Hot Cross Buns are traditional Easter fare in England. Usually, we just buy them from the supermarket, but as I had plenty of time to spare I decided to make my own this year.

The nicest thing about making your own Hot Cross Buns, is that you can pick and choose the fruit mixture and flavourings as you choose… I’ve seen Hot Cross Buns flavoured with tropical fruits and with lemon (seriously large amounts of lemon, so much as to obscure the vine fruits), so it was a relief to find a sensible recipe in Linda Collister’s “bread – from ciabatta to rye”.

Making the buns was pretty straightforward. The dough took a lot longer to rise than I expected, but did eventually get there after I took emergency measures (wrapping the bowl in a hot towel and turning the heating on works wonders!). The dough itself took much less milk than the recipe required. I only needed to use two-thirds of the milk stipulated to make a nice soft dough. Of course, the amount of liquid needed depends on your flour and conditions on the day, but still… I think there may have been an error in the recipe there!

I’d advise putting a tea towel under your cooling rack before glazing the buns. As you can see from the picture, they will drip dramatically (the glaze is very liquid, not thick at all) and it saves on cleanup. I was surprised at how dramatically the glaze changed the look of the buns. They looked rather boring pre glazing, and with a few brushes of glaze they suddenly transformed into buns that both smelled good and looked good!

Tastewise, I give these buns full marks. They are indeed very spicy and also pretty rich too. There is just the right amount of dried fruit present and ohhhh! They’re just very, very yummy! Dave and I munched our way through several warm buns with butter yesterday afternoon and we’ll toast some of the remainder later on.

Extra Spicy Hot Cross Buns – Linda Collister, Bread

makes 12

450g unbleached strong white bread flour
50g stoneground wholemeal bread flour
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
50g unsalted butter, diced
60g currants
25g sultanas
25g finely chopped mixed peel
7g sachet easyblend (fast action) dried yeast
250ml tepid milk
1 large egg, beaten

pastry cross
60g plain flour
30g unsalted butter, diced
2 teaspoons caster sugar

to glaze
4 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons caster sugar

2 baking sheets greased

Put the flours, yeast, sugar, salt and spices in a large bowl and mix well.

Add the diced butter and rub into the flour using the tips of your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.

Mix in the dried fruit and mixed peel, then make a well in the centre of the mixture.

Add the beaten egg to the well and approximately half the milk. Gradually draw in the flour to make a soft but not sticky dough. Add more milk if necessary (I had approximately 70ml of milk left over), or extra flour (a tablespoon at a time) if the dough is too sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead throughly for 10 minutes.

Return the dough to the bowl and then put the bowl into a large plastic bag and inflate slightly, or cover the bowl with clingfilm. Let rise in a warm spot in the kitchen until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the risen dough a couple of times to deflate.

Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each into a neat ball and set well apart on the greased sheets. Slip the sheets into large plastic bags and inflate slightly or cover with a slightly damp teatowel and let rise as before until doubled in size, 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C /400F / Gas Mark 6.

To make the pastry for the cross, put the flour, butter and sugar into a small bowl and rub the butter into the flour with the tips of your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons cold water to make a firm dough. Roll out the dough on a floured work surgace to about 3mm thick, then cut into strips about 10cm long and 5mm wide. (I made my strips about 1cm wide as 5mm, just looked too skinny.)

Uncover the risen buns, brush the pastry strips with a little water to dampen, then arrange, sticky side down, in a cross on top of the buns.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Meanwhile, to prepare the sticky glaze, heat the milk and sugar in a small pan until dissolved, then boil for 1 minute until syrupy.

As soon as the buns are cooked, lift them out onto a cooling rack and brush immediately with the hot glaze. (Place a tea towel under the rack to catch the drips!!)

Eat warm or toasted, or freeze for up to 1 month.