I love hot cross buns. I always have. It sort of bugs me that I only seem to eat them at Easter. I think I need to start a revolution and say it's OK to eat them anytime. They are sweet and savory and spicy and not and soft and tender and absolutely delicious.
OK, I combined some old and some new recipes and this is what I came up with. I've made it a couple of times and it keeps working and they are so wonderful. I think you need to make them now. You don't need a kitchen aid to make it but it makes it easier. If you don't have one, put it all in a bowl, mix till it's tiring then take the dough out and knead. I've made them by machine knead and I've done them by hand. They work either way. I am doing this as a drive by because it's a dump and run, truly, only one rise, how easy is THAT?
I will devour this batch and make another with better play by play pics but for now, this is the drive by recipe, you can do it!
DRIVE BY RECIPE: TRACY'S HOT CROSS BUNS
INGREDIENTS
Dry: dump in the bowl of a Kitchen aid mixer
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
(you'll need extra for adding if needed and for the bench when you form the balls
1 Tb yeast (you can also skimp and use a packet which is 2 1/4 tsp which is close enough)
2 TB sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon sugar (or plain cinnamon if that's all you have)
2 tsp mixed spice (recipe below)
1/4 cup currants (these are small raisins, I don't like bit raisins but if you do, have at it :) add more or less depending on how much you love/hate dried fruit
Wet: No need to mix these separately,
1 cup very warm tap water
1 TB butter
1 egg
splash vanilla (if you feel the need)
METHOD
Dump all the dry ingredients into the bowl of your Kitchen aid mixer or a large bowl. Mix to combine, add the wet ingredients, no need to premix...
Use dough hook and let it mix on medium until it's a smooth lovely dough. Add little bits of flour at a time, after 5 minutes if the dough needs it to clear the sides and become a smooth tender ball
Remove hook from dough in bowl, leave it there and cover with a plastic bag. Let it rest about 10 minutes.
Divide the dough in 12 equal balls and place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Spray the tops of the rolls, cover the whole thing with a gigantic plastic bag and leave to double. It should be about 1-2 hours.
Spray with milk or brush with milk. Add a cross if you want, I make a thin paste of water and flour and draw on with the side of a spoon.
Bake in a PREHEATED 375 oven for 20-30 minutes, spin half way through.
Remove to a rack immediately and leave to cool for as long as you can stand it.
ENJOY!
here's a few beauty shots. These are before they went into the oven
So I broke in to one, butter and golden syrup. Usually I toast them but that'll be later, I had to show you the crumb after a bite, it doesn't collapse into a goo, no, look at it! WOW! so tasty, fabulous crumb, are you running to make them yet?
MY MIXED SPICE RECIPE
1 TB of each of the following:
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Allspice
1 tsp of each of the following:
Cloves
Coriander
Ginger
2 tsp of
Mace
Combine all the spices in jar and mix, it lasts a really long time because you only need a little bit. Be sure to go to the bulk area to get the spices, you'll save a FORTUNE doing it that way.
Make these rolls, I'm dying to know what you think
/enjoy
tracy
