The Bite: Nada Bakery’s award-winning hot cross buns

Sunday, 13 April 2025

Nada Bakery knows what it’s doing – it’s been doing it for 50 years. Founded by Peter Gray in 1975, it’s a true family business. Michael Gray, Peter’s son, recalls a childhood helping his dad whip up baked delights. “Every school holidays, I’d be up in the bakery, same with my brothers and sisters,” he says. “Dad, he worked really hard. And so part of being able to spend time with him was sort of being in tow.”

Peter passed away in 2005, after which Michael took over the business with his mum Judith. The family spirit’s still strong – Michael’s siblings often help out and when talking about his team, Michael notes, “they’re more than just team members. They become family members”.

But Nada doesn’t just play a long game – it plays a good one too. Its hot cross buns were just crowned champions of Baking NZ’s 2025 Great Hot Cross Bun Competition. So Sunday got the details.

The details

The recipe’s constantly evolving. “The base it’s pretty similar to what we’ve used probably for the last 20 years, but we’ve tweaked it along the way.”

Something that’s changed in recent years is the spice mix. “We’ve always been quite a spicy bun,” Michael says, but it’s upped the ante. “Now I think we’ve got about nine different spices in there.”

Nada goes heavy on the fruit. “We've got more fruit by weight than flour in our buns.” The secret is to soak the fruit well, so it’s nice and plump. “That helps bring moisture back into the bun.”

These buns won’t leave you wanting. “They're fulsome. You have one of our buns and you feel like you hit a meal,” Michael says. “It's not trying to be a light and fluffy little pillow.”

The secret

Balancing the spices, fruits and flavours is key. Michael’s grandfather used to say to Peter: “Good food is like a good song, you've got to have a beginning, a middle and an end.”

Nada’s point of difference? A glaze with apricot and yuzu. “When you’re glazing them hot out of the oven, the smell of that yuzu is just – I love it. It’s citrusy, limey, sort of grapefruity.”

The process

The buns fly out the door. “Easter is definitely our busiest time of the year, hands down.” The day we speak, it has done about 900 packs already. Come Easter week, “we might do 25,000-28,000 packs”.

How do they produce those quantities? “There's no real way to speed up something that's got to be done right.” Instead, they prep as much as possible – then it’s all hands on deck.

Where to get them

Where: Nada Bakery, 64 Johnsonville Rd, Johnsonville, Wellington. Or 4/72 Main Rd, Tawa, some supermarkets and online at nadabakery.co.nz

Price: $17.50 for a 6 pack