Hot Cross Buns
A traditional hot cross bun recipe. These are lightly spiced, packed full of fruit & finished with an apricot glaze.
Servings: 12 People
Equipment
- Large Baking Tray
- Piping Bag
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g Strong White Bread Flour
- 7 g Fast Action Yeast
- 50 g Light Brown Sugar
- 7 g Maldon Salt
- 1 tbsp Toasted Milk Powder Optional
- 1 Lemon, Zested
- 1 Orange, Zested
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground All Spice
- 275 g Whole Milk Lukewarm
- 1 Egg
- 1 Yolk
- 50 g Unsalted Butter - Room Temperature Cut Into Small Pieces
- 50 g Raisins
- 50 g Sultanas
- 50 g Currants
- 200 ml Tea
- 1 tbsp Mixed Peel
- 1 Granny Smith Apple Cored & Grated (No Need To Peel)
Egg Wash
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1 tsp Whole Milk
- Cross
- 3 tbsp Plain Flour
- 3-4 tbsp Cold Water
Glaze
- 1 tbsp Apricot Jam
- 2 tbsp Hot Water
Instructions
- The first step is to soak the fruit. To do this, weigh the raisins, sultanas & currants into a bowl & pour over the hot tea. Leave to soak uncovered whilst you make the dough.
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk powder, spices, zests, egg & milk.Using the dough hook attachment, mix on a medium speed until you have a smooth, elastic dough. This will take around 5 minutes.With the mixer still on, add the butter to the dough a piece at a time. Continue kneading until the dough passes the windowpane test.
- Drain the soaked fruit through a sieve (discard the liquid) & add this to the dough along with the mixed peel & grated apple. Mix this is in on a medium speed until fully incorporated, 3-4 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm & leave to prove until double in size, this will take around 1 hour.
- Once risen, tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock back & divide into 12 evenly sized pieces. Shape each piece into a ball & place onto a lined baking tray. Arrange the buns into 4 rows of 3, leaving around 2cm between each bun. Cover loosely with clingfilm or a damp tea towel & leave to rise until almost doubled in size, 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Preheat an oven to 180°c.
- Whilst the buns are proving, mix the 3 tbsp of plain flour with enough water to make a smooth, thick paste. Transfer this to a piping bag. For the egg wash, mix the egg & milk together until combined.
- When the buns have risen, brush each one with egg wash then pipe a line of the flour paste across each row of buns, repeat in the other direction so that each bun has a cross on top.Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a deep golden brown.
- Mix the apricot jam & hot water together until smooth. Brush each bun generously with the glaze then leave to cool completely before serving.
Notes
To Cook In An Aga.
Place the grid shelf onto the floor of the baking oven.
Cook as above. The dried fruit is soaked in tea before being adding to the dough. I use Yorkshire tea for this but feel free to use different types - Earl Grey would work well. For 200ml of hot water, I use 1 tea bag. In most of my bread recipes (including this one), I use a Canadian white bread flour from Shipton Mill. You can use any strong white bread flour but I get the best results using this one. This recipe uses toasted milk powder. My recipe for this can be found here.
Place the grid shelf onto the floor of the baking oven.
Cook as above. The dried fruit is soaked in tea before being adding to the dough. I use Yorkshire tea for this but feel free to use different types - Earl Grey would work well. For 200ml of hot water, I use 1 tea bag. In most of my bread recipes (including this one), I use a Canadian white bread flour from Shipton Mill. You can use any strong white bread flour but I get the best results using this one. This recipe uses toasted milk powder. My recipe for this can be found here.