Hot Cross Buns

Bake perfect, soft hot cross buns for easter at home!

These hot cross buns are flavoured with spices and sultanas. Then topped off with a light apricot jam glaze. These will be delicious served fresh or toasted with loads of butter.

It’s just not Easter in our house without 2 things, Easter eggs and hot cross buns.

Sure, I am a sucker for wanting to turn a million different things into cute Easter themed goodies and meals. But … the kids need their Easter eggs and I need my hot cross buns, everything else is just a bonus!

I have been making hot cross buns at home now for over 10 years, picking up loads of tips and tricks and refining my recipes along the way. Now, I refuse to go back to the overpriced and bland supermarket versions.

Hot cross buns are a yeast based bread roll. This means that they do require a bit of a time commitment but do not let that scare you off! This recipe is simple and has very little hands on time with no steps that are too complicated. Take a day over the coming long weekend to take things slowly and create something special just for the joy of making it yourself.

Key ingredients

Sultanas – I definitely prefer sultanas to raisins in these! I know raisins are a little more traditional for hot cross buns but sultanas are the go to in my house. Feel free to swap out the sultanas for raisins if that’s what you like best.

Yeast – Yeast is a very necessary ingredient, any yeast will do the job. Just make sure that it is fresh and active.

Tea – I really like using an orange flavoured fruit tea for this but any fruit or berry tea is also great. Another option is to use black tea or warmed orange juice in place of the tea.

Milk – I use a low fat milk but any milk will do here.

Butter – I use salted butter as that is what I always have on hand. If you prefer to use unsalted then make sure to add a little salt to compensate.

Spice mix – I like to use a mixture of cinnamon, mixed spice, allspice and nutmeg. This gives a nice Eastery blend without heading into the Christmas territory. This is a more subtly spiced bun recipe, if you love a heavy spick kick then you can increase the spice a lot by doubling the spice quantities.

Flour – I use plain flour for these buns, yes I know it is a little controversial but honestly I get a great result with very little kneading by using this method so I do not feel the need to change it to a high grade  or bread flour. The added cornflour helps the structure of the bread and guarantees the softness and fluffyness of the hot cross buns.

Ingredients.

Dough before its first rise.

Dough after its second rise.

Formed hot cross buns before their final rise.

Hot cross buns after their final rise, with crosses and ready to bake.

Hot cross buns, baked with an apricot glaze.

Steps to making hot cross buns

Soak the sultanas– This ensures soft and flavorful fruit through your buns. There will be no hard, chewy burnt bits of sultana when these are done.

Activate the yeast – When the yeast is soaking in the warm milk it will fluff up and start to release the bubbles that will eventually make your buns rise.

Mix, mix, mix – This is one of the steps that reduces the need to knead the dough a lot. The mixing at this stage starts to develop the gluten in the flour and begins to incorporate air bubbles into the mixture.

Form – Add in the remaining dry ingredients. Mix the dough and form it into a smooth ball.

Rise – This stage allows the yeast time to work and rise the dough. The dough will be more pliable and should no longer be sticky. On a colder day you will need to allow a little longer for the dough to rise fully. You will roll and fold the dough between rises and that will help to strengthen your bread dough and gives it structure without having to knead the dough a lot.

Shaping – Divide the dough into 12 and shape into tight balls. You will want the smoothest part of the ball at the top of the bun. Arrange and allow them to rise again.

Crosses – Pipe your cross batter on top of your buns in long smooth lines.

Bake – The buns are baked for about 30 minutes.

Glaze – the glaze is optional but it adds a nice sweetness and shine to the surface of the buns. Make sure that you glaze the buns while they are still hot.

Storage – These are best eaten the day that they are made, but they will store well in a sealed container for a couple of days. Toast in the oven or reheat in the microwave and serve with butter. These also freeze well.

Hot Cross Buns

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Rest Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 12 buns

Course: Baking

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Buns

• 100 grams sultanas
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 fruit flavoured tea bag
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 50 grams butter melted
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 3 cups flour

Crosses

• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons water

Apricot glaze

• 30 grams apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon water

For preparing

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

 

1. Place the sultanas and tea bag into a small cup. Pour over the boiling water and allow the sultanas to soak for at least 30 minutes.
2. Pour the milk into a large microwave safe bowl, microwave for about 45 seconds to warm the milk slightly. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and give it a light stir. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
3. Remove the teabag from the soaking sultanas and add the mixture into your bowl, along with the sugar, butter and egg.
4. In a medium sized bowl, place the spices, flour and cornflour. Mix together until well combined.
5. Add half of your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and give it a good stir. Add 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients and continue mixing for about 3 minutes before combining in the remaining dry ingredients.
6. Mix your dough until it forms a smooth, slightly sticky ball of dough.
7. Drizzle a little oil on top of your formed dough and flip the dough in the bowl. Cover the surface of the dough with a little more oil and make deep indents into the dough using your fingertips.
8. Set dough in a warm place to rise for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.
9. Once the dough has risen, knock the dough down and roll it out on a clean surface (the dough should not stick so don’t be tempted to add flour) roll into a large square shape. Fold your square of dough in thirds lengthwise and then fold in thirds again the other way. Place the dough back into your bowl and allow to rise for another hour or until doubled in size.
10. Once the dough has completed its second rise knock down the dough again and split into 12 evenly sized sections (each piece should weigh between 90 and 100 grams each if you want to be accurate).
11. Cover your hands in a thin layer of oil and form the dough balls into buns. Making sure to place the smoothest edge of the dough on top.
12. Line a large rectangle baking pan with baking paper and arrange your buns in 3 rows of 4 with a little bit of space between each.
13. Leave the buns to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
14. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees.
15. Combine the flour and icing sugar with enough water to form a thin paste. Spoon the paste into a small ziplock bag or piping bag. Seal bag and cut off one corner to create a hole for piping.
16. Pipe crosses onto the buns.
17. Place into a preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes or until fully baked through.
18. Once the buns are cooked place all of your glaze ingredients into a small saucepan.
19. Heat on a medium heat until the butter and jam are melted. Stirring occasionally.
20. Brush the glaze over your freshly baked buns.
21. Serve hot with butter and jam

Heres something else you may like to try:

Garlic Knots Trio of flatbreads Dill-icious Chickpea Salad