Hot cross buns are a classic favourite, especially over holiday times like Easter and Christmas and, while they may be easy to purchase in a store, nothing beats making your own at home. Eating a delicious soft hot cross bun straight out of the oven is total bliss! Plus, making your own at home means you can customise the flavour according to your pallet. So here is a recipe for what our experts think makes the perfect traditional hot cross bun. From here you can experiment with different flavours to produce something perfect for you and your family.
Surprisingly quick and easy to make
Don’t be daunted when you see that the time required is over 2 hours, because the majority of the time is just for the dough to rise. In fact, having little intervals between your baking process can add to the fun of it. Consider grabbing a friend or family member and playing a game during your baking. There are always ways to make a memorable experience out of something!
The only labour involved in making these stunning hot cross buns is the mixing, you don’t even need to knead the dough. It’s just a case of adding your yeast to some warm water and activating it. Then mix your dry ingredients before adding all the rest. Once you have your sticky dough, you let it rise, followed by rolling out your buns and a second period of rising. After that, all that is left is piping on the crosses and waiting while the baking fills the room with sweet aromatic smells.
Special ingredients
The ingredients needed for these super soft hot cross buns are relatively simple. You need your standard baking contents like flour, yeast, butter, milk and sugar. However, this recipe adds flavour with some special ingredients such as the orange zest and cinnamon. Additionally, you could consider adding a touch of nutmeg to further spice your hot cross buns. Just be careful not to overdo it as nutmeg can be quite strong.
You can also play around with other flavours. For example, using cranberries instead of raisins, or honey instead of apricot jam for the glaze. I would just recommend sticking to brown flour for the bun and white flour for the crosses in order to keep that traditional visual appeal.
If you love hot cross buns but can’t have gluten or sugar then we have another recipe, especially for you! Try these gluten-free, sugar-free hot cross buns. They are divine and just as easy to make.
The Perfect Soft and Fluffy Hot Cross Bun
Ingredients
For the Buns
- 3 tsp Instant yeast
- 1/2 cup Castor sugar
- 1/2 cup Water lukewarm
- 1 1/2 cups Milk lukewarm
- 4 1/2 cups Brown Flour
- 2 tsp Cinnamon ground
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Raisins
- 1 Orange zest
- 4 tbsp Butter melted
- 1 Egg beaten
For the Crosses
- 1/2 cup White flour
- 6 tbsp Water
For the Glaze
- 2 tbsp Apricot jam
- 3 tsp Water
Instructions
For the Buns
- Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a bowl, then pour in water and leave it for 5 minutes to froth.
- Mix your flour, salt, cinnamon and remaining sugar in another bowl.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredient mix and add your melted butter, beaten egg, milk, orange zest and raisins. Then pour in the yeast mix.
- Mix until combined to make a thick dough.
- Cover your dough with a wet cloth and place in a warm place to rise for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Grease or line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Flour a surface, then take your dough out and punch it to deflate. Now you can separate it into balls and make your individual buns, placing them on the baking tray.
- Cover your tray of buns and leave in a warm place to rise for about one hour.
For the Crosses
- Mix your white flour and water until a paste forms.
- Put your paste into a piping bag and pipe a cross onto each bun. If you do not have a piping bag you can use a small ziplock bag with the corner cut off.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake the buns for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
For the Glaze
- Warm the water and jam and mix together.
- Once your buns are baked, but are still warm, brush the jam glaze onto them.