We had run out of wheat, so we had to purchase shop-flour for hot cross buns. I bought *white*, figuring the wholemeal didn’t have twice as many nutrients to match the twice as many dollars being asked for it - both would have lost most of the goodness within 72 hours of being milled anyway.
We (that will be a royal we meaning J13) made up the bun mix, using our usual yeast bread recipe and adding about a quarter of a cup of spices - mostly cinnamon with some nutmeg and cloves - and lots of sultanas too.
5C warm water
1/4 C sugar
2T yeast
Combine and leave until frothy
1/2C olive oil
5C flour
Add and mix in
3C flour
1T salt
spices
Add and mix in
As much more flour as you need to make a good dough, and the sultanas
Knead for 5 minutes or so
Place in a greased bowl, roll the dough around a few times to grease it thoroughly and cover with a damp cloth (we put it in the fridge overnight - it still doubled in size).
Punch down and divide into buns (we made 28, but they were pretty big and could well have been made smaller). Place on a tray and leave to rise again.
Flour
Water
Mix together to a thickish paste and pipe on crosses
Sugar
Warm water
Brush glaze over (this can be done either before or after baking, or omitted altogether) Bake at 180ºC for 15-18 minutes
The same mix makes four large loaves of fruit bread - or you can leave out the spices and fruit and just have plain bread - or throw in some seeds or other goodies.
