One of the youngest chefs on this year's Feastival line-up is 14 year old Kitty Tait who is part of The Orange Bakery. Kitty has kindly shared her Hot Cross Bun recipe with us so you can get in the Easter spirit this week! Follow this step-by-step recipe to make her delicious Hot Cross Buns:
Bun Ingredients:
- 500g bread flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 1x heaped tsp of salt
- 2x sachets of yeast (14 grams)
- 2x tsp of cinnamon
- 1x lemon
- 1x apple
- 1x egg
- 60g of unsalted butter
- 250ml of milk
- 200g of sultanas
- 1x tsp of garam masala (optional)
- 1x tsp of all spice (optional)
- 1x tea bag (optional)
- 1x kettle of hot water
Cross ingredients:
- 100g of flour
- 120ml of water
Glaze ingredients:
- 50g of marmalade
- 50ml of milk
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 200C - 220C.
- Measure out 250ml of milk and leave out of the fridge to warm to room temperature.
- Grate the whole apple, just leaving the core, in to a mixing bowl. Zest the lemon and add this in to the bowl with the apple. Stir these ingredients together.
- Melt 60g of butter in a pan or in the microwave. Leave to cool.
- Make a well in the middle of the bowl and crack your egg into it. Then add the cooled butter and room temperature milk. Next, either knead the mixture by hand for 7 minutes or use the beater attachment on a mixer to knead the mixture for 4 minutes. Once the bun mixture is smooth and slightly stretchy put it back in the bowl, place a damp tea towel or cling film over the top and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to prove.
- Whilst your mixture is proving place 200g of sultanas, 1 tsp of garam masala, 1 tea bag and 1 tsp of all spice in a new mixing bowl. Pour over enough hot water from your kettle to cover all of the sultanas. Soak for 10 mins - 1 hour until the sultanas have soaked up some of the liquid.
- Once ready, pour the sultanas into a sieve to drain all the remaining liquid out. If you used a tea bag remove this from the sultanas.
- Your bun dough should have risen a small amount by now, knock it back by punching it down and add the sultanas. You can either incorporate the sultanas by kneading them in, using the dough hook on your mixer or just diving in with your hands (Kitty's personal favourite!). Once the sultanas are fully mixed into the dough, cover it again with a damp tea towel or cling film and place in a cosy warm area. Prove for 1 - 2 hours.
- The dough should bounce back when prodded after the it's been proved. Tip the bun dough onto a floured surface and cut into 12 balls (roughly 100g each). Line a baking tray with baking parchment, place each ball quite close together, cover again with either a damp tea towel or cling film and prove one final time for 40-60 mins.
- Stir 100g of flour and 120ml of water together in a pot until smooth. Next pour the mixture into a pipping bag or plastic zip bag, cut a small hole in the corner and pipe a cross on top of each bun.
- Place the buns in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Once the buns are out and have cooled, place the marmalade and milk in a saucepan and heat until the mixture is nice and combined.
- With a brush, glaze each bun with the marmalade and milk mixture...and eat with a ton of butter! 😊
