Figure 1 Image Source: Hot Cross Buns

Bun Ingredients:

• 5 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Cup of Warm Milk
• 1 Cup of Mixed Nuts including Walnuts, Pecans, Macadamias, Unsalted Peanuts, Brazil Nuts, 2 or 3 Cashews and no more than 3 Almonds
• ½ Cup each of Butter, Sugar and Raisins
• ¼ Cup each of Sultanas and Currants
• 1 Tablespoon of Diced Candied Mixed Fruit Peel
• 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• ¾ Teaspoon each of cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and allspice
• ½ Teaspoon of Freshly Ground Sea Salt

Yeast Ingredients:

• 2 Sachets of Traditional Yeast (not the instant type)
• ½ Cup of Lukewarm Water
• 2 Teaspoons of Sugar

Method:

Let the butter warm to room temperature and do likewise with the flour. I generally leave some out overnight if I am going to be making buns later the next day.

Activate the Yeast:

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar in ½ cup of lukewarm water then add the contents the 2 yeast sachets and stir to dissolve the yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Lift and Combine Spices and Flour:

Sift 1 cup of flour the cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and allspice into a small mixing bowl and give a quick stir.

Prepare Nuts and Fruit:

Shell and crush all of the nuts into match head sized pieces and then put them into another mixing bowl. Sift in 1 cup of flour and then add the diced candied fruit peel, raisins, sultanas and currents.

Give the flour and mixed fruits a reasonable mixing. The idea is to coat the fruit and nuts lightly with flour as this will prevent the fruit from clustering and clumping and forestall undue settling of the fruit ensuring that your hot cross buns will not end up with all of the fruit at the bottom.

Prepare Proving Bowl:

Lightly grease the bowl in which the first part of proving (rising) will take place with butter then cover and set this bowl to one side

Making the Dough:

Lightly beat the eggs

Take a medium large mixing bowl and add in and combine the warm milk, the room temperature butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Then mix in the lightly beaten eggs. It is now time to beat in the yeast mixture after which let the mixture rest for a minute or two.

After a short rest add in one cup of sifted flour and beat thoroughly. Follow this by adding in another cup of finely sifted flour and continue beating the mixture. Once all of the ingredients added so far are thoroughly mixed, it is time to beat in the flour and spices mixture. Follow this by beating in the flour, fruit and mixed nuts mixture.

Continue mixing to ensure an even distribution of ingredients throughout the entire mix.

Kneading:

Once satisfied it is time to start kneading with your hands. You may need to add some of the fifth cup of flour if the mixture is overly sticky but only just enough to prevent it from being too sticky to work with. This you may need to do on a couple of occasions as you are kneading the dough. Continue kneading for at least five minutes.

Proving:

Okay, with that part of the kneading done, place your dough into the lightly buttered bowl and sprinkle lightly with flour then cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm draft free location and let it prove (rise) until it has doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, sprinkle a little more flour over the top and recover with a damp cloth. Return the covered bowl with the dough in it to its warm hidey-hole and leave it for 30 minutes to rise.

Cutting and Shaping the Dough:

Lightly grease a baking dish or baking pan.

After the 30 minutes rising time is up it is time to portion and shape the dough. You will get four rows of four buns in a 9 x 13 dish if you want them to be a little rounded. If you desire the buns to be taller than they are wide, make it four rows with five or even six dough balls per row.

Cut the dough into chunks that are roughly half the size of what you want the intended finished buns to be. Work the dough into nice smooth round balls and place into your baking dish as per the preceding instructions regarding how many to place per row.

Final Proving:

Cover the baking dish and set out for the buns to rise. Check on their progress periodically. Let the balls double in size before baking.

Baking:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and center an oven rack
2. Once your buns have doubled in size, they are ready for baking
3. If you wish to cross them then use a very sharp knife to mark the buns with a cross before you put them into the oven
4. Put your buns into the preheated oven (350F) and bake until lightly golden brown (approximately 20 to 25 minutes depending upon your oven)
5. To test if the buns are done simply tap on the top of the buns with a pencil and if they light brown in color and sound slightly hollow when tapped then they are done

Glazing and Frosting:

Once baked remove the buns from the oven and brush with a sugar and hot water glaze. You might like to ice each bun with a vanilla butter frosting, by making a cross on each bun with the icing using a pastry bag or icing tool.

Serving:

These portions make 20 to 24 hot cross buns, which are most enjoyable warm, cut in half and buttered with jam or honey. Add some whipped cream if you like, or simply consume them as they are.

Storage:

Making your Easter hot cross buns ahead of time and storing them frozen until required is one way of ensuring that golden scrumptious hot cross buns are guaranteed without the fuss, panic or fear that they won’t turn out right as can so often happen when making something for the first time and in a rush the night before. You can toast them or just nuke them for 10 seconds to warm them up a bit.

Note: If freezing the buns for storage then do so prior to frosting them. If you are going to frost them, then thaw the frozen buns out first and slightly warm them before frosting. Otherwise, serve as per usual and enjoy!