Hot Cross Buns
INGREDIENTS
BUNS
Bakers Flour 4½ cups
Instant Yeast 3 teaspoons
Caster Sugar ½ cup
Cinnamon 2 teaspoons
Mixed Spice 2 teaspoons
Nutmeg 1 teaspoon
Milk, warm 1½ cups
Sultanas 1½ cups
Butter, melted 50g
Egg (room temperature) 1
Bakers Flour (extra) ½ cup
CROSSES
Flour ½ cup
Water 5 tablespoons
GLAZE
Apricot Jam 1 tablespoon
Water 2 teaspoons
METHOD
1 Place the flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl and mix to combine.
2 Add butter, milk, egg and sultanas to the dry ingredients. Using a standmixer, attach a dough hook and mix until a soft, elastic dough forms, approximately 5 minutes. If you are using your hands, dust your work surface with flour and knead for 10 minutes to achieve a similar soft, elastic dough. If the dough is too sticky, add the extra flour to help it come together, depending on the humidity and ambient temperature you may or may not need the extra flour.
3 Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size.
4 Remove cling wrap and deflate the dough and stretch it into a log shape on your floured work surface. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and with each piece stretch it into a ball by meeting all the edges together and rolling it lightly to form a ball with a smooth top surface.
5 Place the balls onto a 30×20cm lined baking tray and cover with plastic wrap to rise for another 30 minutes until 75% larger in size.
6 Preheat your InAlto oven to 180˚C.
7 For the crosses, mix flour and water to achieve a thick, runny consistency before placing in a piping bag. Remove plastic wrap from the buns and slowly pipe the crosses onto the buns.
8 Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the buns are golden brown in colour.
9 For the glaze, place jam and water in the microwave for 30 seconds and mix to combine.
10 Once buns are out of the oven place on a cooling rack and use a brush to cover the tops of the warm buns with the glaze. Allow to cool slightly before serving fresh with butter.
