Hot Cross Buns

To celebrate Easter, it seemed fitting to try my first attempt at Hot Cross Buns - a traditional sweet bun we eat in the UK around Easter time. Its name comes from the traditional white cross you create on top of the bun and the typical method of serving - warmed with butter.

Hot cross buns have more ingredients than my usual bakes, and required a fair chunk of time to prove (rise) so I'd set aside some time on Saturday to make these.

The first step was to warm some water and milk, sprinkle on the dried yeast and leave it to froth. We had glorious weather so I left it in the sunshine whilst I sieved the flour and spices into a bowl.

The milk & yeast mixture frothed up and filled the kitchen with a warm bready smell.

Next, after sieving the flour & spices, I rubbed butter into the flour - much like making pastry. Then, I chopped up some raisins (the recipe calls for currents, which are smaller than raisins, but I didn't have any currents so I just chopped up raisins to a smaller size. Smart thinking!) Then I added the raisins, sugar and mixed peel to the flour.

Next was to mix it all together until it formed a dough

After 5 minutes of kneading, I covered the bowl with cling film and left it in a warm place (for us, this means either under the kitchen sink or the bathroom) for an hour until it had doubled in size.

After an hour sitting in the shower, the dough was ready to be split into 12 and shaped into buns. Once again they were coverred and left to rise in the bathroom. Whilst they sat for another 45 minutes, I made up a flour & water paste and put it into a piping bag. Once the buns had risen again, I piped crosses onto the buns before putting them into the oven.

The final step was to make up a glaze in a saucepan and brush it over the buns as soon as they came out of the oven. This gave them a tempting shine and completed the overall finish.

For my first attempt at Hot Cross buns, Mrs Beeton's recipe worked very well - although the piped white crosses were lifted from a BBC Good Food recipe. The flavour was spot on - slightly sweet and spiced. The texture could have done with being a little fluffier, more bread like, but they were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. We ate a few during a picnic in Hyde Park on Easter Sunday.

Hot Cross Buns

flour for dusting

400g strong white flour

1tsp sugar

125ml milk

1tbsp dried yeast

1tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I totally put in 1 1/2 tsp)

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

50g butter

50g caster sugar

100g currants (or chopped raisins in my case)

50g chopped mixed peel

1 egg

flour for dusting

GLAZE

30ml milk

40g caster sugar

Sift about 75g of the flour and 1tsp sugar into a large bowl. Warm the milk and 75ml water until lukewarm. Sprinkle the dried yeast on top. Pour the yeast liquid into the flour and sugar, beat well. Leave the bowl in a warm place for 20minutes.

Sift the rest of the flour, the salt and spices into a bowl. Rub in the butter. Add the caster sugar and dried fruit. Beat the egg into the frothy yeast mixture and add the flour, fat and fruit mixture. Mix to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Return to the bowl, cover with cling-film and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about an 1hr to 1.5hrs.)

Knead the dough again until firm. Cut into 12 equal pieces (mine each weighed about 75g) and shape into a round bun.

Place on a floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife slash a cross on the top of each bun, or, mix 50g of flour with a few tablespoons of water. Pipe into a cross shape over the bun.

Cover and leave for a further 35-45 minutes until the dough has doubled in bulk. Set the oven at 220C / gas 7. Bake for 15-20minutes until golden. Boil the milk, sugar and 2 tbsp water for 6 minutes, then brush over the hot buns.