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!
More bread less dough 