Hot Cross Buns

This year there were no store bought hot cross buns in our house. 

Every hot cross bun that we ate at home was made by Ava and I.

Ava pipes on the crosses

Now this wasn't necessarily because our home made hot cross buns are fantastic (which they were, if I do say so myself) but rather due to the fact that we couldn't buy hot cross buns anywhere.

Ok, so that's a slight lie. I did find hot cross buns in one bakery here in Berkeley but they weren't real hot cross buns. I'd call them a finger bun in disguise. The cross was even made out of icing. That's just not right. These buns were also rather large and sold individually at a price that made buying a half dozen out of the question.

So it was into the kitchen for Ava and I for an afternoon of baking.

You can find the recipe that we used for our hot cross buns below. I have used this recipe in the past and it always comes out well. 

What you'll need:

For the buns:
4 cups plain flour
2 x 7g sachets dried yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons mix spice
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups currants (or raisins)
40g butter
300ml milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten

For the cross:
1/2 cup plain flour
4 to 5 tablespoons water

For the optional glaze:
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice, salt and currants in a bowl.

Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add milk and heat for one minute.

Add warm milk mixture and eggs to the dry ingredients.

Using a flat bladed knife, mix until dough almost comes together.

Use clean hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.

Ava kneads the dough

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until dough in smooth.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.

Punch the dough down to its original size and knead for 30 seconds on a lightly floured surface.

Divide into 12 even portions and shape each into a ball.

Rolling the dough into bun size balls

Place the balls onto a tray lined with baking paper about 1cm apart.

Cover tray with plastic wrap and once again set aside in a warm place until buns double in size. This should take about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the over to 190C/375F.

Make the flour paste by mixing the water and flour together in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag (or a snap lock bag and snip one corner off) and pipe paste on top of buns to form a cross.

Ava pipes on the crosses

Ready for baking

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until buns are cooked through.

For the optional glaze, place water and sugar in a small pan over a low heat. Stur until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil for 3 or 4 minutes. Brush warm glaze over warm hot cross buns.

Tada! All done :)

Serve warm or at room temperature.

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• Step 5
  Make glaze: Place water and sugar into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to theboil. Boil for 3-4 minutes. Brush warm glaze over warm hot cross buns. Serve warm or at room temperature.