Cover the dried fruit with the hot tea and leave 10 minutes, then drain well and pat dry.
Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, spices and orange zest in a large bowl.
Add the warm milk, melted butter and beaten egg, and mix to a rough dough.
Knead on a lightly floured bench for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic and it passes the windowpane test. Enriched dough takes longer than plain — don’t stop early, and don’t add flour.
Work the drained fruit through until evenly distributed.
Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover, and leave somewhere warm until **genuinely doubled** — 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Don’t rush this stage.
Knock back and divide into 12 pieces, about 100 g each. Roll each into a tight ball and sit them in a greased 23 × 33 cm tin, just touching.
Cover and leave for another 45–60 minutes, until puffy and the poke test springs back slowly and only partway.
Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Mix the cross flour and water to a thick pipeable paste and pipe a line along each row in both directions.
Bake for 18–20 minutes, until deep golden and the base sounds hollow.
Dissolve the glaze sugar in the boiling water and brush over the buns **immediately** as they come out of the oven.
Cool 10 minutes in the tin before pulling apart. Eat warm with butter.