Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Stand mixer with dough hook (optional)
• •Baking tray
• •Baking parchment
• •Small piping bag with round nozzle (or a freezer bag with the corner snipped)
• •Pastry brush
• •Wire rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the milk

   Warm the milk in a small pan until it feels like a baby's bath, no hotter. Take it off the heat, add the butter, and stir until the butter melts and disappears into the milk. Set aside while you measure the dry ingredients. By the time you pour it into the flour, it should be barely warm. Hot milk kills yeast, and there is no coming back from that.

   If you're not sure, a clean fingertip dipped into the milk should feel pleasant, neither cool nor noticeably warm. Trust your hand more than a thermometer.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest. Add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. They don't get along if they meet too soon, so keep them apart until you start mixing. Pour in the warm milk and butter, then the beaten egg. Bring it all together with a wooden spoon, then your hand, until you have a rough, slightly sticky dough. The kitchen should already smell of cinnamon and orange peel.

3. 3

   Knead until smooth

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes. It's wet at the start and wants to stick to everything. Resist the urge to bury it in flour. Keep working it. After eight or nine minutes the dough transforms: smooth, elastic, slightly tacky but no longer sticking to your hands. You'll feel the change happen. Trust your hands.

   If you're using a stand mixer, fit the dough hook and run it on a low speed for about six minutes. The dough should pull cleanly away from the sides of the bowl when it's ready.
4. 4

   First prove

   Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel or cling film, and leave somewhere warm for around an hour and a half, or until doubled in size. The kitchen counter near the radiator does it for me. The exact time depends on the warmth of the room, so go by the look of the dough rather than the clock. It should be soft and pillowy and leave an indent when you press it gently with a finger.

5. 5

   Add the fruit and shape

   Tip the risen dough back onto the work surface and knock the air out gently with the heel of your hand. Scatter the dried fruit over the top and knead it in until it's evenly distributed. Be patient. The fruit wants to escape and the dough wants to tear. Work it in slowly. Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces, weighing them if you want them uniform. Shape each into a tight ball by rolling under a cupped hand on the unfloured part of the surface. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment, leaving a small gap between each so they can grow into their neighbours.

6. 6

   Second prove

   Cover the tray loosely with a clean tea towel and leave the buns to prove for forty-five minutes to an hour, until they look puffy and have just begun to touch their neighbours. While they're proving, heat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

7. 7

   Pipe the crosses

   Mix the plain flour with the cold water in a small bowl until you have a thick, smooth paste. It should hold its shape when you lift the spoon, like toothpaste. Too thin and it spreads as it bakes; too thick and it won't pipe. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle, or a freezer bag with a tiny corner snipped off. Pipe a line down the row of buns, then another across, making a cross on each one. Confidence helps. Hesitation makes wobbly lines.

8. 8

   Bake and glaze

   Bake for eighteen to twenty-two minutes, until the buns are golden brown and risen, and the kitchen smells of every Good Friday you've ever had. They should sound hollow when you tap one on the bottom. While they're baking, warm the apricot jam with the tablespoon of water in a small pan until it loosens into a brushable glaze, then sieve out any chunks. The moment the buns come out of the oven, brush them generously with the warm glaze so they go shiny and sticky as it sets. Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes before lifting onto a wire rack.

   If the buns are browning too quickly, lay a piece of foil loosely over the top for the last few minutes. You want golden, not dark.

Chef Tips

• •If your dried fruit looks dry and tired, soak it for ten minutes in hot black tea or warm water, then drain well before adding to the dough. Plump fruit gives you a better bun. Sad, leathery fruit gives you sad, leathery patches in the crumb.
• •Make the cross paste a touch thicker than you think it needs to be. A runny paste spreads as it bakes and you lose the definition of the cross. You want it to stand proud of the bun, distinctly white against the golden brown.
• •They're best on the day they're made, still slightly warm, split with a knife and smeared with cold butter that softens against the spiced crumb. By day two, they want toasting. Halve them, toast the cut sides under a hot grill until gold and crisp at the edges, then butter heavily. Possibly the better experience, if you ask me.
• •Mixed spice is the British spice blend that makes a hot cross bun taste like a hot cross bun. If you can't find it, mix a teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg with a half teaspoon of cloves and ginger. Close enough.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made the day before. After the first knead, place it in an oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. The slow, cold prove deepens the flavour. The next morning, let the dough come to room temperature for an hour before knocking back, adding the fruit, and shaping.
• •Baked buns are best on the day they're made but keep in an airtight tin for two days. Toast cut sides under a hot grill on day two and butter heavily.
• •They freeze well, wrapped individually, for up to a month. Defrost at room temperature and warm through in a low oven before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 95g)