Best Hot Cross Bun Recipe

This is the best hot cross bun recipe I have ever used and trust me I've tried many hot cross bun recipes.

Ingredients

270 g lukewarm water

5 tsp dried yeast

550 g bakers flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp wallabys bread improver

60 g raw sugar

2 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tsp ground nutmeg

40 g butter (softened)

250 g cranberries and white chocolate or fruit

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius - fan forced

Add the water, yeast, bakers flour, salt, milk powder, bread improves, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter to a bowl. Mix well until all has combined.

Kneed well for about 10 minutes. Flatten it out and then sprinkle your cranberries and white chocolate (or dried fruit) over it. Kneed again until all the cranberries and white chocolate has been incorporated.

Place the dough in a greased bowl with lid in a warm spot to rise for about 15 minutes or so. Your dough should double in size.

Knock the dough down, roll into a sausage shape and cut into portions.
One portion at a time, grab the sides of the dough and fold them under so you make a bun like shape.

Place these on a lined baking tray about 5cms apart and cover with a tea towel so they don't dry out while you shape the others into buns.

Once you have made all of them into bun shapes, lightly spray the dough buns (in hot climates) with water and place the tea towel over the top and pop them in the sun again to prove - for another 15 - 20minutes. They should almost double in size, if they haven't leave them there for a bit longer.

Now make your cross mixture which is 4TBSP water and 4 TBSP flour, mixed well until there are no lumps. Pop this into a 140ml Sinchies pouch ready for piping!

Once your buns have proved and your oven has come up to temperature. Using a knife make a cross imprint on each bun, pipe your cross mixture and pop them in the oven to bake for roughly 20 - 30minutes (until golden) - depending on your oven temperature