13 April, 2017
Easter Hot Cross Buns
It is an old English Easter tradition – Hot Cross Buns.
I tried many recipes over the past years and always comes back to this one I found on the Wild Yeast Blog. I changed the recipe slightly and reduced the sugar.
These buns a fluffy and full of flavor. The spices give them a great taste. And the long resting time at cold temperature helps to develop the flavor of the spices and the fruit.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Traditional Hot Cross Buns with a rich flavor
Ingredients
Sponge:
- 35 g flour
- 190 g milk at about 35 degrees C
- 9 g sugar
- 7 g instant yeast
Dough:
- 170 g flour
- 170 g whole wheat flour
- 60 g butter, softened
- 25 g sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 g (1/2 t.) salt
- ½ t. ground allspice
- ½ t. ground cinnamon
- ¼ t. ground nutmeg
- ¼ t. ground ginger
- 14 g (1 T.) water
- 114 g dried currants
- 20 g candied orange peel, finely chopped
- 20 g candied lemon peel, finely chopped
Piping Paste:
- 85 g pastry flour
- 25 g vegetable oil
- 60 g water
Glaze:
- 30 g sugar
- 30 g water
Instructions
- For the sponge mix all ingredients until well combined and let rest at room temperature. I let it rest for 2-3 hours, but you can use it already after 45 min.
- For the final dough mix the flour, sugar, salt, spices and butter. It is a very dry mixture. Add the eggs and mix well. Add all of the sponge and mix with the hook on your kitchen machine for about 4-5 minutes and check if the dough is soft and a still a bit wet. Add some water if necessary and mix for another 4 minutes. The gluten should be well developed.
- Add the fruits and mix until well combined but do not over-mix.
- Let the dough rest for some more hours. Fold the dough after each ½ hour.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces of about 70g each and form small balls out of it.
- Place them with some space to each other on a baking tray and cover the tray with some plastic wrap. Let them rest again. I put them in the fridge over night. but you can put them on a warm place for about 30-45 min.
- Mix the ingredients for the paste and pipe a cross on top of the buns.
- Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 200 C.
- In the meantime prepare the glaze by mixing sugar and water.
- Brush the glaze on the hot buns directly when they come out of the oven.