Hot Cross Buns
James Morton's take on the traditional hot cross bun recipe for Easter. Made with wholemeal flour, these sticky, sweet bakes are finished with an icing drizzle.
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Introduction
This recipe may divide some people; basically, I love hot cross buns, but I don’t like the cross. Not that I disagree with it in a religious way, but I don’t like that the cross is usually made with a bland and floury paste. People who do this are piping nastiness onto an otherwise beautiful dough. Horrible.
The solution is to make the crosses out of icing. It’s like giving our lovely buns a striking garment to wear, rather than a cancerous growth. I use a little wholemeal flour, sieved to remove the bittiness, just for a savoury and earthy touch to balance with the sweet stickiness of the bun.
Ingredients
| 350g | strong white flour |
| 100g | wholemeal flour (sieved weight) |
| 2 x 7g | sachets fast-action yeast |
| 10g | salt |
| 100g | Italian mixed peel |
| 2 tsp | ground cinnamon |
| ½ tsp | ground cloves |
| ½ tsp | ground allspice |
| ½ tsp | ground ginger |
| ½ | nutmeg, finely grated |
| 100g | white sourdough starter |
| 2 | medium eggs |
| 170g | full-fat milk |
| 40g | honey |
| 30g | apple brandy |
| 50g | butter, softened |
| 200g | raisins |
| For the glaze: | |
| 50g | caster sugar |
| 50g | water |
| ½ tsp | cinnamon |
| For the icing: | |
| 125g | icing sugar |
| few squeezes of lemon juice |
Method
1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, yeast, salt and spices. Rub the salt and spices into the dry mix on one side of the bowl, then the yeast on the other. Add the starter, eggs, milk, honey, brandy and butter and combine to form a dough. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes, if you can.
2. Knead your dough for about 5 minutes, then add your raisins and continue to knead until the dough is holding together and passing the windowpane test, about another 5 minutes. Cover and leave to prove for 1–2 hours, or until at least doubled in size. Alternatively, leave to rest in the fridge for 10–14 hours.
3. Turn your dough out on to a lightly floured surface and separate into 12 roughly equal pieces. Roll each into a ball, place on your baking tray and leave to prove for a final 90 minutes or so at room temperature. At least half an hour before you’re going to bake, preheat your oven to 240°C/gas 9.
4. Once proved, turn your oven down to 210ºC/gas 6½ and bake for 20–25 minutes, until a dark golden brown all over.
5. As soon as they are in the oven, prepare the glaze by boiling all the ingredients together briefly, then leaving to cool slightly until the buns are done. Then, prepare the icing by mixing just enough lemon juice with the icing sugar so that the mixture drizzles freely.
6. As soon as the buns are out the oven, smear them in warm glaze, until they are all sticky and shiny. Then, whilst still hot, use the edge of a teaspoon to draw the iced crosses on top.
Time spent in the kitchen: 15–20 minutes
Time taken altogether: 4–18 hours
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