Chocolate, Orange and Ginger Hot Cross Buns
Chocolate and orange may be a classic combination that always works but I decided to mix it up a bit by adding a spicy kick of ginger to take these buns from a traditional bread made with a traditional flavour combination to something on the next level.
Unfortunately, when I made my buns it was a very hot day, this meant that the chocolate chips melted during proving. It doesn't really matter but it means that they look a bit messy, don't worry if this happens.
To adapt this recipe to make it even better you could glaze with the syrup from a jar of stem ginger as this would give a stronger flavour than that of golden syrup. It also means you're not wasting it like many people, another plus.
You can use any spices you want in this mix, you can also swap chocolate chips for any dried fruit if you want, I'd add more than the recommended 160g if I was doing this as it's not as sweet as chocolate.
Enjoy,
The Food Kid.
Makes 12 buns.
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
Zest of an orange
3tsp powdered ginger
70g caster sugar (75g if not using chocolate chips)
10g salt
14g dried yeast
40g butter
300ml milk
1 large egg
160g chocolate chips
50g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
3tbsp golden syrup
Method
Put the flour, orange zest, sugar and ginger in a bowl, mix to combine. Add the salt and yeast on separate sides of the bowl.
Melt the butter and warm the milk on separate pans, add the melted butter and half the warm milk to the flour, mix to combine. Add the egg (beaten) and mix this in to form a soft and a little sticky dough, add the rest of the milk to do this bit by bit if you need.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes until elastic, add the chocolate chips during this process.
Put the dough in a oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
Knock the dough back and shape it into 12, even sized balls.
Place the balls on a lined baking tray, leaving a little space in between them for growth, cover the tray with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for another hour.
Meanwhile, sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl, mix in the water to form a smooth paste, place this into a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle. If you don't have that cut a small hole in the corner of a sandwich bag, use this instead.
Pipe crosses on the top of the buns using the paste and bake them at 200C fan for 15-20 minutes.
Whist baking, warm the syrup until runny.
Remove the buns and whilst warm, brush the warmed syrup over the buns.
Serve toasted with butter.
