Following on from my post earlier in the week, I assembled a team of tasters (Dan, Ali, Timmeh and Maria) and a selection of fourteen different hot cross buns to conduct The Official Tasting.
So as not to be influenced by any bun prejudices, we decided to conduct the tastings blind. For consistency, we also decided to taste the buns un-toasted and un-warmed. Butter was provided, and the tasting panel were advised that if they elected to have butter, they had to have it on every bun. (I elected to skip the butter.)
J set up the buns on numbered tasting stations (right), so he was the only one who knew which was which. The rest of us went round and tasted each bun, wrote down comments and gave each one a score out of 10 – giving each bun a total score out of 50.
The contenders ranged from organic artisan bakeries right through to Bakers Delight and Coles. The results were intriguing, to say the least!
And now, in order of highest overall score:
| THE WINNER:
Natural Tucker ($2.40, 136g), with a score of 41.5/50. We all really liked this – the bun had good density but a soft doughy texture, lots of juicy fruit and a good spice flavour. A pretty-looking bun, too. |
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| 2nd Place
Babka ($2.20, 104g) with a score of 36/50. A simple-looking bun, we all agreed that this bun had a very good flavour – I think due to the finely grated peel mixed right through, rather than being in large pieces. It had a soft light texture, pretty glaze, and was quite a pale colour compared to many of the other buns. |
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| 3rd Place
Ferguson Plarre ($1.80, 93g), 33/50 This rated quite well overall, but I wasn’t a fan personally. The others liked that it had lots of fruit and peel, but I found its texture very dry and flaky, almost stale. |
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| 4th Place
Sugardough ($2.90, 80g), 32.5/50 Ali was the only one who didn’t like this, commenting that she thought it was “bland”, but everyone else loved the flavour and fruit. The glaze was also marked highly – not many of the buns had such a nice shiny top. |
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| 5th Place
Bakers Delight ($1.30, 73g), 30.5/50 Well well well! This was a surprise. The Bakers Delight entry crept in under the radar – it was a very simple soft bun with no peel, that didn’t attract big marks from anyone but managed to get a solid 6/10 across the board. Not bad. |
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| 6th Place
A Treat of France ($2.20, 76g), 30/50 A pleasant “textbook” hot cross bun with a lovely texture, although all agreed it could use a bit more spice. |
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| 7th Place
Loafer Bread ($2.60, 93g), 29.5/50 This bun had quite an unusual springy/chewy sourdough tex |
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| 8th Place
Baker D. Chirico ($2.50, 83g), 28.5/30 I was really surprised this bakery didn’t rank higher (which makes me all the more glad we did the tastings blind). Comments were positive about the fruit and spice, but less so about the texture. Personally I think this is the sort of bun that really doesn’t work eaten cold, I think it needs toasting and lots of butter. (Maria gave this bun a Sad Face |
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| 9th Place
Coles ($0.60 per bun in a 6-pack, 90g), 26/30 Bet you didn’t see that coming – we certainly didn’t! Maybe Messrs Calombaris and Stone are onto something. The general consensus was that bun was pleasant and inoffensive, if not particularly exciting. Timmeh and Maria both commented though that the cross on top was too hard and not pleasant to eat. |
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| 10th Place
La Madre Bakery ($2.00, 137g), 25.5/50 The second-heaviest bun of the day, La Madre’s buns were very dense and had a strong sourdough flavour. They had lots of spice and good fruit, but none of us were big fans of the weight and texture. I suspect this is the sort of bun that just doesn’t work if you eat it plain – it really needs toasting and butter. |
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| 11th Place
Dench ($2.70, 97g), 25/50 O Dench, I love you so… but your hot cross buns were disappointing. Maria thought there were not enough sultanas; Dan and Ali thought it had too strong an orange peel flavour; I thought it was a bit bland. And not very pretty, let’s face it. |
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| 12th Place
Cavallini ($2.50, 95g), 23.5/50 I’ve always liked Cavallini’s buns in previous years, but this one was not great. It had quite an unusual eggy texture and a very sugary glaze – you could actually see crystals of sugar all over the top. Maria, Timmeh and Ali all thought it was too sweet. I thought it needed more fruit. |
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| 13th Place
Crumbs Organic Bakehouse ($3.00, 150g), 22/50 The most expensive AND the heaviest bun of the day. Crumbs’ buns were huge, and with nice-looking crosses and glaze, but they weren’t popular – we all thought it tasted more like a loaf of sourdough bread (admittedly with a few sultanas in) than a hot cross bun. Ali did comment that she thought it would be nice toasted with some jam. |
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| 14th Place
Abbotsford Convent Bakery ($1.50, 91g), 6/50 Oh dear. Nobody had anything good |
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– which as a primary school teacher is about the worst criticism she can offer.)Best Bun for Buck
As the price varied so much from bun to bun, we also thought it would be interesting to do a weighted ratio of score divided by price. The winners in that race were as follows:
- Coles (43)
- Bakers Delight (23.4)
- Ferguson Plarre (18.3)
- Natural Tucker (17.3)
- Babka (16.3)
The Sourdough Issue
We all agreed that the density and heaviness of the sourdough buns put them at a disadvantage in a cold tasting. I’ve got some leftovers, so I plan to freeze them and try them later in the week, toasted and with butter, to see how they come up.
(right: the spittoon. Not my idea. This is what happens when you let your little brothers get involved in this sort of event.)
So, what do you think of the results? Any suggestions for how we could improve the tasting process for next year?
KATE
A tip o' the hat to you, my dear, for your scientifically rigorous tasting experiment. Very impressive.
What a fantastic blind tasting. Loved it that you gave weight as well as price as they vary so widely.
After one of the papers named Dench the best hot x buns in town a couple of weeks back I was so disappointed with them (like you I love the bakery otherwise) found them grainy and something odd about the spices.
oh my god, you guys are dedicated. i have never had a hot cross bun. ever. so you have now encouraged to make me go out and get some.
Very thorough Kate!
Interesting to see the results for Best Bun for Buck, though when it comes to buns I'm all for a quality dense bun and tend to lean towards sourdough.
Agree that sourdough would have been difficult to test cold. Maybe you need a volunteer toasting brigade next year to toast each round as you taste?
Ooh, intriguing results! I do love me a hot cross bun, but I'm a non-traditionalist so i'm curious as to which choc-chip buns rate the best. Need any taste-testers?
Wow – indeed controversial! Although I do agree with your number 1 place. I drove out of my way, and was late to a meeting on Thursday, just so I could pick up some Natural Tucker buns. The only thing I've found about theirs is that they don't hold up too well if you don't eat them on the day. The bun left over today is very hard and dense – it needed lots of toasting and butter. And fair enough – it's no doubt a reinforcement that fresh is best with baked goods.
I was going to go out of my way on Tuesday to pick up a few Dench buns, but I'm not so sure now. Maybe I still will get a couple just to toast and butter.
An excellent and very thorough overview of the hot cross bun landscape. I think it will be interesting to see which buns rate highly toasted with butter (which is the only way I eat them, personally).
Also, an entirely selfish request, but did you come across any wheat or gluten free hot cross buns in your travels? I haven't seen any this year yet and am seriously craving a hot cross bun I can eat, after reading this!
Good work.
Emily
Hi, very interesting! I wonder how they'd all go lightly toasted with butter? I havent heard of the one that won, where do you get it?
Thanks Kate et al for your rigorous testing. I was surprised at the results! You've taken all the hard work out of bun buying.
Cheers, and Happy Easter
Damn. I was in line to buy a Babka hot-cross bun today but got sick of waiting. Wish I'd been more patient now.
I was also surprised to discover how decent Baker's Delight's are. We've been getting the chocolate chip ones (not kosher, I know, but ohsogood) in at work, and damnit if they are aren't delicious (especially still warm from the oven, with the chocolate still melty).
It would be interesting to see the test replicated with all toasted with butter to see how the results differ.
Great work everyone.
Somehow, a sourdough hot cross bun seems a bit like meat cut across the grain, a bit chewy and not quite right.
So cool! I've always wanted to do a hot cross bun blind tasting. Surprised to see Baker D Chirico didn't score higher, as I've heard so many good things about their X buns.
Wow! There is no way I could face tasting 14 hot cross buns! Well done.
Have you OD'd or will you still have some next weekend?
Happy Easter
Brilliant. I do like hot cross buns from Baker's delight. It is my little munchie on my way home from work.
Brilliant. We are now assured of winning the family hot X bun-off!
That will teach them to mess with Melbournian Gourmands
Have to say, this post has been terribly informative. Thank you so much! I've been really wondering this myself, so this is so helpful!
(I'm terribly picky about my hot cross buns…)
Celeste
http://www.berrytravels.com
Claire – thankyou
Another Outspoken Female – you're welcome! Yeah bit of a shame about the Dench buns this year. I still adore their multigrain bread though.
Kat – you've NEVER had a hot cross bun?! A tragedy! Go and buy one right now!
Tresna – good idea about toasting brigade. I think we'll have to try some toasting next year, have to figure out a way of toasting everything equally so that each bun gets served up at the same temperature.
Emma – choc chip hot cross buns are a crime against humanity. Shame on you!
Niki – I've noticed that pretty much any "bakery" bun will not stay fresh beyond a day, you have to freeze any that you don't plan to eat right away. The Coles and Bakers Delight ones have some preservatives that allow them to keep a bit longer.
Emily – no I didn't come across any wheat or gluten free buns, although surely they'd be out there. I confess I didn't really look.
Anonymous – click on the "Natural Tucker" link above and it will give you a Google map of where to go.
FriendlySavage – you're welcome!
Ruth – I went to Babka at 8.15am on a Saturday and there was no line up. Just go early if you don't like waiting!
Neil – sourdough buns are definitely an acquired taste. I do like them but they're almost a different beast.
Y – yes I was surprised at D Chirico's results too.
Jo – I confess I did feel a bit queasy on Saturday afternoon, after the tasting! Couldn't face any HCBs on Sunday, but I had one for breakfast this morning so I think I'm back on board now
Penny – well now you know that your Baker's Delight munchies do stack up pretty well!
Breeg – yes you have insider knowledge now!
Celeste – you're welcome!
Fantastic post – it's a shame some of these are only available in Melb! I'm going to do this next year, it's a great excuse to stuff your face
Wow! I wish I could get a job judging food. They all look the same though. I wonder how you guys manage to distinguish the flavors. Well, good job! Oh and #3 looks a bit dry (but I can't judge it I havent tasted it) =P
I really love the Ferguson Plarre ones, am I in the minority?
Fantastic post and very informative. I can't believe I haven't eaten a hot cross bun yet this year! by the way, I think you should do a whole series on taste testing different items…..
Fig and Cherry – I'm planning to do it again next year, possibly adding a Melbourne vs Sydney showdown
Megan – I didn't love #3, finding it a bit dry, but the other judges liked it.
Narelle – no I was in the minority, I was the only one who didn't like the Ferguson Plarre ones
Agnes – excellent idea on the taste testing series. In fact I'll post a request for suggestions.
Great post.
I've had Baker's Delight and Convent buns in the last 2 days, and was pleasantly surprised that the Baker's delight offering was much better than I anticipated. Maybe it's the anti-caking agent.
I do have to say, though, the Convent bun I had about 20 minutes ago was far superior to the Baker's Delight. Great flavours. Though, it did have more fruit, and didn't look as cooked as the example in your pic.
Perhaps the Convent ones vary a little from day to day. I'd say Baker's Delight would be more consistent. What is 'Antifoam 900' anyway? I thought they used it in pulp mills…
OK, having eaten my way through far too many hot x buns this week, I will say this: Natural Tucker are the best plain and untoasted, but they lose a little something in the toasting. Babka aren't AS good plain, but are better toasted with butter. Their fruit "cooks" a bit better, for some reason.
Blind tasting, what a great idea! I've been doing my own "test" over the last couple of weeks as well.
Agree that Dench was pretty disappointing
Shame, because I thought last year's were excellent.
In case you're still hungry(!) or for next year at least, I think you should try Le Croissant (Toorak Rd). But my personal favourite this year was definitely Brioche (on Commercial Rd, Prahran). Delicious!
Happy Easter
great review, so sad that hot cross buns are not around all year long. will have to remember the best ones for next Easter.
very cool review. AWESOME!
oh. my. god.
i salute your dedication to the cause.
You missed out on Hootsens in Glenferrie Rd. They have long been the benchmark – you should include in your sample next time.
Agree with the comment about Hootsens they do make a great HCB, however now that we have crossed the Yarra we have discovered that you cannot go past Haus Frau in the Yarraville village Ballarat St. They are fabulous! Should be in your next blind test.
Cheers