Paul Hollywood's Hot Cross Buns

I have had Paul Hollywood's How to Bake for ages but not baked anything from it. I did try his Chelsea Bun recipe when filling in my (sadly unsuccessful) application for the Bake Off but found that on the internet and it was the recipe that prompted me to buy his book. It being Easter, I decided to try a recipe for Hot Cross Buns. What better way to try out the book?

Chelsea Buns - a tried and tested Paul Hollywood recipe

The recipe is fairly straight forward but unlike other recipes, contains pieces of apple which Hollywood says enhances the taste and adds moisture.  The only adjustment I made (and always make to fruit based recipes) was to add 230g of mixed fruit, rather than 150g of sultanas and 80g of chopped mixed peel.  I can't stand peel  - although I noticed afterwards, as I bit into a bun that the mixed fruit I had chosen did contain bits of peel.  Mixed fruit bags often contain Cranberry, which I love but it can taste a bit Christmassy which you may not want at Easter

I have worked with enriched dough before, so I did expect this dough to be a little tricky to work with.  The stickiness of this type of dough can be difficult to work through and I forgot Paul's advice not to add extra flour - it did say to use a light dusting of flour for use during kneading but I used it several times and this may have altered the recipe slightly.  Also, Hollywood notes that you may not need all the liquid listed in the recipe and I wonder if I added a little too much, as the mixture was a bit wet

Working through the 'initial wet stage'

There are several stages of proving - this is not a recipe to whip up if you need quick results.  You will need a minimum of 4 hours to complete the buns, with at least 3 hours spent proving.  It also takes some time to work in the fruit after the first prove, as it needs to be evenly incorporated (one of the best things about a homemade hot cross bun is the quantity of fruit - yum!)

The final prove - all shapes and sizes!

After the final prove, it was time to add the crosses (just flour and water) before baking.  The recipe said to bake for 20 mins or until golden brown - luckily I checked mine after 10 mins, as they were already golden brown and felt cooked.  I had a little trouble getting them off the paper - next time I will use my silicone sheet which is tucked away somewhere in a draw.  The final stage, once they were on the cooling rack,  was adding the apricot glaze - just apricot jam heated with a little water.  This gave them a lovely shiny look and an extra sweet taste.

All shiny and pretty

The final result was yum!  Neither myself or Mr B are big Hot Cross Bun eaters, so we haven't got a huge repertoire to compare them with but the apple was a really nice addition. I thought they were perhaps a little dense (they were certainly a bit heavy in the cake tin!) which might have been a sign that I overworked the dough or added too much flour when kneading.  I have also been reliably informed by CraftyGuider that they can be a bit dense if you use old yeast or a bit too much spice.  Anyway, despite this, they got munched pretty quickly and with some careful toasting under the grill and a decent amount of butter, they were really delicious - well worth the 4 hours plus in the making.