Put the whole eggs into a bowl of warm water before doing anything else. They need to be at least at room temperature. Also melt the butter.

Mix together the water, milk powder, yeast and about one tablespoon of the sugar, stirring well to ensure full incorporation. Add about half of the flour and let the mixture ferment.

Combine the rest of the ingredients together, making sure the currants are well separated. They tend to clump together.

After about a half to one hour - experience is the only guide - mix the two halves together. Easy to say but it's not very simple to make sure the resultant dough has the ingredients evenly dispersed. Knead thoroughly to develop the gluten.

Put the kneaded dough back into the bowl, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm, draught free place until doubled in bulk.

Tip the dough out onto the bench and cut in half. Roll one half into a sausage shape and divide into 16 even pieces. Mould each piece into a ball and place on a greased tray, making straight rows.

Repeat with the second half of the dough. Cover the buns on the trays with cloths and leave to double in bulk. If you’ve lined the balls up properly, they should be each touching their neighbour. The finished buns should be almost square.

Pre-heat the oven to 210°C

While the oven is heating up, make the crossing paste. Mix the flour, egg, sugar, butter and sufficient milk to form a smooth paste. This is enough for 5 dozen buns.

Put the paste into a piping bag or a plastic bag with the corner cut off. Pipe crosses on the risen buns

Bake for about 20 minutes at 210°C. After about 10 minutes move the trays around to even up the baking, and reduce the heat to 190°C.

When they’re cooked, glaze with the milk, sugar and spice mixture.

Put the blocks of buns on cake cooler racks until cold.