ely hot cross buns recipe

Traditionally eaten on Good Friday we just love these sweet sticky Easter treats.

This recipe is the “go to” used by our pastry chef Yamila.
We thought we would share it with you.
Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Ingredients

  • 200 ml milk, plus a little extra for glazing
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 cloves
  • ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1 pinch of saffron
  • 450g strong white flour
  • 7g of fast action yeast
  • 100g cold butter
  • 50g golden caster sugar, plus 1 tsp extra for syrup
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 3 eggs
  • 150g currants
  • 50g mixed peel
  • 3 tsp plain flour
  1. Pour milk into a small pan. Squash the cardamom pods, then add it to the milk with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & saffron. Heat gently to a simmer, remove from heat & leave for an hour.
  2. Strain the mix, then gently reheat the milk until it is warm. Put the flour & yeast in a large bowl, grate in the butter & rub into the flour with your fingertips until well combined. Stir in sugar, salt & ginger, then make a well the middle of the flour.
  3. Lightly beat two eggs, pour these into the well with the milk. Stir together to make a soft, sticky dough, then tip out on to a lightly floured surface, knead for 10 min, until smooth & springy to the touch.
  4. Grease a large bowl & put the dough in. Cover & leave somewhere warm until it has roughly doubled in size (2 hours). Meanwhile line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
  5. Tip the risen dough on to a lightly greased work surface and knock out the air. Flatten it out, then scatter over the currants and peel, knead the dough again.
  6. Divide into 16 equal balls & arrange on the lined baking sheets. Score each one, cover & put in a warm place for 1 hour. Towards the end of this time, heat the oven to 200C / 390 F / Gas 6
  7. Mix the plain flour with a pinch of salt & enough water to make a stiff paste. Beat the remaining egg with a dash of milk. Brush the top of each dun, pipe lines of the paste over the cross scored on each bun.
  8. Bake the buns for about 25 min, until golden. Meanwhile, mix a tablespoon of caster sugar with a tablespoon of boiling water, to make a syrup. When the buns come out of the oven, paint the tops with the glaze, then transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature before eating.

Wishing you all a lovely Easter!