(Not Really) Hot Cross Buns

How quickly times flies when you're having fun!!

I've reached the end of yet another holiday (though I think this one was much too short to be classified a holiday) but it's flown through without me noticing, and now it's been a week since Easter and I feel like it too late to post these! Then again, it feels like I only made these yesterday :)

Being Asian and all that, the only way we 'celebrate' Easter is with a couple of Easter eggs (but not Easter egg hunts!). To get into the spirit of things, I've always wanted to make hot cross buns.....but I can't stand the fruits and spices that go into them! But I wasn't going to let that stop me this year- so my solution is this: get rid of everything that I don't like and then bake them anyway! :)


This leaves only the sultanas, and as I used my normal fluffy bread recipe, these aren't strictly speaking hot cross buns- but they certainly look the part! To make things a tad more interesting, I put surprises in each of them (using whatever I could find in the fridge....like satay beef) but this didnt work out too well in my family as they decided they wanted to know what was in each one before they started eating. As I've said before- surprises don't work with my family!!!

Plain (Hot Cross) Buns Recipe

Dough Recipe from Corner Cafe
makes two trays of buns (i.e. 18 buns)

Dough
375g bread flour
100g plain flour
35g milk powder
75g caster sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 sachet (7g or 2 1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml (approx.) lukewarm water, adjust as necessary
40g butter, cubed

Roux
25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
125ml (1/2 cup) water

Flour Paste
4 Tbsp plain flour
1 Tbsp caster sugar
~5 Tbsp water

Glaze
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp honey

Optional
Approx 1 cup sultanas

1. To make the roux, mix together the flour and the water and heat over medium heat until it reaches 65 degrees celcius. Turn the heat off and leave to cool until lukewarm
2. To make the dough, mix together all the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle of the mixture. Add the egg and the water roux and mix. Add the water until a soft dough it formed and then knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (~10 min) Knead in the butter until it is incorporated. If making it in a breadmachine, put in all the water and dry ingredients and let it knead for a while. Add the water roux and let it knead, adding water or flour as necessary. Add the butter when the dough becomes smooth (~10minutes).
3. Place the dough in a warm spot to rise until double its size (~1 hour)
4. Divide the dough into 18 equal portions. If you're not putting in sultanas, then roll them into balls and divide into two square cake tins (my tin is ~20cmx20cm, but work with whatever tin you have!).Othewise, roll each into a long, thin rectangle (with the width a bit shorter than 1/3 of a square tin), sprinkle a handful of sultanas over them then roll up tightly before dividing amongst the tins.
5. For the flour paste, mix together all ingredients, adjusting water volume until a smooth thick paste is formed. You don't want the paste too thick or it'll be difficult to pipe. Transfer paste into a piping bag (or plastic bag with a small hole cut in the corner) and pipe crosses onto buns. Cover with cling wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until double in size
6. Preheat oven to 180oC. Mix the glaze ingredients together (the honey takes a while to incorporate), and brush lightly over buns before placing them in oven. Bake for ~10 minutes or until lightly brown, and brush again with another layer of glaze (this step is optional, but I do it to make my buns shinier) before putting back into oven and baking until gold brown ~5-10 minutes.