Hot Cross Buns

It’s coming up to Easter which means baked goodies need to be made! I’ve never made bread from scratch before so I thought with all the lovely Springness we’ve had recently I’d attempt some hot cross buns. My mum’s really good at baking bread so I secretly hoped some of her skill has gone into me through some sort of baking osmosis.

I used the recipe from The Great British Book of Baking which is from the best TV series ever. If you’ve never watched it then just go away. I would show you the actual recipe but my buns look nothing like their picture so I’m not going to!

Ingredients

450g strong white bread flour

 (The original recipe says to substitute 100g of the white flour for wholemeal bread flour but I couldn’t be bothered)

50g caster sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons ground mixed spice

1 x 7g sachet of easy-bake dried yeast

50g unsalted butter, diced

125g mixed dried fruit

200ml lukewarm milk

2 medium free-range eggs, lightly beaten

For the glaze:

4 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Start by putting all the dry ingredients (except for the mixed fruit) into a large bowl and mix well. Then add the diced butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers. The mixture should look a bit like a crumble mixture.

Stir in the dried mixed fruit. Make a well in the middle and pour in the lightly beaten eggs and lukewarm milk.

Slowly draw the flour into the liquid using your hands to form a soft dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead thoroughly for ten minutes. I couldn’t take any photos of this because the dough sticks to your hands like, as my mother would say ‘shit to a blanket’. Knead it until smooth and elastic. If the dough is really sticky and hard to knead like mine then add a little bit of strong white flour. Be careful not to add too much or you’ll get a tough, dry dough.

Put the dough ball back into the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave it in a warm place for about an hour or until it’s doubled in size.

Et Voila!

Punch the risen dough to deflate it a bit then turn it out onto a floured surface. Divide it into 12 balls and set well apart on a greased baking tray. Now you’re supposed to cover the tray with an inflated plastic bag but I just put some baking paper over them because I didn’t have any bags…Leave them about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 200⁰c/gas mark 6.

The next step is where I had a bit of a kerfuffle. To make the cross you are supposed to mix 4 tablespoons of strong white bread flour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a smooth, thick paste which you can pipe. Mine was like lumpy, anaemic sludge. After having a strop with the piping bag I decided to just roll out the crosses using flour and water. Because I was a massively stressed by this point they are a bit thick and stupid looking but now I know for next time what to do!

You can see from this picture here the two bottom left ones have the ‘sludge-cross’. To be fair I ate those first so I could deny ever having a sludge spaz and they still tasted nice.

Bake the buns in the heated oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown. While they bake make the glaze by heating the milk with the sugar until it’s dissolved. Boil for 1 minute then brush over the buns as soon as they come out the oven. Cool on a wire rack and then eat toasted with lashings of butter!

   

All in all not a total disaster for my first attempt at bread. I might have to go all out and actually make a loaf or something soon!