Hot Cross Buns

Little Jim's legendary hot cross buns - or you could leave out the crosses and call them sticky buns.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs strong flour. (bread flour.)
• packet of dried yeast. ( the easy blend type that you don't have to add to warm water first.)
• 3/4 pint of warm water. ( I heat mine in the microwave for 1 minute 30 secs.)
• 4 oz soft brown sugar.
• Salt 1/2 teaspoon.
• Mixed spice to taste. ( we use a lot)
• 3 oz butter.
• 7 oz mixed dried fruit.

Instructions:

I use a flour and water paste to make the crosses, which I pipe on using a plastic bag with the corner cut off. I also make them sweet and sticky by brushing the hot buns with a mixture of milk boiled with white sugar. Not much milk and quite a lot of sugar.

Warm your flour in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the mixed spice. Rub in the butter. Add the yeast to the dry ingredients. Mix the sugar with the warm water and pour into a well in the centre of the dry mixture. I usually use a wooden spoon or a large palette knife at this point. Add the dried fruit and turn the dough on to a floured surface. Knead it thoroughly, trying to stop the currants and sultanas popping out all over the place! When you feel that the texture is right and your hands are clear of the dough ( the books say after 10 minutes of kneading but it depends on how good a kneader you are) put the mixture back into the bowl and cover with cling film and leave in a warm place. The dough should about double in size before you go on to next part. Knock back the dough to get some of the air out of it. Divide it into bun sized round shapes, it should make about 15, but it does depend on how large you like them. Place them on a greased baking tray, not too close together, but if they touch each other after their second rise it does not matter. Make up your cross mixture to make a thick paste that will pipe but hold its shape, put into a small plastic bag and then snip off the corner of the bag. Pipe on the crosses. Leave to rise again, until they are the size that you want them to be. They won't rise anymore in the oven, because the heat kills the yeast. The oven must be very hot , 200 C at least. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until they look right, slightly brown. Meanwhile make up your glazing mixture and brush it onto your buns whilst they are hot. Don't forget that these are Hot Cross Buns and should always be eaten hot. If you reheat them they might need more glaze on them. They warm up in the microwave very well.

Sorry there are so many instructions for this one, but it isn't a written recipe only one that I have adapted to changing ingredients and domestic appliances over 30 years.