Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (400g)
• 4 1/4 cups plain flour (600g)
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 50g butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups sultanas (NB: If doing a mix with 1/4 of them being fruit-free for N, use 160g of sultanas)
• 1/3 cup candied mixed peel (optional)
• 1/2 cup plain flour, extra do not use bread flour
• 1/3 cup water

Method

• Place the yeast, milk, and 2 tsp of the sugar in a mixing bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes, until the mixture starts to froth a little.
• Add the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon, butter, egg, sultanas, mixed peel, and remaining sugar. (Note, if you're making some fruit-free, don't add sultanas yet)
• Mix to form a sticky dough.
• Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 8 minutes. I'm not usually an advocate of a floured surface for kneading but in this case you will need it!
• If you are making a mix with 1/4 of them fruit-free (eg for N), put aside 340g of dough before adding the 160g of sultanas.
• Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel, and leave for 1 hour or until doubled.
• Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls.
• Grease a 23cm square cake tin (or use glad-bake!). If you haven't got a cake tin, just use a baking tray instead.
• Place the balls closely together in the tin.
• Heat oven to 200°C.
• Cover with a tea towel and leave for a further 30 minutes.
• Combine the extra flour and water and place in a piping bag. Pipe across the buns to form crosses. Note that if you are doing a double mixture, one quantity of the piping mixture should be enough.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until well browned and springy to touch.
• You are meant to brush the hot buns with a glaze, but I usually don't bother.

Source

Modern Classics (Book 2)