I guess things do change when your house has a mini-human running around! We now take festivals and holidays a lot more seriously, arts and crafts overtake the dining table, and glitter now holds a place in each corner. The loud noises come for free!
So of course, with Easter, a day I had no idea what it was for, suddenly got us making chocolate eggs and creating treasure maps or something of that sort. I went to the next best thing – baking hot cross buns – something I do quite well. Hot Cross Buns are a delicious brioche-like bread buns – a rich texture, that tells you this is more than ‘just bread’ – and i owe that to the addition of eggs. The crosses on top – a simple slurry of flour and water – makes it what it is. I add a heavier amount of cinnamon and nutmeg than most, and of course raisins. Leftover hot cross buns work delightfully for French toast or bread pudding – with an extra helping of bourbon sauce!
The Recipe
Serves yields 12
Ingredients
- 75g raisins, soaked in 1 cup hot water
- 175 ml warm milk
- 2 ½ tsp instant dry yeast
- 105g castor sugar + ½ tsp
- 40g butter, soft
- 2 eggs
- 520g all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- generous pinch of nutmeg
- Slurry: ¼ cup flour + 2-3 tsp water
- Egg Wash: 1 egg + 2 tsp milk
Instructions
- Take 50 ml of the milk into a separate bowl and add the ½ tsp sugar and the instant dry yeast and set aside to bloom for 10 minutes
- Strain the raisins out of the water once the raisins are softened
- In a big mixing bowl, add the remaining warm milk, butter and sugar and mix until butter has completely melted through
- In a separate bowl, stir the flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg together and set aside
- Once the yeast has bloomed, add the mixture and the 2 eggs into the milk mixture and stir well
- Then slowly add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon to make a dough
- Then add in the raisins
- Tip dough over into a clean surface and knead with your hands for at least 4-5 minutes until the dough easily springs back upon touch
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a cloth and place in a warm place for 1 hour 30 minutes or until dough doubles
- Once the dough has doubled, tip the dough over onto a clean surface and divide into 12 equal pieces
- Make round bun balls, pinch the edges to ensure a smooth surface and place in a greased tin, leaving a little space between each bun
- Cover the tin with greased cling film or cloth and set in a warm place to rise a second time for 30 minutes
- In the meantime, whisk together the flour and water slurry (it should be a thick paste like) and put into a plastic zip-lock or piping bag and whisk together the egg wash
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Once the buns have risen, generously brush the egg wash over each bun
- Then pipe the flour slurry like a cross over each bun
- Bake for 15-17 minutes in the oven
- Remove from the oven and cool before serving
