Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Hot Cross Buns freshly baked on wooden board.

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An old-fashioned recipe for sweetly spiced and soft Hot Cross Buns.

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Rising time1

Total Time1 50

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Australian, British

Servings: buns

Calories: 283kcal

Author: Libby Hakim

Equipment

25 x 30cm (or slightly larger) baking pan
small ziplock bag or piping bag
pastry brush

Ingredients

670 grams plain flour or bread flour (4 ¾ cups)
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons mixed spice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
60 grams butter, chopped into cubes (3 tablespoons)
75 grams caster sugar (⅓ cup)
7 grams dry yeast (1 sachet)
1 egg (70 gram egg)
125 ml Greek yoghurt (½ cup)
250 ml warm water (1 cup)
225 grams mixed dried fruit (1 ⅓ cups)

For crosses:

60 grams plain flour (½ cup)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
¼ cup cold water

For glaze:

2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

Grease the baking pan.
Sift flour, salt and spices into a mixing bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour and spice mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs (and no lumps of butter are left).
Stir in the caster sugar and yeast.
In a separate bowl, add the egg, yoghurt and warm water. Whisk with a fork to combine. Add to the dry ingredients and mix to a dough.
Knead dough until smooth, soft and stretchy (but not sticky). This should take about 5 minutes on low speed in a stand mixer with a dough hook or using your hands on the kitchen bench. If the dough is sticky, add a small amount of plain flour and continue to knead. If the dough seems too dry (and isn't holding together) add a small amount of warm water and continue to knead.
Add the mixed fruit and knead until the fruit is evenly distributed in the dough.
Divide into 15 equal portions. (If you have kitchen scales: weighing the dough, divide by 15 and then weigh each portion to ensure accuracy). Roll each portion into a ball.
Place balls into the baking pan, organising in 3 rows of 5.
Cover the baking pan with oiled clingwrap (oiled side down) and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Halfway into the rise, pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius/430 degrees fahrenheit (fan-forced).
When the rise is complete, make the cross mixture by combining all cross ingredients into a smooth paste. Place into a small ziplock bag or piping bag and cut off the tip so you have an approximately 3mm wide hole. Pipecrosses onto buns, going at a slow and steady pace.
Bake for 5 minutes and then reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees celsius/390 degrees fahrenheit. Bake for a further 12-15 minutes or until the buns are a deep golden brown colour.
About 5 minutes before the buns are ready to be removed from the oven, make the glaze by combining the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan, bringing to a simmer and simmering for 2 minutes.
Brush tops of buns with glaze, using a pastry brush, immediately after removing the buns from the oven.
Remove buns from the pan once they have cooled a little and allow to cool on a wire tray.
Serve while warm or allow to cool and then serve split, toasted and buttered.

Notes

Storing: Store at room temperature. Best enjoyed within 24 hours of baking.

Freezing: Freeze, well wrapped, for up to a few months.

Nutrition: The nutrition information is an automatically generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Nutrition