Hot Cross Buns

I don’t know about you, but Easter time or even the build up to Easter we eat a lot, I mean aaa-lll-ooo-tttt of Hot Cross buns.
When there is simple no time, I will buy store bought ones that we enjoy with our morning coffee or just as anytime snack. We buy traditional ones, extra spicy ones, no fruit ones or even chocolate chip ones. Anything goes.

But man oh man, nothing beats freshly home-made Hot cross buns. As soon as these buns starts to bake, the smell fills the air and everyone lines up in the kitchen to grab a hot-freshly baked-straight out of the oven, hot cross bun.

Yeah it’s a little bit more effort to make your own. But you will not regret it! They are simply delicious!

Enjoy!

Makes 16 buns

Ingredients

Dough
180ml milk, full cream heated to lukewarm
7g Instant yeast (1 packet)
5ml sugar, white
125ml sugar, brown. Lightly packed
75ml Butter, unsalted
5ml Vanilla essence
2 eggs, large at room temperature
5ml salt
10ml cinnamon, grounded
2.5ml allspice, grounded
2.5ml nutmeg, grounded
875ml (435g) all-purpose flour
250ml raisins (or Currants)

Flour cross
125ml Cake flour
90-120ml water

Glazing
250ml Confectioners sugar
45ml Milk
5ml Vanilla essence

Directions

Whisk the warm milk, yeast and the 5ml white sugar together in a bowl. Cover and allow the yeast to rise for 5 minutes.
In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer add the yeast mixture, brown sugar, butter, vanilla essence, eggs, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and one cup of flour. Beat on low speed, scrapping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Now beat for another 5 minutes.

Add the remainder of the flour and raisins and beat on medium speed until the dough comes together. The dough should be soft and sticky.
If the dough is too sticky and won’t come together add 5ml flour at a time, while beating the dough.

Still using the electric mixer, knead the dough for another 3-4 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface.

Allow dough to rise:

Grease a large bowl with a little oil and place the dough in the bowl. Turn the dough so that it coats all sides. Now cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm room for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

In the meantime, grease a baking tray and set it aside. When the dough has risen, knock it down to release all trapped air. Shape the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, pinching the bottom of each ball to seal. Place the pinched side onto the prepared baking tray. Remember to leave some space between the dough balls for rising.

Cover the shape rolls with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise until they are puffy. This will take around 1 hour.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 180˚C.

Add the cross:

Whisk the cross ingredients together. Start with 6 tablespoons of water. The paste should be thick but easily piped. Add more water a spoon at a time as needed.
Add the paste to a bag, a Zip seal works great. Snip off a small corner. Now pipe a line down the center of the bun and repeat into the other direction. Making a “X” on the buns.

Bake & Glaze

Bake the rolls for 20-35 minutes or until just golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the buns to cool down for a few minutes.
While the buns are cooling down, prepare the glaze.
Whisk the glaze ingredients together. Brush the glaze over the warm buns.

These buns will last for 2 days at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think.