hot cross buns

A few years ago, I bought several The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks from the local bookstore. There is a large variety of cookbooks from this series but I bought the ones relating to cakes, bread, biscuits, muffins, etc... essentially relating to tea-time snacks.

Over the years, I have from time to time tried the recipes in these cookbooks. They are easy to follow and most of the time, the end result is good. The times that the end result was not good were largely due to the fact that I took the initiative to modify the recipe but my modification did not turn out well.

When I started baking in 1985 or thereabouts, my mother's friend advised me that as a novice, I should follow the recipe closely until I know how to modify the recipe with success.

Here is another tip that my mother's friend gave me - when baking cakes, resist the temptation to open the door of the oven until after the cake is done. If you open the oven door halfway before the cake has finished rising, the cake can collapse. I am now able to gauge when to open the oven door before the cake is done if I need to do tenting (that is, place a piece of aluminium foil over the top of the cake to prevent the top from burning while letting the bottom of the cake continue its baking process).

This is my first attempt at baking hot cross buns for Easter. I have always shied away from baking hot cross buns because I had the impression (albeit mistaken) that the process is complicated.

This year, I was debating what to baking for the Easter weekend and I decided to flip through my "Muffins, Scones and Bread" cookbook from The Australian Women's Weekly. I came across a recipe for hot cross buns. The steps seemed simple enough, so I decided to give it a try. I omitted the jam glaze as I had run out of jam.

The recipe in this post is as per what is stated in the cookbook. However, I have included more instructions in the method to make it easier for those who are reading this recipe. These additional steps/tips are from my personal experience.

INGREDIENTS

4 tsp instant dry yeast

14 cup castor sugar

1 cup wam milk

4 cups plain flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

60g butter (softened)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup dried raisins

14 cup mixed peel

1 tbsp apricot jam - I omitted this because I had run out of jam but I would have included this had there been jam available on hand

Flour paste:

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tbsp castor sugar

1/3 cup water

METHOD

1. Combine the yeast, castor sugar and milk in a small bowl. Whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Cover the bowl and place the bowl in a warm place for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.

2. Sift the plain flour and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Rub in the butter using your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the yeast mixture, beaten egg,. water, raisins and mixed peel. Place the bowl in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Turn the dough onto a floured board. Using floured hands, knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. You should be able to pull and stretch the dough without the dough breaking.

4. Divide the dough into 16 portions and knead each portion into balls. Place the buns onto a 9" x 9" square cake pan that has been greased. Place the cake pan in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until the dough has risen to the top of the cake pan.

5. Prepare the flour paste by combining the flour and sugar in a small bowl and gradually blending in the water and stirring until smooth. Place the flour paste in a piping bag fitted with a small plain tube. (Alternatively, you can place the flour paste in a small plastic bag. Squeeze the paste into one corner of the plastic bag and make a small cut across the corner.) Pipe crosses onto the buns.

6. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. Thereafter, reduce the heat to 180 degrees celsius for bake for another 15 minutes.

7. Place the buns onto a wire rack and brush with warm sieved jam.