These buns have the texture of bread, the shape of muffins and the taste of Hot Cross Buns. A very tasty hybrid, they’re at their best on the day you bake them although a good layer of butter works wonders the day after.
This recipe makes 12-15 buns. and takes about 2 hours.
You will need:
A greased muffin tin
Cling film
Either a food mixer or a wooden spoon and some elbow grease
RECIPE
500g gluten free bread flour plus extra for kneading
A pinch of salt
75g caster sugar
3 tsps fast action yeast
125g sultanas
75g mixed peel
zest of 1 orange
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp sunflower oil
50g margarine
300ml full fat milk
1 egg
METHOD
- Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, cinnamon and oil.
- Melt the margarine, warm the milk and add both to the egg.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour mix and stir in the wet ingredients. You need to stir it until you have a smooth batter. I cheated and used a food mixer.
- Stir in the fruit and spice mixture until the fruit is evenly distributed.
- Put a lot of flour down onto a work surface and bring the mixture together into one large piece of dough. It is extremely sticky so have a bowl of hot soapy water nearby – you’ll need to keep washing it off your hands otherwise it will keep sticking to everything you touch.
- Divide the dough into 12-15 even balls and put them into the muffin tin.
- Spread some oil onto a piece of cling film, put the cling film over the buns (leave enough room for them to rise underneath) and leave them somewhere warm until they’ve doubled in size.
- While they’re rising, do the washing up. The dough sticks like glue and sets like cement – you want it washed off your bowls and utensils ASAP.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 fan.
- Remove the cling film and bake the buns for approx. 20 mins, until golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. Check on them regularly and cover with tin foil if the tops start to burn.