Hot Cross Buns

Last year I tried hot cross buffins, this year I kept it simple (or traditional, if that's misleading...) and made hot cross buns! They are best served warm (toasted or microwaved, depending on your preference) with a generous amount of butter, or honey, or whatever you put on your buns. I think we can all agree that these are better that store-brought, and you can choose to omit any weird fruit-stuff you don't like like glace cherries, for example. These make your house smell amazing as they cook :D

Hot cross buns
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 3 hours proving
Serves: 8
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Cooking temp: Gas 7, 220C

Ingredients:
150ml semi-skimmed milk
25g margarine or butter
250g strong wholemeal bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
37g caster sugar
Half a sachet of instant dried yeast
A small egg, beaten
75g jumbo raisins
25g mixed dried fruit pieces/peel such as apricot and orange
1 small apple (or half a larger one), peeled, cored and very finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
A bit of lemon juice
For the cross:
35g plain white flour, and more to dust
For the glaze:
2 tbsps apricot jam

Method:

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small pan (watch it carefully!! Mine exploded somewhat :D ) then remove from the heat and add the butter. Stir until melted.
2. Combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the milk mixture with the beaten egg and fold with a wooden spoon, then with your hands, to a very sticky dough.
3.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead to an elastic dough that stretches nice and smoothly, hopefully not so sticky any more. Place in an oiled bowl, covered with oiled clingfilm, in a warm place to prove for an hour. It should double in size and go puffy.
   
4. Meanwhile, combine all the fruits in a small bowl with the cinnamon and cover with a splash of lemon juice to stop the apple browning. After it's hour, tip this mixture  into the dough and knead until evenly distributed. Leave for another hour (!), after which it should grow to fill your bowl (depending on it's size, I guess...)
   
   
   
   
5. Divide into 8 equal pieces, 78g (ish, weigh your mix and divide by 8) each. Roll each ball over a lightly floured surface and space out well on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover lightly with oiled clingfilm again.
   
6. Preheat the oven and place the buns on top to prove for their last hour.
   

   

   So massive!!!!

7. In a bowl, combine the flour with water, adding it one table spoon at a time until you have a very thick paste you can just stir. (3-5 tbsps). Using a small-holed piping nozzle, pipe crosses across each bun - doing a line down all the buns one way and then repeating in the other direction.
   
   
   
   
8. After, cook for 20 minutes until golden-brown in the middle of your oven.
9. In their last 5 minutes, be heating up the jam until melted. Strain through a sieve to remove any chunks and pour into a small bowl. Using a cooking brush, liberally apply the warm jam to the buns as they come out the oven, then leave to cool on a metal wire rack.
   
   
   
   
10. Serve and enjoy - happy Easter!