Hot Cross Buns

Today is Good Friday (kindly note that we do not celebrate it), I baked these light & fluffy homemade buns for tea.  They are surprisingly easy to make and smell fragrant.  The following recipe yields 12 medium-sized buns and the ingredients many be halved to suit one's family.

Ingredients (yields 12 medium-sized buns):
600 g strong white bread flour or german flour type 550, to be sifted
55 g cold butter
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice, to be sifted
grated zest from one lemon
7 g dried yeast
80 g castor sugar
1 medium-size egg
325 to 330 ml fresh milk, to be gently warmed over low heat
100 g raisins
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp water
2-3 tbsp golden syrup or ahorn syrup for glaze, to be warmed gently

Method:
In a bowl, add flour, butter and mixed spice.  By using the tips of your fingers, rub butter into flour mixture to resemble breadcrumbs.  Add lemon zest, dried yeast and sugar.  Stir well.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.  Put on the kneading hook to your machine.  Add egg and knead for 1 minute before adding all the warm milk.  Knead over high speed for about 5 minutes or until the dough mixture leave the sides of the bowl.  Remove to a lightly greased (with butter) large bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave aside in a warm place for about 1 hour in order that the dough rises to double its volume.  In the meantime, add raisins to a sieve and run warm water over them. Drain and leave aside.

Transfer dough to a light floured worktop and knead in the raisins.  Return dough to mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave aside to rise for another 30 minutes.

Lightly grease a baking tray with butter.  Turn out dough on floured worktop and divide into 12 portions of about 106 g each.  Shape each portion into a ball and arrange on baking tray slightly apart. Cover with clean cloth and leave aside for another 45 minutes.

Preheat fan oven to a temperature of 200° C.  In a small bowl, mix together flour and water together to a smooth paste.  Transfer to a piping bag.  Cut the tip and pipe a cross on each bun.

Bake buns for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Once done, remove from oven and brush top with warm syrup immediately.

Serve warm or cold!  This is how the bun looks like when it is pulled apart.

Happy Baking!