English Hot Cross Buns Recipes

TRADITIONAL HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. In a large bowl, combine eggs, butter, sugar, salt, spices, yeast mixture and 3 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in currants, raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky)., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide and shape into 30 balls. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover with kitchen towels; let rise in a warm place until doubled, 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°., Using a sharp knife, cut a cross on top of each bun. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk and water; brush over tops. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool slightly., For icing, in a small bowl, mix confectioners' sugar and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Pipe a cross on top of each bun. Serve warm.

BRITISH HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Heat milk in a small saucepan to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C); pour milk into a bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup flour and yeast into milk; cover with plastic wrap and let stand until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• Place 1 2/3 cups flour, 1/3 cup white sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg into the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment; turn mixer on for a few seconds on low speed to combine. Place butter into flour mixture; mix on low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
• Place yeast mixture and egg into flour mixture; mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Stop mixer and allow to rest for 10 minutes; mix on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. At slowest speed, mix currants and citron into dough until evenly distributed, about 1 minute.
• Butter the inside of a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turn to butter dough on all sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rough square, and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round bun; place on prepared baking sheet. Press a cross into each bun with the back of a knife; cover buns with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake buns in the preheated oven until deep golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Bring 2 tablespoons white sugar with 1 tablespoon water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove buns from oven; lift parchment and transfer buns to a wire rack. Brush immediately with sugar glaze; allow buns to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• Stir confectioners' sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons water together in a small bowl; heat icing mixture in microwave until smooth and warm to the touch, about 10 seconds. Place icing in a sandwich bag, snip off one corner of the bag, and pipe in a cross over fully cooled buns; allow icing to dry for 30 minutes.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Combine the water and milk in a medium saucepan and warm over low heat until about 100 degrees F (but no more than 110 degrees). Remove from heat and sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar and flour over the surface of the liquid. Set aside without stirring, until foamy and rising up the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
• Whisk the butter, egg yolk and vanilla into the yeast mixture.
• Whisk the flour, the remaining sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and stir in the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon to make a thick, shaggy, and slightly sticky dough. Stir in currants. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes. Shape into a ball.
• Brush the inside of a large bowl with butter. Put dough in bowl, turning to coat lightly with butter. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour 30 minutes. (If you have a marker, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time to help you keep track.)
• To form the rolls: Butter a 9 by 14-inch baking pan. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16 by 8 inches. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, about 2 ounces each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper. (If you don't have a scale, divide the dough in half lengthwise, then in half crosswise. Cut each of those four sections into 3 equal-sized rolls.)
• Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Remove the plastic wrap and brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg. Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls registers 190 degrees F, about 25 minutes.
• For the glaze: Stir together confectioners' sugar, milk, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Transfer icing to a zip bag or pastry bag, and make a small cut in the corner of the bag. Ice buns in a thick cross shape over the top of the warm buns.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Put flour, warm water, 1/4 cup white sugar, egg, egg white, butter, yeast, milk powder, and salt in a bread maker and start on dough program.
• When 5 minutes of kneading are left, add currants and cinnamon. Leave in the machine until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Punch down dough on a floured surface, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Shape into 12 balls and place in a greased 9x12-inch pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Mix egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl; brush on dough.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.
• Mix together confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Place glaze in a piping bag or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off; pipe a cross onto each roll.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Making the dough
• Make the panettone dough as directed on page 163.
• Finishing the dough and shaping
• Add the dried fruit and spices to the dough, then mix on the lowest speed with the dough hook, or by hand, for 1 or 2 minutes to evenly distribute the fruit. If the fruit was soaked overnight, drain off any excess liquid and fold the fruit in by hand. In this case, you may need to add about 3 1/2 tablespoons (1 oz / 28.5 g) of bread flour to compensate for the moisture in the fruit.
• Use a wet bowl scraper or spatula to transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour. Divide the dough into 2- or 3-ounce (56.5 to 85 g) portions. Shape each into a round roll (see page 25), and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Mist the dough with spray oil, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and proof for about 60 minutes, until the dough just begins to swell.
• Baking
• About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Brush each bun with egg wash just before baking.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 8 to 12 minutes. The total baking time will depend on the size of the buns. The buns should be golden brown on all sides and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom, and the internal temperature should be about 185°F (85°C) in the center. The buns will feel slightly soft and tender if squeezed, but will firm up as they cool.
• Cool the buns for about 15 minutes, then drizzle or pipe a cross of fondant glaze on top of each bun. Cool for an additional 10 minutes before serving.

SPICED HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Put the flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1 tsp salt into a large mixing bowl with the spices and dried fruit and mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk, 50ml warm water, the beaten egg and the melted butter. Mix everything together to form a dough - start with a wooden spoon and finish with your hands. If the dough is too dry, add a little more warm water; if it's too wet, add more flour.
• Knead in the bowl or on a floured surface until the dough becomes smooth and springy. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in size - this will take about 1 hr depending on how warm the room is.
• Tip the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for a few secs, then divide into 12 even portions - I roll my dough into a long sausage shape, then quarter and divide each quarter into 3 pieces. Shape each portion into a smooth round and place on a baking sheet greased with butter, leaving some room between each bun for it to rise.
• Use a small, sharp knife to score a cross on the top of each bun, then cover with the damp tea towel again and leave in a warm place to prove for 20 mins until almost doubled in size again. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• When the buns are ready to bake, mix the plain flour with just enough water to give you a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag (or into a plastic food bag and snip the corner off) and pipe a white cross into the crosses you cut earlier. Bake for 12-15 mins until the buns are golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. While still warm, melt the granulated sugar with 1 tbsp water in a small pan, then brush over the buns.