Hot Cross Buns!

Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

Every time I think hot cross buns, I am reminded of this nursery rhyme.Well, I have never tasted them or seen them until I peeked into this book my friend Dhanu gifted me. It had hot cross buns recipe which got me very excited. I wanted to taste them for the nursery rhyme sakes.The photos in the Home Baking book looked mouth watering. I changed the recipe a bit and substituted all purpose flour and whole wheat white flour for bread flour as my pantry was not stocked with bread flour. When the buns came out of the oven they looked and tasted good.To me it tasted like raisin cinnamon bread. What my daughter and I liked most in the bun was the cross on top. Its texture was so flaky and buttery.This is my entry to Tangerine Kitchen's Bread Baking Day:Bread Buns Event, Yeast spotting Event hosted by Wild Yeast and BangalorBaker's Baked Foods Event.

Gadgets:

Cookie baking tray

Bowls

Dough hook attached electric mixer or use your hands

Spatula

Pastry brush

Cutting board

Lemon zester

Ingredients: Makes 12 hot cross buns:

Dry Ingredients:

Whole Wheat White Flour - 2 cups

All Purpose Flour - 2

Salt - 1/2 tsp

All Spice Powder - 2 tsp

Nutmeg Powder - 1 tsp

Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp

Active Dry Yeast - 2 1/2 tsp

Browned Cane Sugar - 1/2 cup

Zest of lemon - 1 whole lemon

Currants - 1 cup

Candied fruit - 1/2 cup

Wet Ingredients:

Egg - 1

Milk - 1 cup

Butter - 6 tbsp

Oil -1 tbsp

Cross Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 6 tbsp

Butter - 2 tbsp

Cold Water - 1 tbsp

Glaze Ingredients:

Milk - 3 tbsp

Browned Cane sugar - 3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. In a big bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well to mix the spices well.

2. Melt the butter, warm the milk to room temperature. Mix this together and add eggs and beat well. Add to dry ingredients.

3. Attach a dough hook to the electric mixer and knead the dough for 5 minutes.

4. Place in a oiled bowl cover and allow for the double itself. About 2 hrs.

5. Transfer the dough into a work surface, divide the dough into 12 parts and shape them into balls.

6. Make the cross dough by mixing the ingredients. Divide them into 4 parts. Roll each into a rope and make crosses over the buns.

7. Mix the glaze mixture and brush the buns and crosses and place in an oiled cookie tray and bake at 435 degree for 15-20 minutes. The top of the buns must be brown. If you have not achieved brush the buns with the glaze again and put it back for a minute or two in the oven. That should do the trick. Enjoy hot cross buns with butter or jam/jelly.