very best hot cross buns
my favourite hot cross bun recipe
Ingredients
- 500 grams strong bread flour plus 5 tbsp
- 14 grams fast action yeast
- 80 grams caster sugar
- 300 ml whole milk
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 5 grams salt
- 150 grams raisins soaked in boiling water with a chai teabag and half a lemon for a few hours or over night
- 65 grams mixed peel
- 45 grams chopped candied ginger
- 65 grams unsalted butter
- 1 and a half tsp ground ginger
- 1 and a half tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp all spice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp orange zest
Instructions
- Add the milk in a pan with the cinnamon sticks and gently simmer.Let sit for 5 minutes then remove the cinnamon sticks and add the butter and leave to melt.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add 500g flour, spices, sugar and salt, then add the yeast on the opposite side of the bowl so it not touching the salt.Pour in the milk mixture and add the egg and mix at high speed for 5 minutes.Mix the peel, stem ginger and zest in a bowl, drain the raisins and add those and mix together, add 2 tbsp. flour to the mixture.Add the peel mixture to the bowl and add three more tbsp. of flour and knead for another 2 minutes, the mixture should be soft but not unworkable, so add more flour if needed, take the bowl off the mixture and stretch the dough a few times to make sure the gluten has built up nicely.Once the dough is nice and elastic place in a oiled bowl and leave in a warm draft free place until it has doubled in size (about 1 hr 30 minutes)Once the dough has risen, knock all the air out and cut into 12 equal pieces, I weighed each one to make sure they would be the same size.Take one ball and fold the edges of the dough in on them self and pinch together, then place the pinched part flat on the surface and roll into a tight ball.Place on a lined baking tray leaving space between each one and leave for 1 hour until they have risen back up.Preheat the oven to 200cMake the batter for the crosses by mixing plain flour with a little water until you get a thick paste.Pipe on crosses and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.While they are baking warm a few tbsp. of marmalade in a pan once they are baked and still hot from the oven brush on the marmalade glazeTIPS
>Don’t over work the dough or it will become tight and the buns wont be soft and have a nice texture, 5 to 7 minutes in a stand mixer and high speed should be enough,
but at the same time don’t under work the dough or there will not be enough gluten, start at 5 minutes and take the dough out and stretch it, if it easily stretches with out tearing its ok.
>Make sure you leave the dough to rise until its doubled in size, you can do this in a cool, warm place for 1 and a half to two hours or over night in the fridge.
>Don’t skip the second rise.
>If you don’t have a stand mixer and you are making them by hand I would suggest 8/10 minutes of kneading.Enjoy them toasted with butter. NOTE (toast under the grill in the oven or a griddle pan they will burn in a toaster because of the glaze)