Pear & Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

• Vegetarian

• Produce

  • 3 Beurre bosc pears

• Refrigerated

  • 1 Egg

• Baking & Spices

  • 860 g Bread flour, strong
  • 110 g Caster sugar
  • 10 tbsp Castor sugar
  • 1 heaped tsp Cinnamon
  • 150 g Dark chocolate
  • 6 tbsp Flour
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Spice, mixed
  • 10 g Yeast, instant dried

• Dairy

  • 85 g Butter
  • 250 ml Skim milk

• Liquids

  • 259 1/4 ml Water
  • 1/4 cup Water + a bit

Found on thebrickkitchen.com

Description

Ingredients

• 250ml skim milk (1 cup)
• 200 ml water
• 10g instant dried yeast (2 teaspoons)
• 110g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
• 1 egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 860g strong/bread flour (5 and ¾ cups)
• 1½ tablespoons mixed spice
• 1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 85g butter, softened
• 3 beurre bosc pears
• 150g dark chocolate
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• ¼ cup water + a bit extra
• ½ cup caster sugar
• ¼ cup water

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
• In a small saucepan, warm the skim milk and 200ml water to lukewarm (30°C on a thermometer, or just a little cooler than body temperature). Remove from the heat.
• Stir in the yeast, sugar and egg until the yeast has dissolved. Set aside
• Put the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment (or in a large bowl if kneading by hand).
• Add the yeast mixture and the softened butter to the flour mixture. Knead on low speed until just incorporated. Turn the speed to medium and mix for 8 minutes (if kneading by hand, knead for 10-12 minutes or until smooth).
• Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Form a ball, and place in a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to prove for 45min - 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• Meanwhile, peel the pears and chop each into 6 segments. Place on the baking paper lined tray. Melt a tablespoon of butter and pour over the pears, tossing to coat. Place in oven for 20 minutes. Remove to let cool, then chop into small chunks.
• Chop the chocolate into chunks.
• When the dough has proved, tip out onto a lightly floured bench and very gently knead in the pear and chocolate. It won’t really mix in properly, but don’t worry - you can make sure to push bits in when you form it into buns.
• Divide the dough into 15-18 pieces and roll into taut balls, keeping the bits of pear and chocolate inside. Try to tuck the ends of the dough underneath and into the bottom, keeping a taut, smooth surface. This can get a bit fiddly, but rustic is good!
• Place onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving room for rising.
• Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to prove for 45 minutes.
• For the piping paste: stir together the flour and sugar in a small bowl. Add enough water to form a smooth paste.
• Fill a piping bag and pipe crosses on the top of the buns (for a make-shift piping bag, cut a tiny piece out of the corner of a ziplock bag).
• Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden and the buns sound hollow when tapped on the base.
• For the glaze: dissolve the sugar in ¼ cup water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Brush this glaze over the buns just after you remove from the oven.
• Best eaten on the day or heated for a couple of days after. Extras freeze well, wrapped individually in plastic wrap.