Hot Cross Buns Recipe
One of my favourite things about Easter is baking Hot Cross Buns and this year will be no exception. I wanted to share my favourite full-proof recipe that I return to every year.
There's something special about savouring them fresh from the oven with generous slather of butter and a cup of Yorkshire Gold.
Ingredients
240g warm milk
2 tsp instant or active dried yeast
75g brown sugar
450g all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 large egg
60g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
Fruit
140g raisins
Juice and zest of 1 orange
1tbsp lemon zest
Crosses
50g all-purpose flour
50g water
Glaze
50g granulated sugar
2-3 tbsp boiling water
Instructions
1. To test the viability of yeast before beginning, warm the milk and mix in the yeast along with one tablespoon of sugar. Leave it to sit for 5-10minutes. If it becomes foamy, it's good to go.
2. In a saucepan, warm the orange juice until simmering. take it off the heat and add in the raisins. Leave them to sit and hydrate while the dough is mixed.
3. Add the yeast, milk, remaining sugar, flour, salt, spice and egg in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn the mixture on low and combine until it forms a thick fitted slightly sticky dough. add in the room temperature butter and keep mixing until the butter has incorporated.
4. Turn the mixer on medium speed and keep it mixing until the sticky dough strengthens, comes together, and pulls away cleanly from the sides bowl. this can take around 10.15 minute. Proper gluten development will allow you to stretch the dough so thick you can almost see through it. This is called the ”window pane” effect. To test this, leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes before grabbing small piece and stretching it.
5. Drain the raisins and add them to dough and the fruit zest. Mix it to incorporate the raisins. If doing this by hand, you will notice this brings extra moisture back into the dough. Don't worry, keep kneading it gently until raisins are incorporated.
6. Pull the dough from the bowl onto a bench and form it into a ball. Place the dough ball into a clean bowl, cover it with a lid or plate or damp tea towel, and let it in a warm spot for 1.5-2 hours until doubled in size. If making overnight hot cross buns, the dough can be covered and placed in the refrigerator overnight.
7. After proofing, pull the dough onto a clean bench and cut it into 9 even pieces (use a scale for exact measurements). Use your hands to form each piece into a tight ball. Line a 10 by 10 inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
8. Place each ball into a baking tray, then cover with damp tea towel and let them rise until doubled in size.
9. Preheat the over 180°C standard over. Mix the ingredients for the crosses into a paste. Scoop it into a pipping bag with a small tip and pipe the crosses onto the buns.
10. Bake the buns for approximately 25-30 minutes until golden brown. While the buns a re baking, mix the glaze ingredients. Use a pastry brush to brush the hot baked buns with glaze when they come from the over. leave the buns to cool for about 20 minutes before eating.