Where to find the best hot cross buns in Tasmania: Pigeon Whole Bakers, Storm River and Stone
While supermarkets have had hot cross buns on the shelves since Boxing Day, many small local bakeries hold the special baked goods dear, only making them for a few weeks a year. Where to find the best.
Tasmania
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While major supermarkets have had hot cross buns on the shelves since Boxing Day, many small local bakeries hold the special baked goods dear, only making them for a few weeks a year.
Whether it’s a bite of bun with classic dried fruit and warm spices or a decadent chocolate treat, Tasmania doesn’t have a shortage of gourmet hot cross bun treats.
Artisanal bakers are in the midst of their second busiest time of the year, dolling out the spicy, sweet treats for the Easter weekend.
Pigeon Whole Bakers in Hobart have only been baking and selling their hot cross buns for a few weeks.
Director Jay Patey said they are mindful to only make enough to sell out everyday.
“We try to limit our waste,” he said.
“We try not to have an excess amount where they’re sitting around for days.”
Mr Patey said he was a fan of the classic hot cross bun.
“You can’t go past the traditional hot cross bun with fruit, a good warm spice,” he said.
“Ours are a bit of an enriched dough with good butter and eggs, so the base dough is more full flavoured. They’re soft but not too fluffy.”
Pigeon Whole are also making chocolate and cranberry hot cross buns this year.
“It’s delicious and pretty decadent,“ Mr Patey said.
Mr Patey said he wouldn’t “waste the carbs” on a supermarket bun, preferring a local bakery-made offering.
While having a love for the traditional, warmed up and with a cup of tea at night, Mr Patey’s children Maddie and Thomas prefer the chocolate.
Rhea Hoskin operates her own artisanal wholesale business called Storm River and Stone, her hot cross buns are in cafes, and she sells at a local market.
Ms Hoskin said she likes hot cross buns to be “generously fruited and fluffy”.
“For my own eating pleasure, I like them sweet, soft and lovely,” she said.
Ms Hoskin starts selling hot cross buns six weeks from Easter at the most.
“I much prefer to keep them as a specialty product,” she said.
While a fan of the traditional, Ms Hoskin also makes decadent sour cherry and dark chocolate hot cross buns as well.
“I’ve got to say they might be a tiny step ahead for me this year on the traditional,” she said.
“It’s a little bit more special.”
As a baker, Ms Hoskin also said she’d avoid supermarket hot cross buns, saying having a special treat from a bakery was better.
Ms Hoskin said you can’t go past a freshly baked hot cross bun straight from the oven.
“Some people don’t have that luxury,” she said.
“I reckon split the bun in half, toast it and whack on a really good, at least a centimetre, pat of butter and let it melt through.”
Ms Hoskin said she encouraged people to have a go at making their own hot cross buns.
“The magical thing about baking is that it’s really fluid, and actually a really creative process,” she said.
“I would 100 per cent say whoever wants to make a hot cross bun to give it a try, throw whatever you want in, whatever tickles your tastebuds and go for it.”
Sandy Bay’s Six Russell Bakes is doing something a bit different for Easter, offering a hot cross bun loaf, made to slice.
“Cut it lengthways, toast it thick, and let butter melt into every crevice — or slice it thin and crisp it up for something a little more grown-up,” the bakery explained.
“Have it for breakfast or save it for the kind of dessert that calls for cream and a quiet moment. It’s the kind of thing that makes the whole kitchen smell like Easter, even on an ordinary Tuesday.”
Circle of Life Doughnut Co in Hobart’s Bank Arcade have prepped a heap of their special hot cross bun donuts, which have a spiced raisin cheesecake filling, glazed and topped with a vanilla fondant cross.
In the north, Bread and Butter and Manubread bakeries are taking pre-orders now for Easter for their freshly made hot cross buns.
Originally published as Where to find the best hot cross buns in Tasmania: Pigeon Whole Bakers, Storm River and Stone
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