Homemade Hot Cross Buns

Instructions

1. Add warm water to a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top and set aside. Add sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl. Then, add your milk and butter to a small saucepan and pop on a low heat, to warm the milk and melt the butter.
2. Meanwhile, add two cups of flour to a large bowl and 1 and 3/4 cup to another (leaving 1/4 cup for dusting when kneading the dough). To the two cups of flour, add cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Then add the raisins, separating them with your fingers if they are a little stuck together.
3. Once the butter is melted, remove the milk from the heat. If it is hot to the touch, leave to cool for a minute or two. You want the milk warm, but you should be able to stick your finger in there without it burning. Also check that your yeast has reacted and started to bubble a little on the edges.
4. To make the dough, add the eggs and milk mixture to your sugar and salt. Whisk gently or stir with spoon just to combine. Then add your first batch of flour (with the spices and raisins) and start to mix the mixture using a dough hook. Then add your yeast mixture, water and all, and continue to mix.
5. Finally add the rest of your flour, a spoonful or two at a time until a nice soft dough forms. Once the dough comes together, remove it from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured bench and knead it by hand for 5 minutes or so until it is soft and smooth. Add a little flour to the bench if its a little sticky but not too much as we want the dough to be nice and light.
6. Then bring your dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been greased well with butter. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for at least 1 hour – it should double in size.
7. Next, gently push the air out of your dough using your fist. Then take the dough out of the bowl and knead gently for a minute before tearing it apart to form 12 even sized balls of dough. Place these on a baking tray that as been lined with baking paper in four rows of three. They shouldn’t touch but after they have been left to rise again, they should be touching. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for at least 30 minutes. Or until they have all joined together and almost doubled in size.
8. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced.
9. To make your flour paste, sift your flour into  small bowl, add your water and stir with a spoon until it’s smooth. Add your flour mixture to a disposable piping bag fitted with a small tip and pipe a straight line over the buns, horizontally and then vertically.
10. Pop the buns into the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Just before the buns are ready, start making the sugar glaze. Add your sugar and water to a small saucepan and place on a medium-low heat until bubbling. Then use a pastry brush to brush the sugar glaze all over the buns straight away when they are removed from the oven.
11. Serve buns warm with butter.