Hot X Buns
For everyone who is not British: Hot Cross Buns are the Easter treat in Britain. You’ll find them in every last supermarket. Traditionally eaten only at Easter, they are now available pretty much all year round. However, the smell of the spicy buns coming from the oven is such a treat, so give it a go and make them yourself! The recipe below is made by the ‘Ferment & Dough’ method, which allows the yeast ideal conditions to grow before being mixed together with the butter, spices, salt etc, all of which reduce the yeast activity.
Preparation
- Yield:
- Oven temperature:
- Prep Time:
- Cooking Time:
- Equipment:
- 20 buns at 60g each
- 230 °C
- ca. 2 hours
- 10 - 15
- Mixing bowls, mixer fitted with beater/dough hook, scales, baking tray ca 35 x 42 cm lined with baking paper
Ingredients - Ferment
- 25g sugar
- 25g yeast
- 270g water
- 105g wholemeal flour
Ingredients - Dough
- 55g wholemeal flour
- 365g strong bread flour
- 15g Skimmed Milk Powder
- 60g Butter
- 50g Sugar
- 50g Egg (1 medium)
- 5g Salt
- 10g Mixed Spice
- 55g Sultanas
- 105g Currents
- 25g Mixed Peel
Method
- For the ferment, dissolve yeast in water and add and dissolve the sugar. Stir in the flour to form a smooth batter, cover and leave in a warm place for 30-40 min until nicely risen and starting to collapse.
- Sieve together the flours for the dough together with the salt and milk powder.
- Put in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter by hand or with a beater on slow speed.
- Mix together the egg, sugar and spice and add to the mixing bowl together with the ferment.
- Mix with dough hook for 2min on slow speed and 6 min on second speed. By hand this will take about 10 - 15min.
- Leave in a covered bowl to bulk ferment for 40min, then knead in the fruit by hand. Return to the bowl and cover for a further 20min.
- Divide into 60g doughpieces and mould round by pressing with hand on the doughpiece cupping your fingers around it and moulding it round in circular movements. Rest for 10min then re-mould briefly to tighten up the dough.
- Line up the buns on a tray, leaving some space to expand. Cover with a plastic sheet (i.e. carrier bag) and prove for about 40 min in a warm place until nicely risen.
- In the meantime, prepare a smooth batter for the crossing from 50g plain flour, 1 g baking powder, 1g salt, 10g butter and 55g milk. Stir all together until smooth and fill into a plastic feezer bag.
- When the buns have finished proving, cut a small opening into one corner of the freezer bag and pipe across the top of the buns in lines from left to right and top to bottom of the baking tray.
- Bake at 230C for 10 - 15min.
- On removal from the oven, brush the hot buns with a mixture of 50g milk, 10g sugar and 10 g egg (all whisked together), which will give the buns a lovely shine.
- Serve with butter and jam. They taste great cut open and toasted as well!
- Enjoy!