Think the problem is the liquid bun spice used nowadays.
I always used mixed spice but suppose today the price is not economical to use.
Surprised at Gails as they must be the most expensive .
Also some bakers use the liquid spice mixture on the top to make the shine.
I only used sugar mix.
liquid bun spice essence, often used for flavouring hot cross buns and other baked goods, typically contains ethyl alcohol (ethanol) as a key ingredient. the ethanol should be baked out but maybe if they use it after baking for glazing it will present !
I agree with all these different types of flavourings some are strange.Rhubarb and custard flavoured buns !
Interesting! I think you may be on to something because I notice it varied from bun to bun. If it was in the mixture itself, I would imagine it would be constant but with the Gails buns, some were far worse than others, which would lean me towards different levels of glazing on each bun.
I definitely think you're onto something there! Thank you
With Gails that would be almost pointless! In my experience, they have gone from a reasonable bakers to the McDonalds/Starbucks of the baking world, with the level of apathetic staff to match. It is a shame because early shops were actually quite both in terms of service and product.
As for the other baker, the independent - I will but he is a young lad, starting out, and has only been baking (like so many!) since Covid. He has a little pop up shop (two days a week) and if he's alone, with no other customers in earshot, I'll ask but I don't want to do it when he'd busy, which (thankfully for him) he almost always is
