One a Penny, Two a Penny
Hot Cross Buns
Today I bring you buns! Fluffy inside, generously spiced, and (hopefully) in time for you to give them a go before Easter arrives, seamlessly colliding with the end of term and daylight savings (the only morning of the year where it looks like our children have actually woken up at a vaguely sensible hour . . .)
Over the years I’ve made a lot of hot cross buns. For a long time I wasn’t a fan of mixed peel so baked many without, I’ve played around with ratios of wholemeal flour (some lovely, some bricks), added chunks of chocolate or mixed up the spices, and when Nino was little made a rather penitential sugar free variation which you wouldn’t thank me for. Hot Cross Buns were, after all, created to celebrate the end of Lent, so a bit of butter and sugar are exactly what we want here.
I’ve tested this recipe with and without the extra rise before adding the fruit and it definitely makes a difference. Fluffy buns are what we want here and I like to let the dough do its thing before adding in a party of sultanas, currants, golden raisins and mixed peel. Plenty of orange zest and cinnamon. Cardamom is also lovely if you’re feeling fancy but definitely takes them away from a traditional hot cross bun.
I have a notion to pack these up with some hot chocolate and take the kids to watch the sun rise somewhere on Easter morning, but we’ll probably just scoff them in our jammies, toasted, spread thick with salty butter and a side of chocolate eggs.
Whatever you have planned this Easter, I hope it treats you well. It’s been a slow half term for us with sick days and cancelled plans which I haven’t much loved, but which also somehow make you take stock of the things that really matter. Looking forward to a few days of family, friends, all the delicious Spring food and the taste of sunnier days to come.
Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients:
For the buns
500g strong white bread flour
8g salt
75g golden caster sugar
10g instant yeast
40g unsalted butter, softened
120ml warm full fat milk
2 medium eggs, beaten
120ml cool water
100g sultanas
50g raisins (I used a mixture with golden)
80g chopped mixed peel
zest of 1 large orange
2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the crosses
75g plain white flour
75ml cool water
For the glaze
75g apricot jam, marmalade or other jam of your choice, warmed with a splash of water to thin
Method:
Add the flour to a large mixing bowl, with the salt and sugar on one side and the yeast on the other (the salt can prevent the yeast from doing its thing if mixed straight away). Add the butter, milk, eggs and most of the water and bring together to a shaggy dough, slowly adding the remaining water until you have a soft rough dough - you may not need it all.
Knead the mixture for 5 - 10 minutes until smooth and soft - I do this in a stand mixer to save on elbow grease and for the best textured buns but a good hard knead by hand works just as well.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
Add the sultanas, raisins, mixed peel, orange zest and cinnamon to the dough, knead until evenly distributed then cover and leave to rise for another hour.
Knock the air out of your risen dough and divide into twelve equal pieces. Roll each one into a ball, making sure you don’t have lots of fruit poking out (it can catch in the oven), then place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, a couple of centimetres apart.
Cover with lightly oiled cling film and leave to prove for one last hour, until the dough has doubled in size and springs back when poked with a finger.
Preheat the oven to 220C. Mix together the flour and water for the crosses to make a smooth paste, adding a touch more water if needed to get a thick piping consistency. Pop in a piping bag, snip off the nozzle and pipe crosses over your buns.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and the bottoms of the buns sound hollow if tapped. Remove from the oven and brush immediately with the jam or marmalade.
Cool on a wire rack then pull apart and enjoy! Preferably toasted with lots of salt butter.
If you have the notion, it’s delicious to soak your fruit in tea or orange juice for extra flavour and plumpness. I’ve also seen some bakers make buns with zigzags, swirls and the like which, while not ‘crossed’, look very beautiful and are on my list to try asap.
