Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns are spiced sweet buns, traditionally eaten on Good Friday in Great Britain, but now popular in several countries around the world.

Ingredients

Dough:

280 g flour
40 g granulated sugar
2 pinches salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
90 ml milk
65 g butter
4 g active dry yeast
1 egg
1 egg yolk
70 g currants

Egg wash:

1 egg white
1 tbsp water
1 pinch salt

Glaze:

75 g confectioners' sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preparation

Blend flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter over low heat, until the butter melts. Pour the liquid into the flour mixture, add the yeast, the egg and the egg yolk and knead until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms. Add the currants and knead until the currants are evenly distributed. Let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight.

Divide the dough into 9 balls, place on a lined baking sheet, about 1 cm apart. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until touching and doubled in size. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross into each bun.

Brush with the egg wash and bake for about 25 minutes in the oven, preheated to 190 °C. Whisk sugar and lemon juice together to form the icing. Let  the buns cool down, then draw with the icing a cross on each of the buns. 

Makes 9 Hot Cross Buns.