Rachel
- Mar 22, 2021
- 5 min read

Hot Cross Buns

Warm, spicy, and fluffy buns that are wonderful with a bit of butter, honey, or jam! They are not too sweet or overly indulgent so you can have several without too much guilt :D The cross on top adds crunch to these amazing soft fluffy buns! These can be eaten on Good Friday and may be seen in the British Isles and in some American and Canadian families.

The recipe is modified from: https://cafedelites.com/hot-cross-buns/#wprm-recipe-container-68890

The recipe is here, and pictures of the bun-making process are below:

Ingredients (for a half batch):

Dough:

1/2 cup sultanas/raisins (80 g)
3/4 cup milk (197 g)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry or instant yeast (6.5 g)
2 cups + 3 Tbsp. all purpose or bread flour (~320 g)
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. white sugar (62 g)
1 tsp. all spice (2.5 g)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (1 g)
1/4 tsp. table salt (1 - 1.5 g)
1/2 a large egg (~22 g)
2 Tbsp. butter at room temperature (28 g)
Zest of half an orange (about 1.5 tsp., 2.5 g) or 1 Tbsp. mixed candied peel
Butter/oil for greasing

Crosses:

1/4 cup all purpose flour (37 g)
1 1/2 to 3 Tbsp. water (about 37-42 g)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Tbsp. honey, corn syrup, jam etc.
1/2 tsp. water

Directions:

About an hour before you start making the dough, cover the raisins with water and let soak.
When you're ready to make the dough, warm the milk in a microwave/stove top until 80-100°F (lukewarm). Add in the yeast and, and if using active dry yeast add about 1 tsp. of the sugar. Mix well. The active dry yeast should foam up in about 5 minutes, but you don't need to wait for instant yeast.
Mix together the flour, sugar, all spice, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.
Add the milk + yeast mixture and the egg to the well. Note: to use half the egg whisk it together and then add about half. Start mixing with a spoon and mix and knead until almost all the flour is hydrated.
Add the butter in pieces and mix/knead in until well incorporated, about 5 minutes. It will be messy but the dough will gradually become smoother.
Take the dough out onto a clean countertop and knead for 8-15 minutes, or until smooth. If it is very sticky add a little more flour, and if after ~8 minutes of kneading it still tears a lot add some water and knead until smooth. The final dough should be smooth and elastic and there should be minimal tears.
Drain the raisins (mine were 100 g after draining) and zest the orange.
Then use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten the dough. Add the raisins and zest and fold into the dough. Then knead for about 5 minutes until they are well incorporated. It will be sticky and messy at first but eventually it will come together.
Shape into a ball, lightly grease it and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and rise until doubled in a warm place, about 1 hour.
When the dough is ready prepare a baking tray/pan by greasing it or lining it with parchment paper.
Take the dough onto a clean surface and knead for about 1 minute to pop the bubbles inside.
Divide the dough into 6 pieces (by eye or by weight) and shape into tight round balls, try to avoid too many raisins sticking out because they may burn. Place on the prepared pan. Note: You might want to space the buns about 1-2 inches apart to avoid uneven rising like you see with mine!
Lightly grease the buns with butter, cover, and let rise until about doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350°F.
While the buns rise make the cross mixture by mixing the flour, water, and vanilla very thoroughly (no lumps should remain). The consistency should be similar to pancake batter and only slightly stretchy, so if it's too loose add more flour, too thick and stretch add a little more water. Place a little in a piping bag (or ziploc with a corner cut off) and pipe a line to test if it works, then adjust if necessary, add the rest of the batter.
When the buns are risen, pipe crosses on all of them, making sure the mixture falls down the sides of the buns as well. You won't use all the cross mixture.
Bake for 22-32 minutes, or until golden brown and 200°F internally. While the buns bake mix together the glaze and warm slightly in a microwave if too thick. It should be the consistency of a thin syrup.
Once finished baking immediately remove the buns from the pan and to a wire rack.
Brush the hot buns with the glaze and let cool at least 30 minutes before enjoying.
Makes 6 buns, you can easily double this recipe for a batch of 12! Cover leftovers and store at room temperature up to 3 days. Warm in an oven or microwave or toast leftovers!

The ingredients I used. I also used some corn syrup for the glaze :)

Soak the raisins before making the dough.

Mix the yeast with the yeast. If using active dry also add a little of the sugar and let the yeast activate for 5-10 minutes.

Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, all spice, salt to a bowl.

Mix together and make a well in the middle.

Pour in the milk, yeast, and egg.

Combine and knead until it's mostly a dough with minimal dry flour.

Then add the soft butter. You will then mix and knead the butter in.

Mix until the butter is mixed in well. Next we will knead this dough.

Knead until mostly smooth. This took me about 15 minutes, and my dough was a little dry so I had to add some water partway through kneading. Next we'll add the raisins and zest!