One of my favourite things to do over the Easter long weekend is make Hot Cross Buns. For as long as I can remember I loved cooking with yeast. In fact this love of yeast had a huge influence on my choice of study at uni and indeed my choice of PhD topic! I still make my own bread on special occasions and love making buns.
Cooking with yeast is easy but I think some people are scared to try. I remember a few years ago listening to some people on the radio speaking with awe about someone who had made their own Hot Cross Buns. These people were talking about it as though it was this impossible thing to do. But it is quite the opposite!
So I am writing my favourite recipe for you to enjoy and see how easy it really is. This is from my Mum’s Recipe Book. However, I have adapted it to the Thermomix and will include those instructions too.
Just a note: This recipe is definitely not gluten free or sugar free or fat free!
What you will need:
For the Buns
1 cup of scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup of sugar
1 level teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of dry yeast
1 well beaten egg
2 level teaspoons mixed spice
3/4 cup of chopped raisins or sultanas
3-4 cups bread flour
For the Glaze
1/4 teaspoon of gelatin
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
Method:
Mix the first four ingredients in a large bowl and leave to cool until lukewarm.
Add in the yeast, beaten eggs, spices, raisins and flour.
Mix in well until a dough is formed. Brush the top with the melted butter, cover and allow to rise in a warm place. Let it rise until it is double the bulk. This should take 1-1.5 hours.
Turn the oven on to heat to 190-200 C.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead well.
Shape small pieces into individual buns. Knead each one and place onto a greased baking tray.
Cut a cross with the scissors on the top of each bun.
Put aside in a warm place to rise for about 20 minutes.
Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. They should sound hollow then the top of the bun is tapped.
When the buns are almost cooked, heat the water, gelatin and sugar together until the water starts to boil. When the sugar and gelatin have dissolved remove from the heat. This will only take a few minutes. Make sure you turn the heat down when the mixture starts to boil.
Brush the glaze over the top.
Allow to cool before eating.
Thermomix Adaptations
Heat milk and yeast in the bowl for 1 min on Speed 1 at 37 C.
Add flour, salt, spices, eggs and butter. Mix 6 secs on Speed 7 and then Knead 2-3 mins on Dough Mode.
Add fruit and combine 10 sec, Reverse Speed.
Transfer dough to ThermoMat and allow to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.
Make into buns following the instructions above.
If you would prefer to use a flour paste to make the crosses on the buns you can make this in the Thermomix as follows:
Place 80 g plain flour, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 100 g water into the bowl and mix for 30 secs on Speed 4. Use a piping bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off to pipe the crosses onto the buns.
To make the glaze in the Thermomix place 2 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar into the bowl and cook for 2 mins at 100 C on Speed 4. Brush over the buns just out of the oven.
Enjoy – but be warned it is hard to say no to a second one so make sure you share them around!
We hope you will also join us at Helpful by Nature by subscribing to our email list. We would love to hear from you, take your questions and provide answers if we are able.
Until next time,
Gillian (and Andrew)
