Method
- Pour your milk into a pan and warm it until it’s steaming.
- Mix your spices and baking ingredients – the flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger, sugar, nutmeg and yeast –into a bowl.
- Add butter to the mix and rub between your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the warmed milk, raisins and eggs, and combine with the mixture.
- Knead the mixture until it is smooth and springy to the touch, with an elasticity to it. This should take five to ten minutes.
- Transfer the dough into a bowl that has been lightly oiled and cover with cling film, leaving it to rise for an hour or two until it has doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and knead it on a floured surface.
- Split the dough evenly into 12 balls and place on a lined tray, with at least a centimetre gap between them.
- Lightly oil some cling film and cover the buns, leaving the dough to rise again while your oven preheats to 200°C, or 180°C if you’re using a fan oven.
- Once the oven is ready, whisk together some flour and 30ml of water and pipe it onto the buns to form the traditional crosses.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool fully, and then dig in! Top Tip: You can glaze the result of this homemade hot cross buns recipe with honey or jam to give them a real sticky, shiny look.
For the chocolate hot cross bun recipe:
- Sift cocoa powder into the bowl mixture along with your spices.
- During the kneading process, roughly stretch and flatten the dough before sprinkling chocolate chips over, then knead for a few more minutes until smooth.
There you have it! You now know how to make hot cross buns thanks to our hot cross buns recipe. Now you’re comfortable with how to bake these delicious treats, you can pick up the ingredients from your local SPAR.
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