Cinnabon-like Hot Cross Buns! How to make perfection?

Directions

• Fruit filling
• The night before or 5 hours ahead of schedule, place the dried fruits in the rum or brandy or cold tea to plump up.
• Preparing the buns
• Warm the milk until it feels slightly hot to your finger (30 – 45s in my microwave). Stir in 1 teaspoon of the sugar to dissolve it and add the pack of yeast. If the yeast is fresh, it will form small clouds within a minute and a head of foam within 5 minutes. Leave this mix alone for 10 minutes.
• In a stand-mixer bowl, using the kneading attachment or dough hook, add the brown sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or mixed spice, and the flour.
• Stir at low speed to incorporate all of the ingredients. The final mix should look like wet flour or fine breadcrumbs
• If any flour sticks to the walls of the bowl, use a spatula to scrape it down and keep mixing. This takes about 3 minutes.
• Add the milk and yeast mix, scraping every last bit in, and add in the eggs. Mix for about 2 minutes on low
• Then add in the dried fruits and/or candied citrus peel and mix on low for about 1 minute to incorporate all the fruits in the dough.
• Increase the mixer to medium for a further 3 minutes until the dough comes together and pulls away from the bowl. It should be soft, slightly tacky to the touch, and try to climb up the kneading attachment. If this does not happen, add a bit more flour one tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too dry, then add a tablespoon of milk at a time.
• Knead on medium for a further 2 minutes.
• If you do not have a stand mixer, use a large bowl and spatula to mix the dough. I personally use a cat’s tongue tool to scrape the dough together. Then, tip out onto a work surface and knead by hand for 15 minutes. You will first feel the sugar granules under your hands. These will fall away. The dough will then stop sticking to you and stick together and become slightly warm inside.
• Scrape all the dough off the hook back into the mixing bowl, pat into a ball and leave to rise covered for about 1 hour, 2 maximum. The dough will double in size.
• Use spray-and-cook (or a tablespoon of oil and some kitchen paper) to lightly grease a 40-60cm baking tray.
• When the dough is ready, tip it out of the bowl onto a work surface, roll lightly into a log, and divide into 14 – 15 pieces, 12 at the very least.
• Using your hand as a cup, roll each piece on the work surface until it becomes a ball. Mine end up slightly larger than a golf ball. Place in the tray evenly to maximize the space between each. I like to leave 1-2 cm.
• Cover again and allow to rise for another hour – they will double in size. I like to put my tray in the fridge overnight as they will rise best that way. You can bake straight from the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 190C.
• Make the cross and bake
• Mix all of the cross ingredients together to make a thick paste. Using a piping bag or a squirt bottle, pipe a line across a row of buns and repeat in the other direction to make a cross. Try to do this just before they go into the oven. The thicker the paste and the wider the nozzle you use, the more pronounced the cross will be…
• Place the tray in the oven, reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for 20-25 minutes. The buns will become golden brown on top, if they color too fast, just make an aluminum foil tent over them…
• Remove from the oven and perform a quick bake test using a skewer (pierce a bun with a toothpick or skewer and if it comes out clean, the buns are cooked). Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes
• Glaze
• Prepare the glaze by mixing all of the ingredients together – do not worry if there are small icing sugar lumps, they will dissolve.
• Use a brush to glaze the rolls generously (I do it twice)…
• Serve warm with some fresh butter…