shortening, sugar, eggs, fruit, nuts, spices, flavoring, or anything else desirable. Since these things in any quantity prolong the rising of the sponge or dough, they should be added after it has risen at least once.

Rolls, buns, and biscuits may be made in various sizes and shapes. To shape them, the dough may be rolled thin and then cut with cutters, or the pieces used for them may be pinched or cut from the dough and shaped with the hands.

After they are shaped, they should be allowed to rise until they double in bulk. To give them a glazed appearance, the surface of each may be brushed before baking with milk, with white of egg and water, or with sugar and water. Butter is also desirable for this purpose, as it produces a crust that is more tender and less likely to be tough.

Rolls, buns, or biscuits may be baked in an oven that has a higher temperature than that required for bread in the form of loaves and only 15 to 20 minutes is needed for baking them. If such forms of bread are desired with a crust covering the entire surface, they must be placed far enough apart so that the edges will not touch when they are baking.

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Did You Know?
It is not known where or from the work of whom that spiced buns first came into being. However, it is likely that they evolved congruently throughout bakeries in Europe in the 17th - 18th century, a time when most exotic spices become more commonly available.

The hot cross bun is probably the most well-known manifestation of the spiced bun, and a great tradition has grown up around it in England. Hot cross buns are traditionally baked on Easter Friday, although they can often be purchased at other times of year.

A hot cross bun is a type of sweet spiced bun made with currants and leavened with yeast. It has a cross on the top which might be made in a variety of ways: it could be pastry, made from a simple flour and water mixture, cut from rice paper and glazed onto the bun, or simply cut into the bun itself.

In many historically Christian countries, the buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, with the cross standing as a symbol of Christ. They actually pre-date Christianity, however, being used in rituals in paganism. The Christian church in England attempted to ban them, but they were too popular, and instead Elizabeth I passed a law permitting their consumption, but only on particular religious occasions such as Easter and Christmas.