Hot Cross Buns
Making an enriched dough is a long process, not so much the initial putting together, but the time in between when rising takes place.
I totally understand if you choose to go to your local supermarket and pick a pack off the shelf, that’s usually what I prefer.
Not because these don’t taste amazing, they do, and not because there not fun to make, they are. Its just that where patience is concerned, I don’t have enough to be a true lover of making enriched doughs.
But I’d certainly recommend making hot cross buns from scratch at least once in your life, you never know, you might become a convert.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Glazed and ready
What You Need
500g Strong Bread Flour
300ml Semi Skimmed Milk
75g Castor Sugar
75g Sultanas
50g Butter – Cut into small pieces
50g Mixed Peel
7g Sachet Fast Acting Yeast
1 tsp Table Salt
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Mixed Spice
Zest of 2 Oranges
The dough will be very wet and sticky
For the Cross
75g Flour
The Glaze
3 tbsp Marmalade or Apricot Jam – See Tip Box
Ready to add the fruit and flavours
How It’s Done
Place the butter and milk into a small saucepan and heat gently until the butter begins to melt. Don’t let it boil.
Remove it from the heat, and stir until the butter is completely melted.
Let it sit until it becomes body temperature – See Tip Box
Crack the egg into a small bowl and use a fork to give it a whisk. Set it aside until needed
Place the flour into a large bowl and add the sugar, yeast and pinch of salt to opposite sides of the bowl. – See Tip Box
Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together really well.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the egg and the milk mixture. Use the wooden spoon to mix everything together until the liquid is soaked in.
This is when it gets messy.
Use your hands to bring the dough together and start to knead the dough by stretching it and then bringing it back together.
Add just a little bit of flour onto the work surface and carry on with the stretching, pulling and folding over – the dough should be incredibly sticky and will stick to hands and to the work surface, so do NOT add more flour – See Tip Box
Keep stretching the dough and folding t back on itself for at least another 7 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth.
Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into the large bowl and rub it all over.
Place the dough into the bowl and loosely lay a piece of cling film that has been rubbed with some vegetable oil over the bowl. – See Tip Box
Put the bowl into a warm place until the dough doubles in size and when a finger is pressed into the dough, a dent stays in the dough– around 1 hour or more
Once the dough had doubled in size it’s time to start to add the flavour.
Add the orange zest, sultanas, mixed peel, cinnamon, and the mixed spice to the dough in the bowl and stretch and fold it until all the fruit and spices are mixed in really well.
Flavours and fruit added here
Lay the oiled cling film over the bowl once more, and put the bowl back into a warm place to rise until it has once again doubled in size. At least 1 hour.
Once the dough is ready, start to divide it.
Prepare a couple of oven trays by covering in non-stick baking parchment and set aside until needed.
Divide the dough
Bread off pieces of the dough, making sure that they have a weight of about 75g. This will ensure each of the buns bake at the same rate in the oven.
Once the dough has been divided, roll them into balls and place them on the lined baking trays.
Make sure there is a good gap between them as they will rise and then rose again in the oven.
Lay the oiled cling film over the balls and once again, put them in a warm place until they double in size, at least 1 hour.
Space them apart and cover with oiled cling film
Heat the oven to 200c
Once they are ready it’s time to make the cross.
Place the 75g of flour into a small bowl and add 6 tbsp of cold water. Give it a mix until it becomes a thick but pipeable paste - It may need just a little bit less water or just a little bit more.
Place the flour paste into a piping bag and snip off the tip– See Tip Box
Pipe a cross on the top of each of the balls of dough.
Pipe crossed on top of the dough
Place the trays into the hot oven and bake for 18-20m minutes until the buns have risen and are a golden brown.
If one of the trays is ion a lower shelf, it may need a couple of minutes more.
Once baked, remove from the oven.
Place the marmalade into the microwave and heat for 20 seconds. Give it a mix and strain it through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.
Brush the strained marmalade over each of the buns while they are still warm and let the buns cool completely.
Store the buns in an airtight container for a few days.
Serve toasted or un-toasted with butter or with thin slices of cheese.
Unglazed straight from the oven
Tip Box
Yeast – Yeast is a living breathing thing and need to be pampered and cared for. There are some things which need to be done while making these hot cross buns. So read the rest of the tips in this tip box.
Body temperature milk – The milk must be around body temperature to stop it killing the yeast. If the yeast dies, then the dough won’t rise. An easy way of testing this is to just place a finger into the milk mixture and if it’s difficult to feel the milk temperature, then it’s more or less the correct temperature.
Yeast at opposite side of the bowl – Keeping the yeast away from the salt is essential. Salt will kill yeast so while placing ingredients into the same bowl as the flour, make sure the yeast is at the opposite side of the bowl.
Don’t add extra flour – The dough will be incredibly stickly when its first being pulled and manipulated. This is how it should be. It will stick to hands and work surfaces. Don’t be tempted to add more flour. Adding more flour will make the finished buns heavy and dense.
Keep persevering with the dough, and eventually it will become smoother.
Oiled cling film – Covering the dough with cling film that has been rubbed with oil will prevent the tops of the dough forming a skin.
It’s important that the cling film isn’t wrapped around the, but just laid gently on top to enable the dough to rise freely.
No Piping bags? Use this – If there are no piping bags available, using a freezer bag will work. Fill the freezer bag and push the flour paste to the corner of the bag, before snipping off the corner of the bag to use.
Marmalade or Apricot Jam? – Strained apricot jam is traditionally used to glaze the top of hot cross buns, but I love to use marmalade. It brings out the orange zest that is on the inside of the buns.
Just add butter
