Hot Cross Buns

Easy peasy buns recipe

Ingredients

1. 450g bread flour
2. 50g castor sugar
3. 1 teaspn salt
4. 1 teaspn mixed spice
5. 4 teaspns dried yeast
6. 50g butter (room temperature cut into sml pieces)
7. 2 tablespoons dried milk
8. 190ml lukewarm water
9. 1egg beaten



Breadmaker pan

10. 150g mixed fruit

Add the ingredients in order as shown, I use a breadmaker
but by hand is fine just use nice large bowl.

Breadmaker goes on dough programme if by hand
give a good knead for about 20 minutes.

What you want to end up with
 is a lovely pliable dough.

Buns ready to rise

 

Dough

Divide into 12 equal balls place on
a well greased baking tin.


These need to rise in a nice warm  place (not too warm though)  til about double in size.

Piping tube

After rising time to add the cross on the top.
To make the cross mix 50g fat (margarine is fine) with 120g plain flour add a spoonful of water at a time until you end up with a sloppy mixture it should  fall of the spoon. This is easiest piped on I use a piping tube with a medium nozzle.

Piped and ready to bake

When piping  the buns just go
in one straight line across all of
them don't worry about going
 over any excess will come off
after baking.

Bake in a preheated oven 200c
10 minutes they should look just browned
and smell delicious. Whilst they are in the oven prepare the sugar glaze
to brush on. In a microwavable jug mix 2 tablespoons sugar with 2
tablespoons milk, heat in microwave just to dissolve sugar no more. As soon as they are out of oven
place on a cooling rack and brush with sugar glaze...leave to cool.

Then ENJOY!!!

Happy Easter
x

Baking...

Mr Dinosaur cake completed and one 4 year old very happy, this one was very challenging and time consuming not sure that me and novelty cakes are one but I will always give it a go.
He has a rich chocolate cake body and tail then I ran out of chocolate cake so legs and head are a madeira cake, covered with chocolate buttercream (that took longer than I thought). Rollout sugarpaste covered his whole body this was tricky with all the nooks and crannies with a bit of persuasion it worked, you have to make any indents,creases and marks then before icing dries. The spikes down his back where made in advance from a flowerpaste (which dries harder than the cake covering ideal for this sort of work). Once all is dry then its the shading and character building (using edible cake powder colours vaste ranges available and a small soft paint brush). Eyes and teeth piped on with royal icing.

Tested a Pretzel recipe out and really liked it so will be selling that at our Friday market I've worked them out to cost 80pence each which I think is fair. I think various toppings will go down well, Sea Salt, Cinnamon Sugar, Parmeson, Poppy Seeds are my choices so far. They are very chewy and delicious.
Pretzel Recipe


It's a good get out in the garden day today so this is just a coffee break, time to go.

Have a Lovely Day
x

9 inch square madeira

First one of the year it's not til I'm making a 'Celebration Cake' that I realise how much I love it.

Don't worry that's not the finished article, this is the just out the oven look. It took longer to bake than I thought nearly 2 hours.

More to follow you can watch it develop.