I went to a mother daughter breakfast at my daughter’s school. Lovely idea. Lucy Lawless as a past pupil was the guest speaker. She expounded about the merits of being yourself, “live brave but live authentically.” I do like that message, and she emphasized the importance of following a career path that you love. It got me thinking, how important it is to be exceptional in whatever you do, you owe it to yourself to shine,
to stand out from the crowd, doing what you love. 
There’s no reason to be making Hot Cross Buns, it’s not Easter, 
but why wouldn’t you want to eat them at any time of the year, so that’s today’s bake. I mixed the dry ingredients together including muscovado sugar, dried fruit, mixed spice and grated nutmeg, 
then added the milk, butter and egg into the electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Don’t you love making bread, especially using a dough hook. It combines all the lovely dry and wet ingredients, slowly and meticulously like magic before your very eyes. I pulled out the wet dough when it was all mixed up and kneaded it. 
This was not going to be hot cross buns…oh no, I was going to make a large hot cross bun LOAF!! 
All the better to feast my eyes on. I put the dough in a bowl and covered with clingfilm to rise at room temperature for an hour and a half. 
After it had risen, I punched it down, kneaded it and shape it into a neat ball in the tin to rise again. 
This is one very big hot cross bun!! I piped on the cross and baked. Then glazed it with milk and sugar. I love hot cross buns, at any time of year, and
this hot cross bun loaf is definitely no exception.
