Earl Grey Hot Cross Buns

As a Good Friday tradition, we all need to eat a good Hot Cross Buns.

I made the traditional ones last year, so this year, I wanted to attempt to play around with flavours.

Having tried Heston's Early Grey and Mandarin hot cross buns from Waitrose, I decided to try out Earl Grey flavour.

Earl Grey Hot Cross Buns

(makes 8 big ones)

2 Earl Grey tea bags (I used loose tea leaves, approx 3 tsp)

150ml boiling water

150g raisins and mixed dried fruits

500g Strong White flour

2 tsp dried yeast

2 tsp mixed spices (1 extra tsp ground cinnamon for those cinnamon lovers!)

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp marmalade

100ml milk

50g unsalted butter

1 egg

Milk to glaze

1) Make the tea (adding boiling water to tea bags or loose leaves)

2) Add the raisins and dried fruits into the tea, and let it infuse and do its job for at least an hour (preferably overnight if you have time)

For the bread dough:

1)Place milk and butter into a saucepan and put on a low heat just until the milk starts to bubble, remove from heat and let it cool

2) Mix flour, yeast, mixed spices, salt, marmalade

3) Add the soaked dried fruits, remaining tea, cooled milk and butter mixture into the dry ingredients, then add egg

4) Form a dough (if too wet, add more flour; if too dry, add more milk)

5) Knead the dough for a good 15 minutes

6) Place the dough into an oiled large bowl and cover it with cling film and let it sit for 2 hours (I like to leave it overnight)

7) Knock back the air from the dough, knead for another 3-5 minutes

8) Divide the dough into 8 portions, roll them into a ball

9) Place them onto a baking sheet, and let them sit and prove themselves for the second time (approx 30-40 minutes will do)

10) Preheat oven to 200°C

11) Glaze the the buns with some milk

To make the cross:

Mix plain flour with tepid water to form a paste

Place the mixture into piping bag, ready to use

Pipe the cross on the buns

Bake for 15-20 minutes

When the buns are done, sugar glaze them just before serving (sugar glaze: melt caster sugar with hot water)

 Happy Easter everyone!