Hot Cross Buns with Lievito Madre

5 (652) · € 16.99 · In Magazzino

These buns were a make it up as you go along effort. I was still deciding on the numbers with the mixer running, working the dough I had thus far and I liberally added spices in the style of a well seasoned chef.Having worked up a sweat mixing this dough partly by hand as well as in the mixer and the dough complete I saw I could have added more liquid. I knew the dough would tighten up a bit upon adding the dried fruit but I didn’t compensate enough. Still I was fairly pleased with finished dough considering this was an off-the-cuff, part improvised endeavour.In keeping with the theme of improvising I picked a random weight at which to scale these. At circa 85 grams I had enough dough to make 18, more or less equal buns.First dough:300g flour100g milk75g LM (Lievito madre), refreshed 3 times75g sugar68g egg (1 large)50g butterSecond Dough:300g flour150g milk50g egg (1 medium)75g sugar125g butter30g honey9g salt180g mixed fruit# 1n orange zest# 1/4tsp clove oil# 1/4tsp orange oil# 1/4tsp all spice# 1/4tsp nutmeg# 1/8tsp ginger# 1.5tsp mixed spice# 1.5tsp cinnamonTraditionally the crosses should be made of just flour and water but I added some butter in there to shorten the flour slightly. And I used juice from the orange which I zested with some sugar to make a sweet glaze for the buns.Happy Easter!Michael