Hot Cross Buns - Workshop Style!

Hot Cross Buns - Workshop Style!

Ingredients

For the Fruit:
160g mixed dried fruit of your choice (raisins, currants, apricots, cherries, dates, etc.)
1 generous tbsp candied peel
Cold tea or lemon jiuce

For the Dough:
30g softened butter
300ml full fat milk
1 tsp salt
75g sugar
A tiny pinch of Vitamin C powder (citric acid)
1 egg, beaten
500g Strong bread flour
1 tblsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground cinammon
The seeds from a few cardamom pods
1 generous tsp EasyBake yeast

For the Glaze:
Warm golden syup, maple syrup, sieved apricot jam, honey or simple syrup

Directions

If necessary, cut up the fruit, then soak it the cold tea or lemon juice ,whichever you are using. Set aside.

Add all the dough ingredients to your mixing bowl, in the order given, so as to keep the yeast and salt away from each other. Mix to a smooth, elastic dough.

Lightly oil a clean bowl, add the ball of dough and cover. Leave in a warm place for an hour or two until it has doubled in size.

On a floured work surface, knock back the dough and roll it out to about 3/4” or 2cm thick.

Drain and pat dry the fruit, mix in the candied peel and spread the fruit evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough and knead it into a log. Divide the dough into 12 or 15, depending how large you like your buns. Lay them out on a lightly oiled baking sheet, cover and leave to rise again.

Make a stiff mixture of flour and water. Using a Savoy bag and fine nozzle, pipe your crosses. I you don’t have a Savoy bag, use a Zip-Loc bag with the corner cut off, but a proper nozzle does make it easier to do a neat job.

Bake at Fan 200C for 15 minutes, but keep your eye on them towards the end. They may need less time if your oven is hotter then mine. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small pan, warm the golden syrup to make it a bit thinner and brush it onto the buns.

Serve split, as is or toasted, with really good butter.

Enjoy!