There might be plenty of recipes for hot cross buns printed in cookbooks and posted online, but this one from western suburbs resident Julia Toffolon, who is the president at the CWA’s Werribee South, is sure to be a mouthwatering new favourite. She shares her fruity and flavourful recipe below.
Ingredients:
The buns:
4 cups plain flour
2x7g sachets dried yeast
1 & ½ cups of currants
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 & ½ tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
300ml milk
40g melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
The crosses:
½ cup plain flour
4-5 tbsp water
The glaze:
3/4 cup of water
2 tbsp caster sugar
Method:
Preheat fan forced oven to 200°celsius.
Mix dry ingredients, flour, yeast, currants, caster sugar, mixed spice and salt in a medium to large bowl. Set aside.
In a small saucepan add milk, and heat until lukewarm. Add 40g of melted butter and two eggs, lightly beaten. Mix well.
Pour milk mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
Turn out onto bench and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough back into the bowl and cover with cling wrap for an hour and a half or until the dough has doubled in size.
Take the dough out of the bowl and punch all the air out until it returns to original size, knead for about thirty seconds.
Divide the buns into 12 sections and shape the dough with your hands until they form a lovely bun.
Position them a centimetre apparent on an oven tray lined with baking paper, cover with cling wrap and set aside until doubled in size.
Gather ingredients to make the crosses.
Mix flour and water and spoon into a ziplock bag, snip the corner and pipe crosses onto the buns.
Cooking time:
Place the tray of buns into a pre-heated oven.
Bake for ten minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 180° celsius and bake for a further 15 minutes.
Give a little tap to the bottom of the bun, if it sounds hollow, it’s ready.
Mix glaze ingredients in a saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Boil for three to four minutes.
Brush the glaze over the warm cooked buns before devouring.
