Seriously Rustic Hot Cross Buns

As it is almost Easter I thought I'd give the EDC HCB a crack!!
I must admit that, while I love baking, I'm not extremely good at it. The flavors are always beautiful (thanks to the beast) but for me, it doesn't always look as good as it should, I'm somewhat of a slap dash cook so baking is not my forte!!
I like to think of myself as a 'rustic' baker, which is why most of my baking efforts require the word 'rustic' in it's title to prepare people for it's dodgy looks!!

Anyway, I just followed the EDC recipe with a few adjustments to suit my pantry.

There are quite a few ingredients so I'll give an ingredient list so you can make sure you have everything you need!!

20g citrus peel or glazed peel
250g warm milk
500g bakers flour
2 tsp salt
70g butter
45g sugar
1 egg
20g fresh yeast or 2 sachets of dry yeast (15g)
1 1/2 tsp each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
100g sultanas
70g currants or dried cranberries
(I used about 220g mixed fruit, included mixed glazed peel, sultanas, glace cherries, and omitted the citrus peel and other fruits)


The fruit mix I used as it was in the cupboard already.

So first, if using, pulverize the peel for 10sec/sp10, remove and set aside.

Heat milk for 50sec/90° C/sp1.
Add all remaining ingredients except the currants and sultanas and mix 6sec/sp7.
Knead 3min/Interval sp (wheat symbol)

Add fruit and mix 10 sec/sp 5 (I mixed mine for a bit longer on 'reverse' as I didn't want my fruit to be cut any more)





Wrap the dough in your thermomat or in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a tea towel or glad wrap and set aside for a couple of hours, until the dough has risen and at least doubled in size.


When the dough is ready, roll into a long sausage and cut into 8-10 small pieces and roll into balls, place them closely together on your thermomat or on a baking paper lined tray and leave to rise for about 15 mins.


Preheat oven to about 220°C, (this is what the recipe says, but I thought my buns were a bit dark on the outside and still a bit under cooked on the inside, so I would preheat to 180-200°C next time) but it just depends on your oven.


Make the piping mixture while you wait. This includes 80g plain flour, pinch of salt, 1tsp light olive oil and 100g water, pop it all in and buzz it for 30sec/sp4.





The mixture needs to be quite thick, mine was a bit runny (but it looked rustic, right!!!). I poured the mix into a snap lock bag and then snipped the corner off to create a simple piping bag, but any plastic bag with a corner will work, or use a proper piping bag if you feel like cleaning it after.

Pipe the mixture on top of the buns and pop them in the oven for approx 15-20 mins.


When they are almost cooked, make the sugar syrup using 2 tblsp each of sugar and water and cook for 2min/100°C/sp4.
Brush the tops of the buns when they are still hot from the oven, and voila, the buns are done!!!


My motley crew of Hot Cross Buns!! Hmmm...rustic!! Slightly burnt and the big hunka chunka one is probably not cooked all the way through, but I'll let someone else discover that, hehe!!

These can be turned into a pull-apart loaf by mixing only half the fruit in, and after it's first rise, roll the dough to about 1cm thick, sprinkle with fruit and cut into slices, one long slice down the middle and then slice it up in 2-3 cm strips which are then concertina'd back and forth and placed on the side in a spring form tin and left to rise for about half an hour before baking. It is also bloody delicious served with honey butter, made in the thermo of course!!

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