Lighter Hot Cross Buns by Allinson's

Method

1. In a saucepan, slowly bring the milk to boil with the cardamom pods, lemon zest and orange zest. Once it's reached boiling point, take the pan off the heat and allow to cool at room temperature. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours and salt. Then add the oats, yeast, agave and beaten egg.

3. When the milk has cooled, remove the cardamom and pour into the mixture of the large mixing bowl.  

4. Mix together until the ingredients are well incorporated.

   Onto a large floured surface using your hands, knead the dough until it becomes a sticky stretchy dough. This should take 5-8 minutes.

5. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in it. The oil will prevent the dough from sticking as it proves. Use a damp tea towel to cover the dough and leave in a warm room to proove. This should take around an hour. 

6. In a separate bowl, mix together all the fruit. Bring your proved dough to the suface and sprinkle the fruit mixture in the middle. Knead briefly to distribute all the ingredients.

7. Divide the dough into 16 even pieces and roll into smooth balls. Position the balls onto 2 baking sheets in rows of 4, about 1 cm apart. Cover with a damp clean tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size again.

8. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/fan 200ºc/gas mark 7.

9. It's time to prepare the crosses. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp of flour with 2-3tbsp of water making sure you add it gradually until you have a thick paste. 

10. Put this paste into a piping bag (or sandwich bag) and snip the corner. Once the buns have risen in size, pipe crosses across the buns.

11. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden on the top. While the buns are in the oven, warm the jam with 30ml of water in a pan. As soon as the buns are ready, paint the jam onto the buns using a pastry brush. 

12. Allow the buns to cool fully before serving.