INGREDIENTS
Bun dough
600 g (4 cups) plain flour
14 g (2 sachets) dried yeast
80 g (⅓ cup) caster sugar
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt flakes
180 g (1 cup) currants
40 g butter
300 ml milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Flour paste
75 g (½ cup) plain flour
80 ml (⅓ cup) water
Glaze
140 g (⅔ cup) caster sugar
60 ml (¼ cup) water
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
To serve
Butter, jams and conserves
Miele accessories
METHOD
Bun dough
- Combine flour, yeast, sugar, spices, salt and currants in a large bowl.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, induction setting 5.
- Add the milk and heat for 1 minute, or until lukewarm, ideally the milk should be 37°C. Add warm milk mixture and eggs to flour mixture.
- In a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, mix the dough until it almost comes together, and then knead for 8 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for an additional 1 minute, or until dough is smooth.
- Place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place into oven on Prove yeast dough and prove for 30 minutes or until dough doubles in size.
- Punch dough down to its original size. Knead for 30 seconds on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 16 even portions and shape each portion into a ball.
- Place balls onto a round or rectangular baking tray, about 1 cm apart. Place into the oven on Prove yeast dough and prove for 30 minutes, or until buns double in size.
- Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses.
- Preheat the oven on Moisture Plus with Conventional at 175°C with 2 manual bursts of steam.
- Place the buns into the oven on shelf position 2, releasing a burst of steam immediately and a second burst at 10 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes, or until buns are cooked through.
Flour paste
- Mix the flour and water together in a small bowl until smooth, adding a little more water if paste is too thick.
- Spoon into a small snap-lock bag and snip off one corner to create a piping bag.
Glaze
- Place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to the boil on high heat, induction setting 8 for 2 minutes, then brush over the hot buns. Allow to cool.
Alternative flavour combinations
Apple and cinnamon
- Add ½ cup roughly chopped dried apples and zest of 1 lemon. Reduce the mixed spice to 1 tsp and increase cinnamon to 2 tsp.
Chocolate chip
- Add 2 tbsp cocoa powder to the mix and substitute choc chips for the dried fruit.
Date and walnut
- Remove the currants and add ¾ cup chopped dates and ⅓ cup chopped toasted walnuts.
Alternative appliance method
Oven without Moisture Plus
- Bake the hot cross buns by selecting Fan Plus at 180°C, prior to baking spritz some water over the top of the rolled buns, place on shelf level 2, and bake for 15 minutes.
Combi steam Pro oven
- Select Combi mode: Conventional 170°C + 35% moisture and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through. Place into the combi steam Pro oven on shelf level 1 in a 45 cm oven, or shelf level 2 in a 60 cm combi steam Pro oven.
Hints and tips
- You can make mini hot cross buns by dividing the dough into 32 and reducing the cooking time.
- Try baking the buns with your own sourdough starter in place of yeast.
- Mixed spice can be replaced with a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.