Category Archives: Hot Cross Buns

These things are so easy to make, you’ll want to bake up a batch every Friday (or Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday…). The higher gluten flour you can find, the better for these. If you have some or have a source, terrific. If not, some bread flour from the supermarket will still turn out excellent buns.

As you can see from the photograph, I didn’t add any raisins, despite what the recipe called for. What can I say, it was a busy day and I didn’t have time to run out. However I should emphasize that many different kinds of dried and/or candied fruit will work well in these. Currents are very English, citron is very hip, dried apricot is very, um…Louisville. Swap them in and out to your heart’s content.

Start by adding your dry ingredients to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle.

Then whisk your liquid ingredients in a medium bowl.

Give the dry ingredients a stir to blend them, then add the liquids all at once.

Mix just long enough to moisten them…

…and switch to the dough hook. Knead several minutes until the dough comes together in a soft ball, about like this:

If it’s too wet, just add a few tablespoons of extra flour. The dough will be rather sticky and will cling to the bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer back on and add the soft butter. Once it’s all incorporated, add the dried and/or candied fruit.

Let the dough rise for about two hours or until doubled in volume, then shape into rolls according to the directions in the post How to Shape Buns and Rolls over to the right. Cover with greased plastic wrap,

Proof the buns for another hour or so, until the balls are again almost doubled, but still spring back a bit when you poke them. Score with x’s on the top, paint with egg wash if you wish (I didn’t, since I kinda like the flat, rustic finish) and bake for 15 minutes at 350. You should have something like this:

The scores don’t always stay straight or perpendicular, but what the hey, the icing’s coming next, right?

Right.

I’m normally a long-fermentation snob, but frankly with all the spices in these little breads, it’s mighty hard to pick up the subtleties that a long rise offers. A full tablespoon of instant yeast blows this dough up in no time — foom — which means from start to glaze, you can have these done in about four hours.

1 lb. 6.5 ounces (4 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cups warm milk
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs, warm
4 tablespoons soft butter
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins

Put flour, yeast spices and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the beater (paddle) attachment. Turn on low to blend. In a medium bowl combine milk, honey, eggs and whisk lightly to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of the mixer as it’s running and continue to stir until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Turn off the mixer and switch to the dough hook. Turn the mixer up to medium and add the butter and raisins. Knead 5-7 minutes until the dough comes together in a soft ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (about 2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into 18 pieces (they should weigh a little over 3 ounces each). Shape the pieces into buns according to the How to Shape Buns and Rolls instructions under the bread how-to’s on the right. Place the rolls on parchment-lined sheet pans and spray lightly with cooking spray. Cover gently with greased plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, about another 45 minutes (they should be puffy, but the dough should spring back some when you poke it).

Paint the buns with egg wash and score the tops of them in a criss-cross pattern. Bake for about 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack. When completely cooled, drizzle on a simple icing of 2 cups powdered sugar and 1/4 water or milk in a cross shape.