Hot cross buns? No problem!

Hot cross buns are go! This time, they not only tasted good,
they looked good, too.

The basis of this recipe came from a book by Jane Grigson on 'English Food'.

This is to make 6 fairly small buns.

You'll need:

175 g strong plain white flour

good pinch salt

1 teaspoon dried yeast

20 g sugar

1 teaspoon mixed sweet spice

50 ml milk

50 ml boiling water

30 g butter

1/3 (one-third) of a beaten egg (rest is used elsewhere)

70 g mixed fruit with peel

20 g shortcrust pastry

Golden syrup or 1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in just enough water (bun wash)

Method:

Mix flour, salt and sweet spice in a warmed mixing bowl. Into a small pudding basin, put the yeast, 1 teaspoon of the sugar and 50 g of the flour from the mixing bowl.

Put the milk into suitable jug, then add the boiling water straight from the kettle. Using a wooden spoon, mix this liquid slowly into the yeast, sugar and flour in the pudding basin. Make as smooth a batter as possible. Leave in a warm place to froth up - should take about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the sugar into the mixing bowl flour, add the butter in small knobs and rub in. When the yeast mixture is ready, make a well in the centre of the main mixture, add the 1/3 beaten egg and the yeast mixture, and combine using a wooden spoon. The resulting mix will be a sticky gooey mess.

Flour a warm surface (I use the drop-down lid on the cooker, having had the oven on low for half an hour - this also serves to heat up the grill compartment just enough to use as the 'warm place' for raising the dough) and knead the dough mixture, adding more flour gradually, as needed, to give you a tacky - to the touch - lump of dough, which should not stick to the surface you're using. Whatever dough you have on your fingers should rub off easily - if it doesn't, your mixture requires a tad more flour.

Wash and dry the mixing bowl, and grease it with butter. Place the dough in it, cover with a tea towel and put into a warm spot to rise. To double in size, this should take up to an hour with modern dried yeast, but if you're using fresh yeast, it may take longer.

Punch down the risen dough, and on a warm surface, knead in the mixed fruit and peel. Once this is evenly distributed, roll the whole thing into a sausage and cut into 6 pieces. Make each piece into a bun-shaped ball and place on a lightly buttered baking tray.

Your shortcrust pastry (made by blending 15 g of flour with a knob of butter and a spoonful of water) should be rolled out and cut into strips. Brush the buns with some of the remaining beaten egg and place the pastry strips on them in the traditional cross shape. Brush with the egg again afterwards.

Cover the buns with a tea towel (will get greasy) or a piece of kitchen foil, and allow to rise in the warm spot for 30 minutes. Then bake them in the middle of a hot oven (230 degrees Celcius, 450 degrees Farenheit or UK Gas mark 8) for 10-15 minutes, until they are golden brown on top but before the shortcrust strarts to darken significantly.

Immediately after removing from the oven, brush with the golden syrup or the bun wash, then put onto a cooling tray - edible in about 20 minutes!

If any survive the first tasting, to reheat them, put in a moderate oven (160-180 Celcius, 350 Farenheit, UK Gas mak 3-4) for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

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