I love all Paul Hollywood’s recipes. He is a fantastic baker and really knows his way round any recipes involving yeast!
This recipe is from his book, a brilliant guide to all things baking – How to Bake – and it’s on his website: http://paulhollywood.com/recipes/easter-hot-cross-buns/
The hot cross bun recipe is very good. It’s labour and time intensive, but it makes great buns! There are 3 provings, an hour each, so you need to get cooking early! Paul’s glaze for the warm buns is apricot jam. It gives a really lovely sweet and sticky flavour to the buns.
I left the buns in the oven a little too long. The taste was still lovely, but next time I will watch them carefully. My oven is hot and fast, but it may be worth considering the cooking temperature and time to make sure your buns are perfectly cooked. Maybe it was just my oven – every oven is individual.
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
10g salt
75g caster sugar
10g instant yeast
40g unsalted butter, softened
2 medium eggs, beaten
120ml warm full-fat milk
120ml cool water
150g sultanas
80g chopped mixed peel
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1 dessert apple, cored and diced
2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the crosses
75g plain flour
75ml water
For the glaze
75g apricot jam
Method
Put the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and sugar to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter, eggs, milk and half the water and turn the mixture round with your fingers. Continue to add the water, a little at a time, until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add a little more – you want dough that is soft, but not soggy. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5-10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.
When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until at least doubled in size – at least 1 hour, but it’s fine to leave it for 2 or even 3 hours.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and scatter the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon on top. Knead in until evenly incorporated. Cover and leave to rise for a further hour.
Fold the dough inwards repeatedly until all the air is knocked out. Divide into 12 peices and roll into balls. Place, fairly close together, on 1 or 2 baking trays lined with baking parchment or silicone paper. Put each tray inside a clean plastic bag and leave to rest for 1 hour, or until the dough is at least doubled in size and springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220°C.
For the crosses, mix the flour and water to a paste. Using a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle, pipe crosses on the buns. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Warm the apricot jam with a splash of water, sieve and brush over the tops of the warm buns to glaze. Cool on a wire rack.
The Quirk and the Cool 