Hi everyone! Welcome back to Le Gourmet TV. Today we are going to be making a Hot Cross Bun recipe, a real seasonal favourite around our house. Something that makes an appearance every late winter, early spring. And with this recipe I am going to start weighing the ingredients. If you are serious about getting consistent results making bread, weighing really is the way to go. And it's not something which you should be afraid of, it's actually quite easy and you are going to find that your results get better almost immediately if you've always kind of measured them by cups and by tablespoons.

So we are going to get started on this recipe by getting the yeast blue. So first of, I am going to take the brown sugar from the recipe and I am going to place may be a but a quarter of that into a large bowl, putting our yeast. Then we have got some milk here that I have warmed, about blood-warm, so just a little over a 100 degrees fahrenheit and we put in just enough to get this going.

You don't want to use all of the milk at this stage. You just want to use not more than half, really. Just give that a little bit of stir and we are going to set this aside and it will take about ten minutes for the yeast to bloom. So kind of set that aside and you will see that it will start to froth up within the next couple of minutes and within ten minutes it will almost double in volume or in appearance it will double in volume.

Now if you are watching this on the Le Gourmet TV website, click on the video and a new window is going to open up, all the measurements are there, the recipe is there, everything. If you are watching this on one of the other video websites, click on over to www.legourmet.tv, everything you need to know is there.

So the next thing we are going to do is, we are just going to prep our flour a little bit. We have got some butter here and we want to mix the butter into the flour, crumble it in. Really, the best method that I have found to do that is with a food processor. Makes it really, really simple, you have got a good mix of the butter and flour. I am going to take about half of the flour and put it into this food processor. Put half, take your butter and put it into the food processor as well. Put the lid on and then I am just going to pulse it.

Okay. So we are ready to move on to the next step and I have got my stand mixture. I find that by using this to mix and knead, I get good consistent results every time and this is just a beautiful machine. So we are going to take our flour and butter mixture, put it into the mixing bowl. Got a little bit of salt, the remainder of the brown sugar. This is a spice mixture, it's cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove, all kind of ground together.

Again the full amounts are on the website. And I will just kind of quickly, just give that a just a little bit of stir just to kind of mix it in first and get a well in the centre and into the well, I am going to put one egg. And our yeast and milk mixture, just get that all in there. Smells like bread already. Okay, so this goes onto machine.

So for the first part, we are going to just going to put it on to stir, just to mix the ingredients together. So at this point before it's fully mixed together, you want to add your peel and your raisins.

So, this is where the rest of the milk comes in. You want to slowly add it in until the dough comes together in a ball. You don't want to add too much, because then the dough gets sloppy.

So, depending on where you live, the time of year it is, how humidity is outside, you may not need all of these milk. Some of you may actually need to use a little more milk. It's something that you just kept to learn it watch by eye. And if you do end up getting it too sloppy, you can cheat a little bit and add just a tiny little bit of flour back in; teaspoon at a time, it will come back to the right consistency.

So, now I have got a nice ball of dough, pulled away from the sides. I didn't end up using all the milk, so I just set that aside and at this point you turn it up and you let it knead for six minutes.

So our dough is now done kneading and at this point what you want to do is transfer it to another bowl where it can rest and rise.


Now, I have got this bowl buttered so that the dough doesn't stick to it and I am just going to pull it off of the hook, put that over there. You just want to, kind of, bring this into a bowl, nice good shape, pinch it underneath so that there is nothing. So that you can get a nice smooth top, really what you want to have happened here is you want to trap the gas inside the dough so that it arises.
So, into the bowl it goes. We'll cover it just with plastic wrap or damp tea towel, set it aside, until it's doubled in bulk. Depending on the temperature of your house, that could take anywhere from an hour to two hours. Some places, sometimes in the winter, two and-a-half hours.

Don't worry if it takes a little bit of extra time, you just want the yeast to work and let it grow. So at this point, our dough has doubled in bulk. What you want to do now is punch it down and get all the gas out and then turn it out on to a floured surface.
So, you don't really want to work it too much right now. You just want to, kind of, get it into a log shaped and cut it roughly in thirds and then take each of the thirds and cut them in half and then half again. What you want to end up with is twelve equal pieces.

Now, if you have got roughly equal pieces, you want to shape them into a bun. So, just, kind of, pull them down and fold them under, pull it down and fold it under. So, you get a nice smooth top and then just pinch it at the bottom and put the pinched side down on a cookie sheet. And just follow through and do all the rest.

So now that I got the buns formed on baking sheet, I am going to shift this aside, covered it with a damp tea towel or a plastic wrap and let it sit for about an half-an-hour. They are going to proof, they are going to expand a little bit and then we are ready for the next step.
So, I have allowed them to proof, about a half hour has gone by, they have risen again and filled in most of the gaps on the pan. At this point you take a really sharp knife and we cutting an X or a cross in the top of each bun. That's where the bun gets it's name from.

Now at that point, some people put a flour, sugar and the water mixture, making it into a paste and then pipe it into the X and bake it in. Other people put marzipan into the X after they have come out of the oven and they have been baked. I don't do either. I, kind of, just like the bun the way it is. So, if you want either of those two options, I've given them in the recipe. But, for my purposes, I just, kind of, cut cross on the top, bake them and enjoy them.
Once you got the crosses cut on the top, into a 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes until they are nicely golden brown on top.

So, straight out of the oven, while they are still hot, you want to brush your mixture of melted butter and sugar over top of the buns. Just give them a little bit of glaze. So, there you go, the hot cross bun.

Not as perfect and uniform as the ones that you might buy in the super market, but these far outstrip those in flavour. These are absolutely incredible and I dare you to make them and you have any left over the next morning. They usually don't last for a long in our household. But if they do make to the next morning, they are great, if you slice them in half, put them in a toaster oven, lightly brown them and then slather out some butter, breakfast of champions.

Well next to pumpkin pie, I suppose. So, I give this a try and I hope you enjoy them and I hope to see you back here again soon. Thanks a lot.