These are very nice, fruity, moist, soft and aromatic buns. Perfect for a lazy saturday afternoon, breakfast or lunch boxes. Serve plain or with some jam or honey. 

Makes 16.

Method

Grate the zest from the oranges and squeeze the juice from them.

Put the raisins and cranberries in a bowl and add the orange juice, mix it and put aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a medium size bowl using a wooden spoon to mix) put warm milk, 1 teaspoon of caster sugar and 10g of active dry yeast. Using a paddle attachment mix it till the yeast dissolves. Cover it with a tea towel and let it stand in a warm place till bubbles form in about 10-15 minutes.

After the yeast is nice and bubbly (if it did not form any bubbles, start over, since the yeast has to be 'active') add in the eggs, butter, flour, salt, sugar and half of the water. Change the attachment for a dough hook (cover the mixer with a tea towel to avoid a mess) and start kneading. Continue adding the remaining water a little at the time, until you have picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. You might not need to use all the water. Add mixed spice, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest. Let it knead for 5-10 minutes.  You want your dough to be soft but not sticky. 

(For kneading you could also use a bread machine choosing the dough program, or just knead it by hand for about 10-15 min). If you are going to knead by hand, remember to put the dough in a big enough bowl so it has plenty of space to rise.

Cover the bowl with the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for an hour or until it doubled in size. 

Prepare the roasting tray with butter and a dusting of flour.

Put the dry fruits through the sieve to remove all excess juice.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface, add diced apple, raisins, cranberries. Knead in until well mixed. Form an oval from the dough and divide into 16 pieces and shape each into a ball. Place each one on the tray, quite close to each other. Cover with plastic wrap/film and leave it to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Brush you buns with some milk and bake for 25-30 min or till golden brown.

Let it cool and brush it with honey on top.

Ingredients
 

  • 500g strong bread flour
  • 10g active dry yeast
  • 70g caster sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 eggs slightly beaten at room temperature
  • 140ml warm full cream milk (90°-110°F /or 41°-43°C)
  • 100ml warm water (90°-110°F /or 41°-43°C)
  • 40g soft unsalted butter diced into small pieces
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • ½ whole nutmeg, grated
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 diced apple
  • 55g raisins
  • 30g dried cranberries
  • zest of 2 oranges
  • ¼ cup of milk for brushing
  • honey for brushing