Hot Cross Buns

I cribbed this recipe from Virginia and she got it from here. It seemed like a lot of effort for 12 HCBs so I doubled it.

Shopping List

• 900 g white bread flour
• 100 g whole wheat flour
• 200 g mixed candied peel
• 200 g currants
• 100 g raisins
• 600 g milk
• 150 g unsalted butter
• 150 g brown sugar
• 50 g caster sugar
• 14 g salt
• 1 t all-spice
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t nutmeg
• 2 t cinnamon
• 475 g black tea
• 20 g brown spirit (whisky, rum, brandy etc.)
• Piping bag (or a small sandwich bag you can cut the corner off)
• Sourdough starter or instant yeast

Step 1: Early Morning

1. Make two cups of hot strong tea.
2. Soak the fruit in the tea and whisky:
   • 200 g mixed candied peel
   • 200 g currants
   • 100 g raisins
   • 475 g black tea
   • 20 g brown spirit
3. Mix your pre-ferment:
   • 600 g of warm milk
   • 50 g starter (you could probably use 1/2–1 tsp of instant yeast)
   • 500 g bread flour
4. Leave both for approximately 12 hours.

Step 2: Early Evening

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl:
   • 400 g bread flour
   • 100 g whole wheat flour
   • 14 g salt
   • 150 g brown sugar
   • 1 t all-spice
   • 1 t ground ginger
   • 1 t nutmeg
   • 2 t cinnamon
2. Add the 150 g unsalted butter cut into small cubes and rub it into the mix until you have a breadcrumb-like consistency and there are no lumps of butter.
3. Add the pre-ferment and 80g of room temperature water then combine.
4. Let sit for 15 minutes then knead (or slap and fold) for 5 or so minutes.
5. Drain the liquid from the fruit and mix it in.
6. Turn/fold the dough every hour for the next three to four hours.

Step 3: Late Evening

1. Divide the dough into 24 equal sized lumps: Weigh the bowl with the dough. Then, after dumping the dough on the bench, weigh the empty bowl and subtract it from the total. Divide the result by 24. Should be about 110 g.
2. Shape each bun and place on a baking tray, lightly brushed with oil. Shaping dough with so much fruit is difficult but hot cross buns are fairly dense—don’t worry too much about degassing and focus more on getting a smooth surface.
3. Cover with a tea towel and retard in the fridge over night or for about 4 hours at 20c.

Step 4: Baking (The Next Morning)

1. Heat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Make the cross mixture and put it in the piping bag:
   • 10 g olive oil
   • 50 g water
   • 50 g flour
3. Brush the buns with milk.
4. Pipe on the crosses.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.
6. Make a simple syrup to brush on the buns:
   • 50 g caster sugar
   • 50 g hot water
7. Pull the buns out of the oven and brush with simple syrup.