Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
This recipe is can be suited to your tastes, so feel free to add different spices or add candied fruit peel. Change the soaking liquid for the fruit or don't soak them at all or sub the fruit for good quality chocolate bits. They don't look like the buns you buy from the supermarket, but I think that’s a good thing,
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE PREFERMENT
340 g full cream milk, plus extra for brushing
250 g strong white flour (I use organic stone-ground unbleached – it makes a big difference!)
1 tbsp 100% hydration sourdough starter
FOR THE FRUIT
150 g sultanas or a mix of sultanas and raisins
60 ml marsala
60 ml boiling water
FOR THE DOUGH
200 g strong white flour
50 g rye or wholemeal flour
8 g fine salt
70 g brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
75 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing
FOR THE CROSSES
50 g plain flour
50 g water
10 g olive oil
FOR THE GLAZE
50 g caster sugar
50 g water
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
METHOD
The night before you want to bake the buns, make the preferment. Mix the milk, flour and starter in a large bowl until smooth. Cover with a tea-towel and leave at room temperature overnight (approx 8- 12 hours).
. In the morning, your sponge should be visibly bubbly and grown by about 20%.
Soak the fruit in the marsala and boiling water. Set aside for 30 minutes and drain.
For the dough, add all of the dry ingredients to the sponge and mix well. Add the fruit and cooled melted butter. Knead in the bowl until well incorporated. Continue to knead for about 5 minutes. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Knead mixture again in the bowl for a few minutes. Cover bowl with a tea towel. I use a stand mixer with a dough hook as it makes the job really easy, but doing it by hand is fine too.
Now leave the dough to undergo the bulk fermentation for 3-4 hours. Every half an hour, lift and fold the dough in the bowl, turning the bowl 90 degrees after each fold. You should have lift and folded the dough onto itself four times each time. Be gentle in the last few hours as you want to avoid knocking out the air. If it's a warm day, this timing should be just right, however on a cooler day, you may need to leave the dough for longer, maybe turning every hour.
Divide dough into either 9 (approx 145g each) or 12 (approx 100g each) buns. Shape into buns and arrange in a tin, greased with butter or alternatively place them onto a tray lined with baking paper, a little spread out to allow for rising. Now you can either leave on the bench to prove for 2-3 hours or put in the fridge overnight and bake the next morning. If you leave them in the fridge overnight, allow them to sit at room temperature on the bench before baking.
Preheat oven to 200C.
For the crosses, mix the flour, water and oil in a small bowl. The mixture should be thick but have some viscosity so you can pipe it. Put into a piping bag with a small nozzle, or alternatively into a snap-lock bag and snip the end. Add more flour or water depending whether it needs to be looser or thicker.
Brush tops of buns with a little milk and pipe crosses onto the buns. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden and risen.
For the glaze, combine the sugar, water and cinnamon in a small pan and on a low heat, simmer until dissolved and slightly syrupy. It should only take around 30 seconds. Brush the hot buns with the syrup and serve warm, with butter, of course!
