Hello chaps,
Welcome back to The Good Home Cook - nice to see some new subscribers on here! Thank you for being here.
Hot cross buns are on the agenda today. The best edible part about the Easter weekend isn’t the chocolate or the roast lamb - for me, its the buns. English food hasn’t always got the best reputation but one thing we do really bloody well is buns. From thickly iced sticky fingers to buttery Cornish saffron buns and raisin studded Chelsea buns, we are just so very good at them.
A hot cross bun is no exception. A good bun should be heavily fruited and deeply spiced. A nice ration of wholemeal and white flour helps to balance the flavour of the dough and the top should be deep, golden brown and glossy.
I’ve got an easy homemade hot cross bun for you that you can whip up this weekend with a few ideas for adjusting the spicing according to what you’ve got on your spice rack. Not only that but for my paid subs I’ve got a killer hot cross bun pudding inspired by some of my favourite Sicilian flavours - laden with sweet pistachio cream and citrus. It’s worth upgrading for..I promise!
Happy Easter folks!
Esther x
Easy Hot Cross Buns
PREP 45 mins plus rising time
COOK 20 mins
MAKES 12
300ml whole milk
50g unsalted butter, chopped
350g strong white bread flour
150g wholemeal spelt flour
7g sachet fast action yeast
70g golden caster sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 whole nutmeg, finely grated
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large orange , zested
140g sultanas
70g plain flour
5 tbsp smooth apricot jam or sieved marmalade
Put the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once simmering, add the butter, remove from the heat and allow to melt. Set aside to cool to blood temperature.
Mix the flours, yeast, sugar, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk mixture and half the egg, swiftly combining with a wooden spoon to create a sticky dough. Tip out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough by stretching it back and forth on the surface for 5 - 7 mins or until smooth, springy and elastic. Shape into a ball and put into a lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover and leave in a warm spot to rise, for 1hr or until doubled in size.
Turn the dough back onto the surface and flatten into a round. Spread the orange zest + sultanas onto the dough and knead again until everything is well distributed. Form into a ball, return to the bowl, cover and leave to rise for another hour.
Line a large, flat baking sheet with baking parchment. Knock the dough back by turning it out onto your surface and gently punching out the air. Divide the dough into 12 even-sized pieces, weighing for accuracy if you like. Roll each one into a ball. Arrange the buns on the baking sheet, leaving a 2cm space between each one. Cover with lightly oiled cling film and leave to rise for 45 mins. Heat the oven to 220C/ 200C fan/ gas 7. Brush the remaining egg on buns. To make the cross, in a small bowl, mix together the flour with 1 tbsp of water at a time to create a thick, pipeable paste. Spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle and pipe crosses on the buns or swirls if you like.
Bake for 15-20 mins or until deep golden brown. Warm the jam gently in a pan until loosened, brush with the jam whilst the buns are still hot and leave to cool.
THE FLOUR - The strong bread flour helps with texture and the spelt it for the slightly nutty flavour. You could omit the spelt for a regular wholemeal if you like.
THE SUGAR - I’ve used caster but a soft brown or mix of the both works well. Don’t cut back on the sugar, this quantity really helps balance the spices.
THE BUTTER - Lots of recipes add the butter in chunks as you would an enriched dough such as brioche. I like to add mine in with the milk to melt it, it cools the milk down quicker and is the easiest way to incorporate it. I always use unsalted butter in my bakes as this helps you control the salt level.
THE CROSS - The paste for the cross needs to be just the right consistency to pipe. You may want to spoon a little into your piping bag and test that its loose enough to pipe and firm enough to hold its shape. You can of course follow my lead and pipe swirls too - I think they look really fun! I do this with a smaller, round piping nozzle.
THE GLAZE - I find apricot jam or marmalade work well. The marmalade gives it a nice citrus hit. You could warm honey instead, honey always adds a nice flavour profile.
SPICING/FLAVOURING IDEAS -
Cardamom - reduce the cinnamon and allspice in the recipe and add the seeds from 10 cardamom pods, crushed. If you like Swedish cardamom buns, this is the spicing for you!
Ground ginger - If you like your buns even spicier the warmth of ground ginger is a lovely addition. Add 1 tsp along with the spices in the recipe.
Mixed spice - we’ve all got a pot of mixed spice lingering from last Christmas. Replace the spices with 2 1/2 tsp of mixed spice.
Tea soaked fruit - soak your sultanas in hot earl grey or lady grey tea for 20 mins before draining and patting dry then adding to your mix. You could add a plug of booze if you like.
Candied peel - add 50g chopped candied peel to the mix if you like a citrus flavour.
For another delicious idea - See
delicious rum and raisin buns on her page.Pistachio Cream and Orange Bread & Butter Pudding
This pudding sings of some of my favourite southern Italian flavours - Pistachio, blood orange, citrus peel from the buns. Its rich and indulgent and perfect with an extra slick of cream. The pudding should have a nice pool of custard at the bottom and the buns will soak up more of it the longer its sat, so leftovers will be a bit more set the next day but equally as delicious!
PREP 25 mins + 30- 45 mins resting
COOK 35 - 45 mins
SERVES 6 - 8
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