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5 from 1 vote
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Ingredients
  

For the dough

  • 500 g strong white bread flour
  • 10 g instant dry yeast/quick yeast
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 2 tsp mixed spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 large egg
  • 50 g soft unsalted butter
  • 350 ml water at room temp
  • 100 g mixed peel
  • 100 g currants
  • 100 g sultanas
  • Extra flour for kneading

For the cross

  • 75 g plain flour
  • 25 g vegetable oil
  • 75 ml water, room temp
  • 4 Tbsp Apricot Jam to glaze

Instructions
 

  • Add the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, mixed spice and cinnamon to the bowl of the mixer and stir together.
  • Add the egg, butter and water to the bowl and turn the mixer on to the lowest speed till the dough comes together.
  • Once the dough has come together you can turn the mixer up to a medium speed and mix for 10-15 minutes. Cupcake Jemma advises that within that you turn the mixer off every couple of minutes or so to rest for 30 seconds, which apparently relaxes the gluten. You will know you have mixed the dough enough when it starts to come away from the sides of the bowl as it is mixing. See photos for what that looks like.
  • Add in the dried fruit and mixed peel and turn the mixer onto a medium low to combine for a few minutes. It will take a minute to get the fruit evenly worked through but be patient, it will happen.
  • Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour till it has doubled in size.
  • Your dough should be doubled in size now.
  • Knock the dough back. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it in on itself for about 30 seconds to knock the air out of it.
  • Put the dough back into the bowl and leave to proof for another 30 mins in the warm place.

Assembling the buns (have your baking tray lined with baking paper at the ready)

  • Once the dough has proved tip it out onto a floured surface again. Now is the time to divide it into the 12 buns. You can do this by eye or if you want to I followed Cupcake Jemma’s tip to weight out 100g per bun (note this did leave a little excess dough). I used a dough cutter to cut off the lumps of dough but a knife or even your hands will also work.
  • With each lump of dough you want to form a ball by tucking the dough in on itself underneath and then gently rolling it on table. So the edges of the dough keep being nudged under with your finger tips and then cupping your hand over gently roll. If any fruit is fully exposed on the surface pick it out as it will burn in the oven otherwise.
  • As you make each bun arrange them on the lined baking tray with a cm or two between each one. Then very loosely cover with clingfilm and rest for 20 mins a warm place to rise. After the rise the dough will spring back when lightly touched and have risen so buns are touching or almost touching (see picture).
  • While the buns are rising preheat your oven to 190 degrees C (170 fan) and make the paste for the cross decoration. To do this mix together the flour, oil and water in a small bowl until smooth. Then put this is a piping bag ready to decorate.
  • When the buns have risen its time to decorate. For the cross, cut off the tip of the piping bag to give approximately half a cm diameter hole at the end (or use a small circular nozzle if you prefer). As the buns cook the cross lines will expand so however wide you want your cross to be pipe a line a little thinner than that. If you look at the before and after photos of my hot cross buns you will get an idea.
  • The technique I used for piping the crosses was to pipe the horizontal line across the whole row of buns in one go and then same in the other direction for the vertical line. .
  • Bake the hot cross buns for 20-25 mins until golden brown
  • While the buns are baking warm the apricot jam in a small pan until runny. Then when the buns are out of the oven and still warm brush them with the jam to give a nice shiny glaze.
  • Enjoy warm with lashings of butter.

Video