Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

600g bread flour

10g yeast

10g salt

teaspoon mixed spice

teaspoon cinammon

teaspoon nutmeg

75g sugar

75g butter, melted or choppen into small pieces

ginger, grated

300ml milk

1 egg

75g raisins or sultanas

40g dried cranberries

40g mixed peel

plain flour

runny honey

Step 1: the dough
Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl and add the milk, egg and butter

Kneed until you get a nice smooth dough - add more flour or milk if you need to get the right consistency - pour a little extra milk on at the end to help the fermentation

Step 2: Add fruit and roll out

After the dough has risen - ideally leave for a few hours or overnight - punch it back, flatten into a sheet and then kneed the dried fruit into the dough

When the fruit is evenly spread through the dough, split into 12 pieces, roll into balls and place on baking trays - cover with a tea towel and leave to rise

Step 3: Rising and add the crosses

After an hour or so, the balls should have risen and approximately doubled in size

Mix some plain flour with water to make a paste and pipe over the buns giving the crosses (you can use a piping bag for this, or a plastic sandwich bag with a corner cut off)

Step 4: Baking and glazing

Bake for around 15/20 minutes at 200C until brown, then glaze with some runny honey while they are still warm

Papo Secos - Portuguese Rolls

These tasty bread rolls are typically Portuguese - they are really easy to make and very tasty

Ingedients

• 650 gram Bread Flour
• 400 ml milk (or water)
• 10 gram salt
• 10 gram yeast 
• 1 egg (optional)

Step 1: the dough

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt and yeast) in a bowl and mix together - form a hole in the centre and add the liquid (milk or water and egg)

Stir together and kneed until it's a smooth dough - add more flour or liquid if needed during the kneeding

Make indentations in the dough with your fingers and add extra liquid for the rise and cover

Step 2: the rise

Leave to rise - ideally for a few hours during the day or overnight

If you need it to rise more quickly, leave in a warm place

Step 3: shaping

Split the dough into 12 roughly equal balls - normally split first in half, then half again to get quarters, then split each of the quarters into three

Each of the balls should weigh around 100 gram

Leave them for a minute or two to rest

Press each ball into a flat disc, around 8-10 cm in diameter, then press the edge of your hand across the centre of the disc

Fold the disc over along the indentation, roll the ends to make a shape similar to a cornish pasty

Repeat for each of the 12 balls of dough and place on baking trays

Step 4: the rise

Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for around an hour to rise

Step 5: baking

After an hour or so the rolls should have approximately doubled in size

Bake in the oven at around 200C for around 15/20 minutes with a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven

Step 6: cool

Place on a wire rack to cool

Step 7: enjoy

Papo Secos can be eaten with any topping - or none

And washed down with a glass of your favorite drink