Baking Sensation...

Hot cross buns success! (Pic of before they went in the oven on the right) Not only fun to make at 7am with the kids, and not as much mess as I anticipated, my tip to you is get all the dry ingredients assembled in one bowl and the wet in another and the peel/currants in another... that way it's just put it together and the kids don't get bored and feel like they're making them if that makes sense?

I used Luke Mangan's recipe, and in case the recipe disappears from the internet, I'm going to put it down here because I don't want to lose it, it's fab! I also made a few small changes and doubled the mixture which I think is a good quantity - 12 - 6 to eat straight away and 6 for the freezer/fridge.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients: (makes one dozen)
600g plain flour
2 teaspoons dry yeast
60g brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons mixed spice
Pinch of ground cardamom and ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
250ml milk (luke warm)
2 tablespoons orange marmalade (chopped)
40gr unsalted butter (softened)
250g sultanas/raisins/currants
30g mixed peel
For the cross - mix flour, icing sugar and water into a paste (no measurements for this, just go by how it looks). I stored in small ziplock bag and cut the corner off to apply the cross.

Method
1) Mix flours, yeast, sugar, spices, and salt into a large bowl.
2) Whisk egg, milk and marmalade together and pour into (1) to form a sticky dough. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes until elastic.Add softened butter and knead for a further 5 minutes until smooth.
3) Fold in fruit and peel and knead for further 3 minutes.
4) Fold into loaf type form and divide into 12. Form each twelfth into a ball and then flatten on greased tray 2cm apart.. Cover loosely with cling wrap and let dough rise in a warm place for 2hr until doubled in size (check with finger test).
5) Pipe crosses on buns and bake for 15-20 mins. turn out on wire rack.

6) Apply glaze

Glaze: 1/2 cup caster sugar and 1/4 cup water, bring to boil until a clear syrup, paint on buns whilst hot.

Don't they look gorgeous? (finished product on the right) They SMELL and TASTE divine! My hubby a very fussy Hot Cross Bun consumer was skeptical, but agrees, these are better than any of the store-bought ones.

Be a Fan

Print this post in friendly format