By Seth Elliott, Former Weaver Street Market Bread Baker; this article first appeared in our newsletter in 2007
Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny—Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters
Pray give them to your sons,
But if you have none of these little elves,
Then you must eat them all yourselves.
This familiar English nursery rhyme has its origins as a street cry from the early 1700s and may have been sung out by a baker’s child from the storefront of a steamy bakery preparing for the Easter rush, the scent of warm currants and spices pulling in as many customers as the song.
While closely associated with the Easter holiday, the tradition of cross-topped buns likely pre-dates Christianity and, like many other pagan symbols, was gradually incorporated into the celebration of the holiday as Christianity spread its influence throughout Europe.
Food historians note that Egyptians and Saxons used small bun-like breads in sacrificial ceremonies to their goddesses, including Eostre, the goddess of spring. Markings on these early wheat cakes included crosses. The sun-wheel was one pre-Christian meaning of the cross symbol, which the Saxons believed was in perfect balance at the Spring Equinox. The cross also stood for the four seasons and the four phases of the moon and was used on breads made in honor of lunar goddesses in several cultures. This is the origin of the circle and cross symbol for female (♀), the sign of Venus. For the ancient Romans, the cross represented the horns of a sacred ox and the word “bun” actually has its origin in their name for the ox, “boun.”
While the first recorded use of the phrase “hot cross buns” dates to the street cry above, some say the buns themselves date all the way back to the 12th century, when an Anglican monk is said to have put the sign of the cross on some buns on Good Friday, known then as the Day of the Cross. His recipe must not have been very good, however, because we don’t even know his name. That honor goes to one Father Thomas Rocliff who, as the story goes, whipped up some small spiced cakes, stamped them with a cross, and gave them out to poor villagers visiting the St. Albans monastery on Good Friday, 1361. He must have been more of a baker, because the buns disappeared so quickly that he started making them every year and closely guarded his recipe. Nothing makes it into the annals of food history like a good secret recipe!
And this little secret bun with a cross went on to cause a stir wherever it went. Tradition has it that these buns came to be the only food allowed to the devout on Good Friday and were even made from the same dough used for bread consecrated for use in Holy Communion—therefore considered to be the body of Christ. Hot cross buns made on Good Friday that were not eaten would be dried and crumbled—their dust then used as a medicine powder for all sorts of complaints. Families would even hang dried buns from their kitchen ceilings to protect their households from evil for the coming year. This bread became so central to Easter season symbolism that when Catholicism was banned during the 16th century reign of Elizabeth I, the buns received special attention. Those bakers who continued to sign a cross on their Good Friday buns were arrested and tried for “Popery.” Those accused reportedly argued that the crosscut on the buns was necessary to promote an even rise in the oven. A shrewd argument, indeed, as any baker will tell you it is true. Apparently their arguments, and the sheer popularity of their product, prevailed. The queen decided instead to pass a law that would limit the days on which hot cross buns could be made to the holiday seasons of Easter and Christmas. To this day, most English bakeries will only make the buns during Easter week. Here in our bread bakery, we stretch the dates a bit—plenty of time to replenish your stockpile of hot cross bun medicine powder!
Interestingly, hot cross buns continue to make the news today. In February [2007], a primary school teacher in Ipswich, England, asked the school’s food vendor to provide buns without crosses that year. She argued that the symbol of the cross, whether pagan or Christian, is not respectful of her students who are Jehovah’s Witness. Something similar happened three years earlier in England as well, when the Daily Telegraph reported that several school authorities had banned the serving of hot cross buns on the grounds of political correctness. Then, as now, the stories have ignited passions on both sides of the argument, and the buns continue to sell like, well, like hot buns!
So come taste what the fuss is all about. We probably won’t hire a street crier to sing “Hot Cross Buns,” and we’ll have to charge you a bit more than a penny, but if you’re in the store, look for our version of this controversial classic. This year’s buns will be hand-shaped as always and made with organic flours, Maple View Farms whole milk, local eggs, organic currants, and a mixture of nutmeg and allspice with cinnamon, ginger, and cumin. To top it all off, the buns will be crossed with a glistening glaze made with confectioner’s sugar and nutmeg. Sounds good enough to stir up some religious fervor, doesn’t it?