Bath Buns

I got home from choir practice tonight (fell asleep again in the midst of writing, so it’s actually the next day) to a husband asking, “Where is that smellllll coming from?” I immediately knew what it was. So sorry! Trial three of fermenting teff flour failed. This time they fermented too long, the house has been too hot for their liking, and with no AC, I haven’t wanted to do any baking this week. So at Sunday’s celebration, only one injera flatbread will be sampled from the good batch of dough. It took quite awhile to get the awful smell out of the house. I put lemon juice in the bowl and slices down the drain, then baked cookies to fill the house with their sweet fragrance. Washing down everything made me think of the Bath Buns I made last week….

With the town and bun named “Bath” (I think I could live in a place called “Town and Bun”!) I had to look up their history. The English city of Bath is west of London on the river Avon. According to expert baker Bernard Clayton, “Bath has the only mineral springs in Great Britain and the Roman colonists were inspired to build a spa there, which is how it got its name.” This sweet savory bun is filled with currants, flavored with mace (the ground outer coating of the nutmeg) and topped with three layers of glaze: egg yolk, lemon juice mixed with sugar, and milk. These layers create a beautiful sheen on the outside of the bun; almost as if they’re squeaky clean. Or a mirror-like reflection of the goodness they hold inside.