Hot Cross Buns

Oh, the smell of these when they come out of the oven, is like walking past the baking section in the supermarket, and they taste as good any shop bought!

Ingredients:

250ml Milk

60g Butter

500g Strong White Flour

1tsp Salt

4tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Nutmeg

1x7g Sachet Instant Yeast

50g Light Brown Sugar

150g Mixed Dried Fruit

1 Medium Egg (beaten)

For the Cross:

3tbsp Strong Flour

2tbsp Cold Water

For the Glaze:

Apricot Jam

To Make:

Warm the milk with the butter till just melted.

Put flour into mixing bowl with dough hook attached.

Add salt, mixed spice, nutmeg, yeast, sugar and dried fruit and mix together making sure there are no clumps.

Make a well in middle and add egg and buttery milk and mix till all combined.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, cover with bowl and leave to rest for 5 mins.

Knead again for another 5 mins till dough feels elastic.

Cover with cling film and leave in warm place for about an hour, till double in size.

Turn out and knead again for a minute, then divide into 12 equal portions.

Round each ball and place on greased tray, cover with cling film, and leave to rise again for another hour,

For crosses, mix flour with a little of the water at a time, until you have a smooth thick paste, place into piping bag, snip off end, and pipe a cross over each bun.

Bake in oven Gas 6, until golden brown.

Heat apricot jam then put through sieve, and brush buns with apricot glaze as soon as they come out of oven.

Cool on wire rack,

Enjoy!

Floured Baps

Lovely soft bread buns/baps

1lb Strong bread flour
7g sachet of fast acting dried yeast
1/2 pint lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Place all dried ingredients into large mixing bowl.

Using the dough hook, add warm water gradually to form soft dough.

Place on floured surface and knead until smooth, and place in bowl in a warm place with damp cloth over bowl till double in size ( roughly)

Remove dough from bowl and divide into 8 equal size portions.

With floured hand, cup each piece and make circular movement on bench until ball form.

Place these buns on greased tray in warm place, with damp cloth over again, for 30 minutes.

When risen, remove cloth and bake in oven middle/top shelf, Gas 7, aprox 15 minutes until tops start to colour.

To test if cooked inside, lift one and tap bottom, should have hollow sound.

Best served with real butter! yum!

Enjoy!