Yael Shochat's hot cross buns: from Ima to your kitchen at Easter

Yael Shochat at Ima Cuisine with her hot cross buns. Photo / Michael Craig

Yael Shochat's hot cross buns are hot property. Chefs from other restaurants order them in and people queue outside her Fort St restaurant, Ima, to try them. Ahead of next week's Canvas' bumper Easter issue, Shochat shares her recipe and reveals why they have saved her. As told to Sarah Daniell.

I was a scientist. I did a PhD in bovine cow parasites - T cells. But I didn't get on with my supervisor and I didn't finish it. My husband is a scientist. That's how we met - as students at Cambridge University in England. My youngest daughter is a scientist, just like him, and my other two daughters, one is at Elam and one is a ceramicist.

Hot cross buns at Ima Cuisine. Photo / Michael Craig

I cooked always, from when I was 13. It's something I love — it's not easy but you have to love it. It's my life. I would not be in this business to make money. I do it because I love it.

Food makes people happy. Or depressed. But food is directly connected to people's happiness. I can make people happy.

Before Covid I used to roll my eyes a bit at hot cross buns. I used to joke about them. But now — hot cross buns have been my saviour.

If it was not for hot cross buns I wouldn't have survived here. The city is hard. I rely on the offices and New Zealanders don't like coming into the city, with parking.

Yael Shochat uses custard for the crosses. Photo / Michael Craig

In the days leading up to Easter, I start around 3.30am each morning.

From the Wednesday night before Easter we have the whole team on, for 24 hours, rotating. I make around 250 buns an hour, so around 6000 on the Thursday. They are handmade and we have two ovens and about four people in the kitchen focusing on the buns. It's not cheap. They are very time-consuming.

The buns have a custard pastry cross. It's made properly, with vanilla bean. That's what makes it.

What is special about the hot cross buns? I think it's to do with everything we do. You have to have a commitment to quality. Beyond that is generosity. That is the problem sometimes with people — they are a little bit stingy. What is the point of it? Be generous when you are making it — plenty of that and plenty of that — not everyone has that.

Yael Shochat glazes the buns with sugar syrup. Photo / Michael Craig

It's not hard. So — honey, good vanilla bean and good fresh spices. Not something that's been in your cupboard for two years. Get a Sri Lankan cinnamon. Plenty of fruit. An oven, a mixing bowl, a whisk and you can do it.

If I was a kitchen utensil? Oh, that is very hard. Can I be more than one? I love equipment. You need a knife. Perhaps a knife. And a whisk.

Hot Cross Buns

You may use equal weights of pre-ground spices but you'll get a much better flavour if you can grind the whole spices yourself. Makes one dozen buns.

Ingredients:

For the spice mixture:

3.5 quills cinnamon (2 Tbsp ground)

1 nutmeg (2 tsp ground)

15 whole cloves (⅓ tsp ground)

For the dough:

850g (6 cups) strong bread flour

125g unsalted butter, soft

175g (½ cup) honey

60g fresh yeast (or 20g instant dry yeast)

500ml whole milk, at room temperature

25g (2 Tbsp) salt

250g (1¾ cups) currants

125g (¾ cup) mixed peel

2 cups pastry cream (see recipe below) in a piping bag with a 1cm round nozzle, or in a zip-lock bag with the corner tip cut off to create a 1cm diameter opening

For the syrup:

150g (¾ cup) caster sugar

125ml (½ cup) water

Method:

Make the spice mixture:

Break the cinnamon quills into pieces and quarter the nutmegs with a sharp knife. Transfer all spices to a strong plastic bag and beat with a wooden spoon against a hard surface to break the spices into small pieces, then grind to a fine powder with a spice grinder. If you are using pre-ground spices, mix together in a small bowl.

Make the dough:

Using a stand mixer, combine the flour, butter, honey, yeast and milk in the mixer bowl. Using the dough hook, knead on medium speed for 10 minutes. Add the salt and spice mix and knead for a further 5 minutes. Leave the mixture in the bowl.

Or by hand, combine the flour, butter, honey, yeast and milk in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or electric beater on low speed until well mixed. Transfer to a clean surface and knead for 15 minutes, until it reaches elasticity. Add the salt and spice mix and continue to knead for another 10 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and move to a warm place to let the dough rise until doubled in size, around 1.5 hours, during which time you can prepare the syrup (below). After the dough has risen, knead in the currants and mixed peel with either the dough hook or by hand until evenly distributed.

Make the syrup:

Bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small saucepan. Simmer for one minute then remove from heat. Let the syrup cool completely before using; you can speed up the process by placing the pan in a bowl of ice water.

Prepare and bake the buns:

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and form into round balls. Arrange on a lined baking tray with a 2cm gap between each ball and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled in size. While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 180C.

Using the tip of a very sharp knife, score a cross on the buns about 1/2 cm deep. Bake the buns for 15 minutes, until pale golden on top. Remove from the oven. Cut the tip off your piping or zip-lock bag to create an opening about 1cm in diameter (or use a plain round 1cm nozzle). Pipe a cross of pastry cream into the scored lines on the buns. Return the tray to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, until the buns are medium brown and spring back when touched and the pastry cream has golden spots on top. Allow the buns to cool on their tray for 5 minutes before brushing the tops, including the cross, with syrup. Eat warm, at room temperature or sliced and toasted with butter.

Yael's Make Ahead Tip:
To eat the buns freshly baked in the morning, make the mixture the night before up to and including placing the individual balls of dough on to the tray, then immediately refrigerate. In the morning, place the tray in a warm place for an hour then bake as directed.

Pastry cream:

Makes 5 cups

1 vanilla bean

1 litre (4 cups) whole milk

120g (3/4 cup) cornflour

180g (2 Tbsp shy of 1 cup) caster sugar

5 large eggs

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Use the tip of a sharp knife to score the vanilla bean lengthwise. Open the pod and run the blunt edge of the knife from the top to the bottom to scrape out the seeds. Stir the seeds into the milk in a medium-sized saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from catching on the bottom of the pan. Once boiling, turn off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes to allow the flavour of the vanilla pod to steep into the milk, then fish the pod out and discard it.

Stir the cornflour and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the first two eggs and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Once combined and smooth, beat in the remaining eggs one by one. With the mixer still on, slowly pour in the warm milk and continue to beat until combined.

Pour the custard back into the saucepan, and whisk over a low heat until it becomes thick and difficult to whisk. Continue to cook, whisking, for a further 3 minutes, to cook out the taste of the cornflour. Add the butter to the pan and whisk until incorporated, then remove the pan from the heat.

You'll want to cool the pastry cream before using it. To prevent a skin forming on top, either transfer the pastry cream back into the mixer bowl and mix with the whisk attachment on medium speed until it is at room temperature, or transfer it to an airtight container, brush the top with melted butter and leave to cool to room temperature. If not using immediately, refrigerate in an airtight container.

Make ahead

Pastry cream can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Extracted from Ima Cuisine by Yael Shochat (Random House NZ, $55).
Text © Yael Shochat 2016. Photography © Callum Thomas 2016