How I Made Hot Cross Buns!

Of course, I like to play around with recipes to make them my own! This recipe is the one I used today - for the buns above - and it's a mixture of my own baking nouse and a couple of other basic recipes, further enriched and spiced up! I wanted mine to be moist and fluffy and bubbly - so I used the gentle-is-best Italian baking method. They turned out super good - but a wee bit crispy on the underside due to the insane heat of my old cooker!

Here's How To Do It:

Go shopping the day before - list of ingredients is at the bottom of the page.

Get Up EARLY to make the dough...

Yeast Mixture:
2 7g sachets of dried yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 3/4 cups of warm milk (not hot!)

Mix above ingredients together and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to get the yeast going and the milk frothy.

Dough Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar (yes, more sugar!)
a pinch of salt
50g butter - softened (not melted though!)
4 cups good quality plain flour
1/2 cup sultanas (or you could add some currants as well!)
1 tbsp chopped mixed peel
1 egg
ground cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice - a good shake of each or about 1/4 tsp if you are shy

Make the dough:

Sift the salt and flour together. Sprinkle in the 1/2 cup of sugar. Now add the cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice. Rub in the butter next until well mixed. Plonk the egg in with the milky/yeasty mixture - and whisk with a fork to combine. Now pour the eggy/milky/yeasty mixture into the floury/buttery mix. Add the sultanas and peel. It might be quite sticky. Flour your hands and push on. Sticky is good. Sticky means they will end up moist and bubbly. Knead together with springy, spirit fingers until it's all nicely combined and looks like a nice big lump of speckled dough.

First Rise:

Place into a greased bowl and sprinkle with some cinnamon and nutmeg. I brushed mine gently with some melted butter to keep it moist. You might like to do that if you can be bothered. Allow to rise covered with a clean cloth (until doubled in size). It will rise more quickly in a warm, draught free area.

Go back to bed for an hour or so.

Shape them:

Now turn the dough out gently onto a floured surface. Don't knead it! Just carefully cut it into rough square-ish pieces around 4cm square (or bigger if you like big buns!) Gently push them into a nice bun shape with your finger tips, as though you are a very gentle dough sculptor. You should get about 16 or so buns from this - enough for 2 trays - don't worry if you get less (but don't try for 20 or they'll be TINY!) Grease your trays and pop the buns on - a little way apart - they will join together as they rise and bake.

Second Rise:
Now cover these nearly oven-ready buns with a couple of tea towels and let them rise again until doubled. It should take an hour or so, depending on how warm your house is. Preheat your oven to 200C.

Make a cup of tea and take a long bath.

Next:
1 Egg Yolk
1 Tbsp Milk
Mix together to make 'egg wash' to brush onto your buns and make them nicely coloured

Into the Oven:

When the buns have risen to double, brush them with the egg wash and put them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them, as they are a bit prone to burn on the bottoms. If they do, they'll still be yummy, but obviously we want crisp bottoms, not burnt bottoms!

Grind some coffee beans and make a pot of coffee.

Next:

While they are cooking make the sugary glaze to make your buns sticky! Mix 100g sugar with 50ml water in a pot on the stove. When your buns are ready, boil the sugar and water mix up and pour it onto the just baked buns! Not too much, though, just enough to make them shiny and delicious! Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if you would like!

Eat them with a mug of hot coffee!

What else?
You can pipe some crosses on the top, as is the tradition, if you would like to! I like mine cross free, but that's just me!

Icing for Hot Cross Buns:
Mix 1 cup of sifted icing sugar with 1 desertspoon full of warm milk (or enough to make a piping consistency) - pipe onto your warm (not hot!) buns!

Variation for Fussy Kids:
Omit the sultanas and peel and add 150g of choc chips! (below!)





Summary of Ingredients:
2 7g sachets of dried yeast
1 tsp white sugar PLUS 1/2 cup sugar (yes, more sugar!)
1 3/4 cups of warm milk (not hot!) PLUS 1 Tbsp Milk
a pinch of salt
50g butter - softened (not melted though!)
4 cups good quality plain flour
1/2 cup sultanas (or you could add some currants as well!)
1 tbsp chopped mixed peel
1 egg PLUS 1 Egg Yolk
ground cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice - a good shake of each or about 1/4 tsp if you are shy
1 cup of sifted icing sugar - optional
Choc chips - optional

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