What’s Easter without Hot Cross Buns? There’s truly nothing better than the smell of freshly baked buns filling the home, and the immense joy of eating them with a generous spread of butter.
Our hot cross bun recipe is a breeze to prepare and make. Plus, it can be a fun time for the whole family – the little ones can draw crosses on the buns, while the adults handle the cooking.
If you’ve got a NEFF oven, then the Dough Prove setting makes this step a lot easier. And when you bake your hot cross buns with the Circo Therm® setting, you’ll have perfectly golden and tasty buns with a light and fluffy inside.
Ingredients
500 g plain flour
300 ml water
7 g yeast
100 g mixed fruit
50 g currants
50 g dates
40 g mixed peel
100 g brown sugar
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground star anise
3 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp salt
For the cross
75 g plain flour
50 g water, approximately
Method
Place all the dry ingredients with the water and oil into a mixer and knead with a dough hook on medium speed for 5-10 minutes. Add all of the fruit and mix for another minute on medium.
Remove the dough from the mixer. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for a further 2 minutes until all the fruit is evenly spread through the dough. Spray the inside of a medium plastic or stainless steel bowl with oil and then add the dough.
Place the bowl in the oven, select Dough Prove and adjust the time to 45 minutes. Prove dough for time or until it has doubled in size.
While dough is proving make the paste for the crosses. Mix the plain flour and enough water to make a paste, then place into a piping bag.
Line universal tray with baking paper. Once the dough has proved, knock the air out of the dough. Cut dough into 10-12 portions, shape into buns and place on the prepared tray. Pipe on the crosses.
Select the Dough Prove function and prove for another 30 minutes. When the time has finished leave the buns in the oven. Change the function to CircoTherm® at 200⁰C and cook the buns for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Once cooked remove the buns from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
Notes
Dough should be a little sticky when kneading to ensure a soft and fluffy hot cross bun.
Credit: The Neff Kitchen.com.au
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