Tangwystl Cottage - check out my buns!

In my household, it is never too late to make Hot Cross Buns (sans crosses cause I'm lazy). Why deny yourself this tasty delight for most of the year?
To make them I use my trusty breadmaker (Panasonic Bread Bakery SD-253). It's done me well over the years. The recipe I use is the one listed in the book that came with the machine, with a few small adaptations.

Do you like the recipe book holder I improvised from a paper towel holder? lol
I have a bit of a farm animal theme going on in my kitchen.

So, to the recipe ...

• 3 tsp yeast
• 3.6 cups white flour (450 gm)
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 6 tbsp butter (75gm)
• 2 tbsp milk (or milk powder)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground allspice
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp citrus rind (lemon/orange)
• 3/4 cup sultanas
• 200ml water

most of the ingredients

Instead of putting the citrus and sultanas into the dispenser I add them directly to the dough as I've found it mixes them more thoroughly that way, but you can certainly play around with your breadmaker settings.
The most important thing is to remember that the yeast must go in first, and be covered by the flour so it isn't activated by the liquid ingredients too early on.

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So following the breadmaker instructions, I set the machine to its 'dough' setting and started it, which takes 2 hours 2 minutes.
Although, overall, the whole recipe process takes a good few hours (about 4) there is plenty of down time in between stages.

Once stage one was complete I left the dough to rise (still in the machine because I feel it is warm enough in there - and not in the rest of the house, lol) for about 30 minutes - this is a resting stage for the dough.

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The next part of the process is taking the dough and shaping it into bun-sized balls - I get about 10-12 out of the mixture.
I've found that placing the buns side-by-side (touching) means that once baked the sides remain soft and not hard like the top - but if you like a crusty bun you would want to keep a gap between each on the baking tray.
Once the dough balls have been set out on the baking tray, they need to be covered and left to rise for another 30 minutes (or until doubled in size).

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As I mentioned at the start, I am too lazy to do the crosses, but if you like them and want to have a go, now is the time to add them.
Instructions:

• Mix 1/2 cup of flour with 2 tbsp oil, then add enough water to make a stiff paste
• pipe into the shape of crosses (piping bag or plastic bag with corner cut off)

Now they are ready to bake in a preheated oven set at 200^oC for 15-20 minutes (or until golden brown). At this point, once pulled from the oven they could be brushed over with a glaze, but I've never bothered.
In case you want to, here are the instructions:

• boil together 3 tbsp milk and 3 tbsp castor sugar

For most of my baking and cooking I use a benchtop oven, so I find that I can often turn down both the time and the heat a notch or two. Adjust by experience.

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In this instance I had a nice new benchtop oven and a new tray to play with so I went for a sort of beehive look.


In my experience the buns are best eaten hot - halved and slathered either with just butter or butter & jam.
As there are no preservatives they are only fresh for a couple of days, although they can be popped back in the oven and reheated too.

I shall leave you with a little light entertainment to enhance your dining pleasure ...

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note: I ran out of ground allspice and found I'd bought a new packet of whole allspice so had to dust off a coffee & spice grinding machine I'd never used before. I took pics and will do a bit of a post on it separately. The machine didn't grind the spice into as fine a powder as I am used to buying so I suspect the next batch of buns will have a stronger flavour than usual.

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(extra tags: #baking #newzealand #recipe #howto #foodphotography)