01/04/2026
Hot Cross Bun Thursday… The Way It Used To Be 💛
Easter at Blatchford’s Kitchen wasn’t just a busy time… it was something special.
Back in the day, we were supplying our cake shops in Denison st Hamilton Beaumont street Hamilton , Hunter Street Newcastle , Maitland Rd Islington , main road Speers point , Munibung road Warners bay the David Jones stores in Newcastle & Kotara Fair , BHP , Goninans , Rundles , plenty of milk bars & sandwich bars & a hot bread shops too — and the lead-up to Hot Cross Bun Thursday was something you never forget.
The ovens would fire all through Wednesday…
Bakers working right through the afternoon, into the night, and into the early hours of Thursday morning.
By sunrise, Denison Street in Hamilton was filled with that unmistakable smell…
✨ warm spice
✨ fresh dough
✨ sweet, sticky glaze
You could’ve found the bakery with your eyes closed — just follow your nose.
At our peak through the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s, we were baking 4,000 to 5,000 dozen hot cross buns… for one day only.
Just Thursday. That was it.
It was a true family effort — Pops, Dad, mates… everyone rolled up their sleeves to get it done before the regular pastry cooks came in for the day shift.
And what made it even more special?
👉 The dough was blessed
👉 They were made fresh for the day
👉 You had to be there to get them
By the 90s and early 2000s, things started to change…
Supermarkets began selling them packaged for months, and that once-a-year magic slowly faded. Production dropped to 2,000–3,000 dozen… still big, but not quite the same.
As Dad reminded me today — “It was special because it was only for that moment.”
We were just one of many bakeries , I remember Carmen’s , Thompson , Dransfields , Hunter valley bakery sharing in that incredible Easter tradition… but what a time it was.
💛 Here’s to keeping a little bit of that spirit alive.
