Hot Cross Buns

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, last Saturday was the Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara - the official start of the spring season! One of my favorite parts about being a practicing witch is all the holidays there are to celebrate with delicious food customs - including all the changing of the seasons. For Spring, we incorporate dishes representing fertility such as eggs and rabbits because this is the time to plant seeds for the future - both literal planting of seeds in the garden for fall harvest, and more metaphorical seeds. New beginnings, fresh starts, new projects, etc.

Hot Cross Buns are one of those traditional Spring Equinox foods. These sweet, spiced yeast rolls have a lot of crossover in their use in Christianity, specifically being incorporated in Good Friday and Easter celebrations. Typically filled with dried fruit, and topped with a sweet icing, these buns make for a wonderful sweet breakfast or even an after meal dessert.

My Hot Cross Buns are filled with raisins or mixed fruit depending on what I have on hand, orange peel, and cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. But I mix up the spices as desired to go with whatever I’m in the mood!

You’ll notice in the recipe below that I give a couple of different options for yeast amounts and proving times. This is because I’ve found that using less fast action dried yeast and a longer proving time with additional kneading creates a more complex, less yeasty flavor profile. This batch pictured I let prove nearly 24hrs on the kitchen counter. Why did it take so long? Partly because the ambient temperature in my house is pretty cool, partly because I used all-purpose flour which doesn’t rise as well as bread flour, and partly because I used a very small amount of yeast. This is personal preference though! You absolutely can use the full amount of yeast and a warmer proving environment to cut the proving time down to 3 hours or less. Make sure to read the notes in the recipe for tips and options!

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Hot Cross Buns

Yield: 8

Author: Vivian Kyle

Prep time: 40 MinCook time: 25 MinInactive time: 3 HourTotal time: 4 H & 4 M

A classic for Spring Equinox and Easter celebrations, these English sweet spiced yeast buns are a delicious addition to any celebration.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk (warmed to 110°F for quicker rise, or room temp for longer proving)
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 standard packet) OR 1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast (see notes - you can half the yeast and do a longer prove time for a better flavor development. Use the full 2 1/4 teaspoon if you want a quicker bread)
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine, I use light)
• 5 Tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 5 pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3 and 1/2 cups (435g) all-purpose flour or bread flour
• (spooned and leveled, or preferably weighed for accuracy)
• 1 cup (140g) raisins, currents, or mixed chopped dried fruit 
• Zest of 1 medium orange

Flour Cross

• 1/2 cup (60g) all-purpose or bread flour
• 5-7 Tablespoons (70-100ml) water

Orange Icing

• 1/4 cup orange juice or juice of 1 small orange
• 1 cup (120g) confectioners sugar

Instructions

Prepare the Dough

1. Whisk the milk, granulated sugar, and yeast together in a large mixing bowl for your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Allow to sit 5 minutes or until frothy.
2. Add the brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, eggs, salt, spices, and 1 cup (120g) of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat on low speed for 30 secs - 1 min until the mixture looks somewhat uniform, scraping down the sides with a spatula to ensure all is incorporated in the wet mix.
3. Add the remaining flour. Beat at a medium speed until the dough starts to come together. Slowly add the dry fruit and orange zest to allow it to incorporate without clumping.  Continue beating at a medium speed until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.  This is a soft and sticky dough, so it likely won't pull all the way from the bowl, but it will come together and start looking very uniform.  
4. **Optional** Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for one or two minutes to help the gluten form and the dough become springy and elastic.  This step helps especially if you're using less yeast and a longer prove and/or using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour.

First Rise

1. Form dough into a ball. Place dough in a large greased bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil, and cover bowl with cling wrap.
2. Allow dough to rise until doubled in size. For a faster rise, place in a warm location, or for a slower rise place on the counter or the refrigerator. The slower the prove the better the flavor, so I prefer to use less yeast and prove for longer. In a warm location, it should take about 2 hours to double in size. In the fridge it could take 12+ hours

Second Rise

1. After dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently punch down.  
2. Divide dough into 8 approximately equal sized portions. 
3. Shape each of the 8 portions into a smooth ball by rolling on a non-floured surface with a cupped hand, pinching the bottom to close.  
4. Arrange the balls on two baking pans or cookie sheets  lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner, leaving room for the buns to double in size without touching each other.  
5. Cover with cling film or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise until puffy, approximately 1 hour.

Add the Cross & Bake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C)
2. Whisk together Flour Cross ingredients, adding the water slowly as you whisk.  Just add enough water that a thick, pipeable paste is formed, you may not need all the water. 
3. Spoon paste into a piping bag or ziploc bag.  Snip off a small piece of the corner.  Pipe a cross onto each bun, starting and lifting off on the bun so that the paste does not drip down and puddle on the sides of the bun.  
4. Bake the rolls for 23-30 minutes until golden brown on the top, rotating halfway through for an even bake.  

Icing

1. Prepare the icing in a small bowl by slowly adding the confectioners sugar to the orange juice, whisking as you add in the sugar until the desired thickness is achieved. 
2. For a sweeter bun, make a thicker icing with more confectioners sugar and brush on.  For a less sweet bun, a thinner icing with less confectioners sugar can be drizzled or brushed on.  
3. Enjoy!

Notes:

Special Tools: Glass Mixing Bowls | Stand Mixer | Bun Pans

Fast & Slow Options: For a faster bake, use the full 2 1/4 teaspoons of fast active yeast. For a slower bake with a more complex and less yeasty flavor profile, you can cut the yeast in half and prove overnight either in a cool room or in the refrigerator.

Mid-Rise Kneading: If you're trying a longer prove with less yeast, you can help activate the gluten by taking it out a couple of times to knead for a minute. I typically leave it in the bowl when I do this rather than turning it out. 

Speeding up Prove Time: Need to cut down on the rising time? Use bread flour and prove in a warm location. I sometimes even cover a heating pad with a dish towel and place under my bowl of dough, covering the whole thing with another towel to keep in the warmth.

Flour Types: All-purpose flour works fine for this recipe and it's what I typically use! But for an even better rise and less dense bread, bread flour will really add to the final product. 

Additives: I use whatever dried fruit I have on hand and adjust the spices accordingly. Some ideas:

• Dried sweetened cranberries with dried apricots instead or in addition to raisins
• Dried figs with pecan pieces
• Dried dates with walnut pieces and cinnamon, cloves, ginger, & nutmeg
• Combination of raisins, currants, or sultanas and mixed peel
• 
  

Whole Milk: I never keep milk on hand, but reconstituted dried milk works just as well. You can buy dried whole milk, or if you only have lighter milks you can replace a tablespoon of the milk with a tablespoon of melted butter. Heavy whipping cream also would work as a replacement. 

Cross - Flour vs. Icing: I prefer the flour cross aesthetically, but you can also skip the flour cross and pipe it on after baking/cooling with icing. You can use the orange juice and powdered sugar icing if desired, but reduce the liquid in the recipe so that it's a very thick icing that's pipeable. 

Do I Need a Stand Mixer? Absolutely not! You can definitely stir the dough ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon to combine and then turn out onto a floured surface to knead. It will take a lot more elbow grease, but is completely doable!

Search Recipes