One of my favourite Easter treats are hot cross buns…I love the combination of spiciness and the soft juicy raisins. I have never made my own hot cross buns but I decided that this year I really need to try a batch as they are just basically spicy rolls like taste like heaven…how hard can that be. I can now say not hard at all…you just need patience…like with all dough it needs time to prove so this is not a quick recipe.
I made my hot cross bun dough in the Thermomix but you can easily adapt the recipe and make it by hand or in a kitchen stand with a dough hook attached.
Variations
You can add all sorts of things to the basic dough depending on what you like. I added crimson raisins because those are my favourite kind but you can add sultana’s, currents, cranberries, etc. If you want to be decadent, you can add chocolate chips – white, milk or dark. You could even pair the chocolate with other flavours, such as dark choc and orange or white choc and cranberry… Let your imagination go wild!
L-R : Hot cross buns about to go in the oven; Hot cross buns just out of the oven; Close up of hot cross buns (photos taken with my iPhone)
Ingredients
- 10 g instant yeast (1 std sachet)
- 620 g white bread flour
- 50 g caramel sugar
- 380 g milk
- 11/2 tsp salt
- 1 - 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 - 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 - 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 60 g Butter
- 1 large egg
- 200 g raisins
- 90 g flour
- 100 g water
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sugar
Method
- Measure flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, mixed spice and butter into TM Bowl and
- mix 5 sec/sp 8. Set aside.
- Add milk to TM bowl and heat 3 min/37 °C/sp 1 or until temperature is reached.
- Add yeast along with 1 tsp of sugar, to the TM Bowl with the warmed milk. Mix 5 sec/sp 3. Leave it to sit in the bowl for 10-15mins until it becomes frothy.
- Add flour mix and the egg to the TM bowl and mix 15 sec/sp 7 or until all ingredients are combined.
- With the lid and measuring cup on, weigh raisins on lid.
- Put TM onto Dough and knead for 3 mins. When there is about 1min to go remove measuring cup so raisins can fall into bowl. Help this process if necessary.
- Set dough mix aside in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a clean cloth and stand in a warm place until dough doubles in size. Depending on the weather this can take from 40-60mins. I put my oven on 35 °C and place the bowl in there if it is not a warm day.
- Preheat oven to 200 °C
- Punch down dough and then knead well. You can either put it back in your TM bowl and put on Dough and knead 3 mins or knead well by hand for about 4 mins.
- Divide dough into 12 - 14 even sized portions. Form into balls and place them close together in a greased baking dish.
- Stand in a warm place to prove for 20-30mins or until buns are 1 1/2 times their original size.
- Place all paste ingredients into clean TM bowl and mix 30 sec/sp 4. Alternatively add all ingredients into a small bowl and mix by hand.
- Pour into piping bag and pipe crosses onto buns.
- Bake for 20 mins or until golden brown.
- Place water and sugar into TM Bowl and cook 2 mins/100 °C/sp 4. Alternatively this can be done on the stove if you only have one TM bowl.
- Brush buns with hot sugar syrup while they are still warm.
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