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Bread Ahead Bakery’s Hot Cross Buns

 Liked by  4 people

Prep

3 HR

Bake

15 mins

Serves

8

Difficulty

Medium

About

Bread Ahead, the infamous bakery known to many Londoners has graced us with their classic Hot Cross Bun Recipe. They only produce them for one month over the Easter period but we won't blame you if these become an all year round bake after trying!

made using

Light Brown Soft

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Instructions
Ingredients
Reviews
Step 1

Place the flour, salt sugar and butter into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter to form a sandy consistency.

Step 2

Mix the yeast and milk together until the yeast has dissolved, then add to the dry ingredients. Use your hand or a dough scraper to bring the ingredients together into a rough dough. Ensure all of the ingredients have come together, there should be no pockets of flour or butter left.

Step 3

Place the dough on the work surface and knead. Hold onto the dough with one hand and with the other hand stretch and fold for around 5 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.

Step 4

Stretch out the dough into a pizza shape and add your fruit combination and spices in the centre, fold over into a Cornish pasty shape covering your fruit.

Step 5

Gently start to roll and fold the dough until the fruits are evenly distributed. Once distributed, place the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth/plate or shower cap and leave at room temperature for one hour or until doubled in size.

Step 6

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Step 7

Once proved, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 65g pieces.

Step 8

Roll each one into a smooth ball and place on the baking tray, leave plenty of room as they will spread out. Cover with a damp cloth and leave at room temperature to double in size.

Step 9

While the buns are proving, make the cross mixture and the glaze.

Step 10

Mix together the flour, salt and 120g water until you have a smooth paste, pour into a piping bag with a 4mm plain nozzle.

Step 11

In a small pan place the sugar, lemon juice and 80g water, bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar or about 5 minutes.

Step 12

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180ºC/Gas 5.

Step 13

Once the buns have proved, pipe a cross on the top of each one and bake for 16 minutes, until golden brown.

Step 14

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. After 2 minutes, brush with the bun glaze.

Step 15

Serve warm with plenty of butter.

Ingredients – 10 items

Serving

1

For the buns

Flour

strong white bread flour

250 g
Salt-table

Salt

3 g
Fairtrade Golden Caster

Fairtrade Tate & Lyle Golden Caster Cane Sugar

40 g
Butter

Cold butter, unsalted

30 g
Yeast

Easy-bake yeast

8 g
Milk

Milk

150 g

Mixed spice

2 g
Nutmeg

Nutmeg

3 g
Currants

Sultanas

40 g

Mixed peel

25 g

For the cross

Flour

strong white bread flour

100 g
Water

Water

120 g
Salt

Pinch of fine sea salt

1

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Ingredients

2 Large Oranges
225ml Olive Oil
200g Ground Almonds
120g Polenta
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 Large Eggs
200g Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar
Semi Dried Oranges Slices 
Scented Thyme Leaves

Method

Peel one of the oranges removing the pith and chop finely, place in a bowl with the juice, to one side.
Heat the oven to 180c/160c Fan/Gas Mark 4.
Mix the almonds, polenta, baking powder in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, gradually pour in the olive oil once incorporated fold in the finely chopped orange, mix well and add the dry ingredients.
Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined 23cm round tin. Bake for approx. 55 minutes, use a skewer to test whether the cake is cooked, it should come out clean if it is, if not cook for a further 5-10 minutes.
Cool on a cooling rack.
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Allow to cool and decorate the cooled cake with the slices and some thyme sprigs.
There's a reason Tate & Lyle is Trusted By The Best. 

Because we're the high-quality cane sugar you can always count on, no matter what the recipe calls for!

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