Ingredients
- 300ml full-fat milk, plus a splash more
- 50g butter
- 300g strong wholemeal bread flour
- 200g strong white bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 7g sachet fast-action yeast or 21g fresh yeast
- 1 egg, beaten
- 75g sultanas
- 50g mixed peel
- zest 1 orange
- 150g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cross:
75g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
For the glaze:
3 tbsp apricot jam
method
STEP 1
Pour the milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Take off the what and add the butter. Leave to cool until it’s lukewarm. Put both of the flours, salt, caster sugar and 7g yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour over the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the beaten egg. Initially using a wooden spoon, bring everything together then get your hands involved, it should be sticky.
STEP 2
Push the dough out onto a floured surface, knead and stretch for 5 minutes until smooth, or you can do this in a stand mixer with the dough hook. Lightly oil the bowl and place the dough back in, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise somewhere warm for an hour or until you can see it has doubled in size.
STEP 3
With the dough still in the bowl, add in the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, chopped chocolate and ground cinnamon. Knead into the dough so it’s distributed evenly. Leave to rise for 1 hour more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film.
STEP 4
Divide the dough into 12-15 even pieces. Lightly roll them into smooth balls of dough. Now place them evenly spaced on baking trays lined with baking paper, bearing in mind these will expand. Lightly cover with a clean tea towel or loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise for a final hour.
STEP 5
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. For the cross, mix the plain flour with about 5 tbsp water to make a thick paste, add the water slowly to get a good piping consistency. Add it to a piping bag or even a sandwich bag if you don’t have one and cut a hole in the corner about 0.5cm wide. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create the crosses. Now bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
STEP 6
Warm the apricot jam on the hob or in the microwave so you can easily stir it. As soon as the buns are out of the oven, glaze them with the warm jam, trying to avoid any chunks from the jam. Excellent toasted, enjoy!