Hot Cross Buns

My boys have just memorised the words to the old Hot Cross Buns nursery rhymes. They love the song and it's quite hilarious to hear them sing it. It's almost Easter Time (according to the shops anwyay) as Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns are now on display. Actually it's been on sale since February so really the shops are not a good indication of how close Easter is because if we go by their displays Halloween is in September and Xmas is in October.

Anyway, the boys had their first taste of the infamous buns last week and they loved it. This morning on their way to daycare they asked if I could get them some for when they got home. So I dropped them off and went to the bakery that made the best ones in my town only to be dreadfully disappointed that they were shut. So I got home, looked up a recipe on taste.com and to my amazement actually had all the ingredients in the pantry and decided to bake some.

This is my 1st attempt. It's not the best hot cross buns in the world but it's quite gorgeous especially served warm with butter melting through it.

Hot Cross Buns

Buns
4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 x 7g dried yeast sachets
2 teaspoons mixed spice
pinch of salt
1 1/2cup sultanas
50g butter
300ml milk
2 eggs beaten

Flour paste
1/2 cup flour
4-5 tablespoons water

Sugar glaze
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons caster sugar

1. Combine flour, sugar, yeast, mixed spice, salt and sultanas in a large bowl. Make a well and set aside.

2. In a small saucepan melt butter and heat milk just to lukewarm. Add warm milk and beaten egg to dry ingredients. Mix it until combined and turn out dough onto lightly floured surface.
***I used a mixer with a dough hook but a flat knife is good enough for the mixing***

3. Knead dough until smooth, 10 mins max. Don't overwork it or you'll have buns of steel. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and set aside to rise and double, about an hour or an hour and half.


4. Punch dough down to original size and knead until smooth. Cut into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and place on a baking paper lined tray a couple of cm apart. Set aside for half hour so dough can plump up again. Heat oven to 190 degrees.

5. To make flour paste simply add flour and water and stir to a nice thick consistency. Not too thick that it can't get piped, thick but flowy is what you want. Add a little more flour or water if needed to reach the consistency you need. Put flour paste in a piping bag or a plastic bag that you can snip the edge off. I used a plastic bag with a small nozzle shoved in the end.

6. Pipe paste on buns. Of course make the cross pattern but I also did a few initials for the twins as they love anything that they can identify as being specific to them. Pop in oven for 20-25 minutes.

7. Meanwhile dissolve sugar and water and let boil for a few minutes. Let it boil until the mixture looks a little thick but take it off the fire before the colour starts to change to toffee shades.

8. When buns are out of oven and still warm glaze with the mixture. It will give that extra sticky yumminess and beautiful glossy finish.

9. Shove in face whilst still warm with melting butter all through the crumbly bun.