Easter Hot Cross Buns

There’s no doubt about it, Easter time means one thing for me, hot cross buns. I don’t know why but there’s nothing that beats a toasted hot cross bun with lashings of melting butter on top. I find they’re a great way to start a day and they have sultanas in so they’re kind of healthy right?..

I have used this recipe for the past couple of years and it has never failed me, however this year I did not add any chopped mixed peel as we didn’t have any but I think the orange zest makes up for the lack of peel. I also made them wholemeal this year for a change. This recipe makes about 12 medium-large buns.

The recipe is as follows:

400g wholemeal flour

100g white flour

5g salt

70g caster sugar

2 sachets of instant yeast (14g)

40g margarine

2 eggs

120ml semi-skimmed milk

120ml water

200g sultanas

Zest of 2 oranges

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. mixed spice

(80g chopped mixed peel)-optional

Start by placing the flours into a bowl with salt and sugar added on one side and the yeast added to the other side. Then add in the butter, eggs, milk and water. Mix it all together with your hands and knead it for 10 minutes. By the end the dough should feel elastic and not tough.

Leave to rise for 1 hour. Then knock the dough back and add the spices, zest and fruit. Knead again for about 10 minutes and then leave to rise for another hour. Make sure all the fruit is dispersed in the dough.

Once risen, knock the dough back again and divide into 12 buns- or one large bun if you prefer! Once divided and rolled into balls, place the buns fairly close together on a prepared baking tray. Leave to rise for about 45-60 minutes. By the end of the time the buns should feel spring to touch.

To make the crosses on top mix together 3 tablespoons of flour to a tablespoon of water. This should form soft dough that you can then roll out. Cut this dough into long, thin lines and place on the buns like crosses. Place the buns into the oven at 220°C for 20 minutes. The buns should be brown/golden on top.

To glaze them you could either heat a little apricot jam and brush it over the buns whilst still warm, or make a glaze by dissolving 2 tablespoons on sugar in a little bit of water. Once the sugar has dissolved, brush over the buns and leave to cool. Enjoy!

Happy Pancake Day!

Since it’s been Shrove Tuesday I thought some pancake inspired bread is in order! This bread contains lots of maple syrup and has a brioche like feel to it. It’s very soft because you need to knead it for at least 10 minutes. I thought maple syrup is key to pancakes and it’s a great substitute in cooking for normal sugar. However you need a fair amount of it in order for the flavour to come through.

This bread is soft and reminds me of the thick American pancakes which I love to have on Pancake Day!

The recipes is as follows:
400g strong white flour
5g salt
7g yeast (1 sachet)
270ml milk
25ml maple syrup
20g butter

This makes 2 smaller loaves. I made mine into plaited letters as I made the bread for two of my friends who have birthdays this week.

Place the flour, salt, yeast, maple syrup and butter into a bowl. Add the milk and begin to knead. I kneaded my bread for nearly 15 minutes until it was silky smooth and elastic. Leave to rise for 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Once it has risen, knock the bread back by kneading it again. Now you could just place the loaf in a tin for a tin loaf, however I divided mine into strands and plaited them together. When plaiting bread, make sure the ends are really stuck together otherwise they may come apart once cooked. You could use a little egg wash in between the ends to secure them but it’s not necessary.

half way through plaiting

maple syrup bread, plaited and ready to go in the oven!

Now leave to prove for 30 minutes and then place in a oven at 220° for 20 minutes. The bread will be golden on top and sound hollow on the bottom. Enjoy!

My ‘J’ bread for my friend james

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

On the last Wednesday of our term at university, my flatmates and I decided to have our own Christmas dinner. It was great and I felt so Christmassy that I decided to cook all day! I decided to make a Christmas loaf. This consists of rich dough with lots of dried fruit in. Dried fruit is normally very expensive but around this time places like Aldi, Lidl and Poundland are doing massive savings on bags of random dried fruit. Therefore I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe!

This recipe is also a great way of using up the last eggs and milk before the end of term and since it was a fruit loaf I hoped it would last the last few days of term too! (It didn’t, it was eaten too quickly!).

The recipe is as follows:

250g strong white flour
3g salt
1 sachet of yeast
20g butter
25g sugar
80ml milk
80ml water
1 egg – beaten
170g mixed fruit
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice

Start by placing the flour and spices in a bowl and mix them together. Add the yeast, sugar, salt and butter. Mix the water in with the milk and then gradually add this mixture into the floury mixture. Now add the beaten egg. Bring the mixture together to form dough. Lastly add the dried fruit. Knead the dough for a good 10 minutes. It is hard work so be ready for your arms to ache! Once the dough feels smooth and stretchy place in a bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, the dough should have doubled in size. Knock back the dough and knead it for a couple of minutes. This dough is quite wet so it is hard to shape. I decided to place it in a tin to prove rather than leave the dough on a tray. This is because I didn’t feel it would hold its shape very well without some support.

Leave the dough to prove for about 30 minutes and then place in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes at 200°. Keep an eye on it after 10 minutes as the fruit on top can burn easily. Once it is ready the top should look golden. You can then leave it to cool and add an icing or just eat it warm with a load of butter. Enjoy!