English Hot Cross Buns Recipes

Steps:

• Heat milk in a small saucepan to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C); pour milk into a bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup flour and yeast into milk; cover with plastic wrap and let stand until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• Place 1 2/3 cups flour, 1/3 cup white sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg into the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment; turn mixer on for a few seconds on low speed to combine. Place butter into flour mixture; mix on low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
• Place yeast mixture and egg into flour mixture; mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Stop mixer and allow to rest for 10 minutes; mix on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. At slowest speed, mix currants and citron into dough until evenly distributed, about 1 minute.
• Butter the inside of a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turn to butter dough on all sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rough square, and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round bun; place on prepared baking sheet. Press a cross into each bun with the back of a knife; cover buns with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake buns in the preheated oven until deep golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Bring 2 tablespoons white sugar with 1 tablespoon water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove buns from oven; lift parchment and transfer buns to a wire rack. Brush immediately with sugar glaze; allow buns to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• Stir confectioners' sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons water together in a small bowl; heat icing mixture in microwave until smooth and warm to the touch, about 10 seconds. Place icing in a sandwich bag, snip off one corner of the bag, and pipe in a cross over fully cooled buns; allow icing to dry for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Combine yeast, water, and milk; stir well.
• Mix with, potatoes, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and raisins.
• Beat in flour by cups.
• Knead 5 minutes.
• Let rise 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch down and divide in half 5 times, for 32 pieces of dough.
• Fold the corners in to make balls.
• Snip a cross onto the top of each ball.
• Let rise for 40 minutes.
• Brush with egg yolk and water.
• Bake 20 minutes at 375.
• While the buns are baking, combine milk, sugar, and vanilla to make icing.
• When buns are cool, drizzle icing over cross.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water.
• Add milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, nutmeg and 3 cups of flour; beat until smooth.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
• Stir in the currants, raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl; turn once to grease top.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down; shape into 30 balls.
• Place on greased baking sheets.
• Cut a cross on top of each roll with a sharp knife.
• Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Beat water and egg yolk; brush over rolls.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks.
• For icing, combine sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth; drizzle over rolls.

Steps:

• Combine the water and milk in a medium saucepan and warm over low heat until about 100 degrees F (but no more than 110 degrees). Remove from heat and sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar and flour over the surface of the liquid. Set aside without stirring, until foamy and rising up the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
• Whisk the butter, egg yolk and vanilla into the yeast mixture.
• Whisk the flour, the remaining sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and stir in the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon to make a thick, shaggy, and slightly sticky dough. Stir in currants. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes. Shape into a ball.
• Brush the inside of a large bowl with butter. Put dough in bowl, turning to coat lightly with butter. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour 30 minutes. (If you have a marker, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time to help you keep track.)
• To form the rolls: Butter a 9 by 14-inch baking pan. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16 by 8 inches. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, about 2 ounces each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper. (If you don't have a scale, divide the dough in half lengthwise, then in half crosswise. Cut each of those four sections into 3 equal-sized rolls.)
• Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Remove the plastic wrap and brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg. Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls registers 190 degrees F, about 25 minutes.
• For the glaze: Stir together confectioners' sugar, milk, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Transfer icing to a zip bag or pastry bag, and make a small cut in the corner of the bag. Ice buns in a thick cross shape over the top of the warm buns.

Steps:

• Place currants in a small bowl. Heat rum until steaming in a small pan and pour over currants to soften them, about 2 hours. Drain; reserve liquid for another use.
• Whisk warm milk, 1/4 cup flour, and yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit about 15 minutes to ensure yeast is active; small bubbles should start to rise to the surface. Add sugar, beaten egg, lemon and orange zest, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, nutmeg, melted butter, and most of the remaining flour (you might not need it all). Mix with a dough hook attachment until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and becomes slightly elastic, 5 or 6 minutes. Continue kneading until dough is soft and shiny, about 10 minutes. Remove dough from dough hook and shape into a ball. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface.
• Flatten dough into a large oval about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle currants evenly over surface of dough. Fold dough into thirds. Turn and fold into thirds again. Reshape dough into a round ball. Transfer to lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover and let rise in a relatively warm, draft-free place until double in size, about 2 hours.
• Poke dough down a bit with your fingertips. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Flatten out dough into an even shape. Divide into 16 equal pieces using a bench scraper.
• Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
• Roll each piece of dough into a round ball. Arrange evenly on prepared baking sheet. Let rise 15 minutes.
• Mix 1/4 cup water and 1/3 cup flour together in a mixing bowl until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape but thin enough to pipe. Transfer mixture to a piping bag.
• After buns have risen 15 minutes, pipe a cross on top of each. Let rise until doubled from original dough balls, another 15 or 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Transfer pan to preheated oven. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons water in a pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to thicken, or until it reaches a temperature of 225 degrees F. Remove from heat.
• Let buns cool on a rack for 5 minutes before glazing. Brush glaze lightly over the tops of the buns.

Steps:

• Bring 300ml full-fat milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add 50g butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature. Put 500g strong bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 75g caster sugar and 7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add 1 beaten egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.
• Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size and a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.
• With the dough still in the bowl, tip in 75g sultanas, 50g mixed peel, zest of 1 orange, 1 finely chopped apple and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. Leave to rise for 1 hr more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.
• Divide the dough into 15 even pieces (about 75g per piece). Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover (but don't wrap) with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for 1 hr more.
• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix 75g plain flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross - add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses. Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown.
• Gently heat 3 tbsp apricot jam to melt, then sieve to get rid of any chunks. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.