Easter is fast approaching and for some it can mean a long weekend filled with chocolate. If you’re interested in eating something else this Easter weekend, grab your baking trays and try this hot cross bun recipe.
For a chocolate alternative, replace the currants and sultanas with choc chips for a bun that will melt in your mouth.
These traditional British Easter buns are enriched with dried fruit, milk, butter, egg and spices. If you do not have a piping bag to make the crosses, improvise by snipping the corner tip off a small plastic bag.
Makes: 10
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 20 min
Special equipment: baking tray, baking paper, small saucepans, pastry brush, wire rack, piping bag
Nutrition: high in carbohydrate
Skills: sifting, kneading, proving, glazing
INGREDIENTS
Buns
¾ cup (190 ml) milk
3 teaspoons (15g) dried yeast
3 tablespoon (60g) caster sugar
2 ½ cups (375g) plain sugar
½ teaspoon (2.5g) salt
½ teaspoon (1.25) mixed spice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons (30g) sultanas
2 tablespoons (30g) currants
1 tablespoon (15g) mixed peel
1 egg
1 ½ tablespoons (30g) butter
Cross mixture
3 tablespoons (30g) plain flour
2 tablespoons (40g) caster sugar
1 ½ tablespoons (30ml) water
Glaze
2 tablespoons (40g) caster sugar
4 tablespoons (80ml) milk
Extra butter to serve
METHOD
- Grease baking tray and line with baking paper.
- Warm milk in a small saucepan until luke warm.
- Mix yeast and sugar in a small bowl with a little warm milk. Allow to bubble.
- Sift flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl. Add dried fruit.
- Lightly beat egg.
- Melt butter in another small saucepan, and add remaining milk and egg. Stir in bubbling yeast mixture.
- Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and combine to form a dough.
- Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
- Return dough to bowl and cover lightly with oiled cling wrap. Leave in a warm place to prove for 40 minutes.
- Return dough to floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes to expel air. Divide dough into 10 even pieces, shape into balls and arrange about 1cm apart on tray.
- Set aside to prove for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Make cross by combining flour, sugar and water in a small bowl to form a smooth paste.
- Put mixture into a piping bag and pipe a cross onto each bun.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While buns are baking, make the glaze by dissolving caster sugar in milk in a small saucepan on low heat. Boil for 1 minute.
- Remove buns from oven and immediate brush tops with warm glaze. Cool slightly on a wire rack.
- Serve warm with butter.
This recipe is taken from Oxford’s The Food Book.
9780195570403
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