Thinking Out LoudIn Australia, it’s that time of year – the time when bakers fire up ovens and culinary imaginations and make a tilt for ascendancy in the Australian Hot Cross Bun War.
We haven’t cleared Easter yet, so we don’t know who the winners are. But there have been some strong contenders, capturing both savoury and sweet ground.
The Pizza Shape hot cross bun tickles Australian savoury tastebuds and is a sophisticated conceptual blending of the snack and the baked good. Or is it?
The pistachio hot cross bun available at Pasticceria Papa in Sydney’s inner west adapts Sicilian traditions to the challenge. Carmelina, the owner’s daughter put it on TikTok, showcasing its explosion of sweet flavour, and “it just went viral. That weekend, there were people coming in saying, ‘We don’t even know what we saw, we just know we need it in our lives’, and we’re so grateful for that.”
There has been a counter-insurgency, calling for a return to the “traditional” hot cross bun.
Baker’s Delight proudly offers their Traditional Hot Cross Bun as the one you “knead” in your life, the “real deal” for
“using real fruit, spice, and no bitter orange peel”.
The removal of bitter orange peel makes it palatable as a “traditional” hot cross bun. Yet the inclusion of orange peel was originally seen as something kneaded (sorry) for Easter reflection, a bitter taste explosion that evoked the suffering of Jesus at his crucifixion.
Alongside the sweet and savoury innovations of our hot cross bun era, we still need something with a bit more bite that helps us remember the old story that death comes before resurrection, that Good Friday comes before Easter Sunday. If we’re not munching on orange peel anymore, what else can we munch on this Eastertime?
This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.