Hot Cross Buns Recipe (2024)

Buns:

• ▢ 3 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast (9 grams) , Note 1, CHECK still active!
• ▢ 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk, warm , full fat or low fat (Note 2)
• ▢ 4 1/4 cups (640g) bread flour (or plain / all purpose) (Note 3)
• ▢ 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• ▢ 2 tsp All Spice OR Mixed Spice (Note 4)
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups (210g) sultanas (Note 4)
• ▢ 1 – 2 oranges, zest only (Note 4)
• ▢ 50g / 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ▢ 1 egg , at room temperature

Extra Flour for dough

• ▢ 1/4 cup (35g) Extra bread flour

Crosses:

• ▢ 1/2 cup (75g) flour (any white flour)
• ▢ 5 tbsp water

Glaze:

• ▢ 1 tbsp apricot jam (Note 7)
• ▢ 2 tsp water

• Mix dry – Place flour, yeast, sugar, all spice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Briefly mix with stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

• Add wet – Add butter, milk, egg, sultanas and zest.

• Standmixer: Mix for 5 minutes until a smooth elastic dough forms. Start on speed 2 then once the ingredients are combined, increase to speed 4. After 1 minute, add extra flour if required, just enough so dough comes away from side of bowl when mixing and doesn't stick terribly to your fingers. (Note 5).

• Hand kneading: Alternatively, dust a work surface with flour and knead by hand for 10 minutes.

• Dough is kneaded enough when it's smooth and does not break when stretched – see photos & video for before/after comparison.

Rise #1:

• Leave dough in the bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in a warm, wind free place to rise until doubled in size. This will take anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how warm it is – see Note 6.

Forming Balls (watch video, it’s helpful):

• Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.

• Remove cling wrap and punch dough to deflate.

• Dust work surface with flour, place dough on work surface, shape into a log – this will deflate the air. Cut into 12 equal pieces.

• Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface.

• Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.

Rise # 2:

• Spray a piece of cling wrap lightly with oil (any), then loosely place over the tray.

• Return tray to warm place and leaver 30 – 45 minutes, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).

• Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).

Crosses:

• Mix flour and water until a thick runny paste forms – see video for thickness required.

• Spoon into a round 3 mm piping bag or small ziplock bag then snip corner.

• Remove the cling wrap and pipe crosses onto the buns. Go slow so it hugs the curves.

Baking/Glaze:

• Bake in preheated oven (180°C/350°F) for 22 minutes, or until the surface is a deep golden brown. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.

• Meanwhile, place jam and water in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Mix to combine.

• Remove buns from oven. Use overhang to lift buns onto a cooling rack.

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• Brush with jam mixture while warm. Allow to cool to warm before serving.

1. Yeast:Use any yeast labelledinstant or rapid rise yeast. I useLowan Dried Instant Yeast(red tube, sold at Woolies/Coles baking aisle).

YEAST CHECK to ensure your yeast is still active (unless you just bought/opened a fresh bottle): mix 1 teaspoon yeast with 1/2 tsp white sugar and 1/4 cup warm water (40C /100-110F). Leave 10 minutes. Foamy and creamy, smells yeasty = yeast is good. If no foam, it’s dead. Time to get another!

Normal yeast / active dry yeast – same ingredients, but start as follows:

• mix yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and all the warm milk in the bowl, then leave 5 – 10 minutes until surface gets foamy;
• add all the other ingredients (including remaining sugar minus the 2 tsp used above), then mix/knead per recipe; and
• proceed with recipe as written.

Fresh yeast (comes in a block that crumbles, not powder like dry yeast) – use 27g/ 0.9 oz. Crumble it into the milk and let stand until it foams up, same as using active dry yeast per above.

2. Milk warmth – Scalding hot milk kills the yeast. I heat it for 45 seconds on high in the microwave. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be pleasant? Good. It’s not too hot or too cold!

3. Breads are also fluffier and more tender if made with bread flour rather than normal flour. However, this recipe works great with normal white flour too.

Flour quantity – differs all year round, and with different flour brands. Start with 4 1/4 cups to be safe (better to start sticky and add more flour as required), expect to add an extra 1/4 cup. DO NOT add too much flour – results in dry dough = tough buns.

4. Flavourings

• Spices – All Spice is my default, but I also use Mixed Spice too and no one would ever know the difference. Sub with: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg
• Sultanas: Some recipes say to add sultanas after the dough has been kneaded or risen. If you do this, you’ll find it very hard to disperse them evenly throughout the dough. By adding them before kneading, some do get squished. But it’s not noticeable in the end result.
• Orange –use 2 oranges if you want a more prominent orange flavour, or switch for 1/2 cup candied citrus peel.
• Choc chips!Use 2 cups instead of the sultanas (any more and you end up with quite a gooey melted chocolate centre!)

5. Dough: Takes ~5 min, speed 2 with KitchenAide. Add the extra flour if required so the dough comes away from the bowl – the trick is to use the minimum to keep the dough soft so it rises easily (= fluffy buns), but just enough so the dough doesn’t massively stick to your fingers (should be bit sticky though). Tough dough from too much flour = tough buns!

6. WARM PLACE for dough: This is what I do all year round – use my dryer. Laugh – but try it! Run the (empty) dryer for 1 – 2 minutes, then place the bowl inside. If you do that, the dough will rise in 40 minutes. Even if it’s snowing outside!

7. Jam – sub with any jam to get the glossy finish. Apricot is best because it’s clear(ish). Red jams will have more colour. OR sub with honey or golden syrup (follow same amount and directions). Maple syrup – skip the water.

8. STORING / MAKE AHEAD:

• Make today, bake tomorrow –Do Rise #1 then follow steps to form the balls per the recipe and place in tray, ready to do Rise #2. Except put it in the fridge instead. Leave overnight. Then remove from fridge and put it in a very warm place. Once the fridge chill is gone and the dough is back at room temperature, it will then start the Rise #2 as per the recipe. It takes 2.5 – 3.5 hrs to finish Rise #2 after taking it out of the fridge. Then bake per recipe! (Bonus: They are even tastier if you make ahead because the dough develops flavour overnight!)
• Best served on day it’s baked:As with all homemade bread, it is best served on the day it’s baked. Stays fresher and softer if you use bread flour.
• For the day after, reheating makes all the difference to make them soft and moist again – 15 sec in the microwave! These freeze great, then just defrost. To reheat batches, I pop them on a tray and cover with foil (to avoid the surface getting too crisp), then reheat at 160C/320F for 8 minutes or so.

Buns:

• ▢ 1 tablespoon dry yeast – any type (active dry, rapid rise, instant) (Note 1)
• ▢ 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (superfine sugar), or sub with normal white sugar
• ▢ 1/2cup (125 ml) warm water (Note 2)
• ▢ 1 cup (250 ml) milk, lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
• ▢ 4 cups (600g) bread flour + extra for dusting (Note 3)
• ▢ 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• ▢ 2 tsp All Spice OR Mixed Spice
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 – 2 oranges , zest only (Note 4)
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups (210g) sultanas (Note 4)
• ▢ 50g/ 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ▢ 2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten with fork

Crosses:

• ▢ 1/2 cup flour, any white flour
• ▢ 5 tbsp water

Glaze:

• ▢ 1 tbsp apricot jam
• ▢ 2 tsp water

• Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.

• Place flour, remaining sugar, salt and spices in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

• Make a well in the centre. Add remaining Buns ingredients and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.

• Mix until combined with wooden spoon – it will be like a thick muffin batter. Not pourable, but thick and sticky.

Rise #1:

• Leave dough in the bowl, cover with a wet (clean) tea towel and place in a warm place to rise for around 1 1/2 – 2 hours. See Note 5 for how I do this (you will laugh – but it works every time!). The dough will triple in size and be bubbly on the surface.

Forming Balls (watch video, it’s helpful):

• Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.

• Remove tea towel and punch dough to deflate.

• Dust work surface with flour, place dough on work surface. Dust top of dough then knead lightly (to deflating air) and shape into a log. Cut into 12 equal pieces.

• Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface.

• Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.

Rise # 2:

• Spray a piece of cling wrap lightly with oil (any), then place over the tray.

• Return tray to warm place and leave for 45 min – 1 hour, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).

• Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types).

Crosses:

• Mix flour and water until a runny paste forms – see video for thickness required.

• Spoon into a round 3 mm piping bag or small ziplock bag then snip corner.

• Remove the cling wrap and pipe crosses onto the buns. Go slow so it hugs the curves.

Baking/Glaze:

• Bake for 22 minutes, or until the surface is a deep golden brown. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.

• Meanwhile, place jam and water in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Mix to combine.

• Remove buns from oven. Brush with jam mixture while warm.

• Use overhang to lift buns onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool to warm before serving.

1. Yeast – 1 tbsp dry yeast = 9 grams

I use Lowan Dried Instant Yeast (red tube, sold at Woolies/Coles baking aisle) which technically doesn’t need to be frothed before using but there’s no harm in doing it, and I do it out of habit + also because then the same steps apply to any dried yeast. If you are using the packets, you can just use 2 x 7 g sachets, that is 4 1/2 tsp which is slightly more than 1 tablespoon but it works just fine. Doesn’t taste yeasty and makes it rise a touch more. Otherwise, measure out 1 tablespoon.

If your yeast doesn’t go frothy, sorry to say it’s not active so your buns won’t rise. 🙁

To use fresh yeast (comes in a block that crumbles, not powder like dry yeast), use 27g/ 0.9 oz. You don’t actually need to dissolve it in liquid like I do with the dry, but there’s no harm in doing it and so for the sake of consistency, crumble it in and let stand until it foams up, same as using dry yeast.

2. Milk – Scalding hot milk and hot water kills the yeast. I heat milk for 45 seconds on high in the microwave, and use warm tap water. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be pleasant? Good. It’s not too hot or too cold!

3. Flour – Breads are also fluffier and more tender if made with bread flour rather than normal flour. However, this recipe works great with normal white flour too.

4. Flavourings

• Spices – All Spice is my default, but I also use Mixed Spice too and no one would ever know the difference. Sub with: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg
• Sultanas: Some recipes say to add sultanas after the dough has been kneaded or risen. If you do this, you’ll find it very hard to disperse them evenly throughout the dough. By adding them before kneading, some do get squished. But it’s not noticeable in the end result.
• Orange –use 2 oranges if you want a more prominent orange flavour, or switch for 1/2 cup candied citrus peel.

5. WARM PLACE for dough: This is what I do all year round – use my dryer. Laugh – but try it! Run the (empty) dryer for 1 – 2 minutes, then place the bowl inside. If you do that, the dough will rise in 1.5 hours. Even if it’s snowing outside!

6. STORING / MAKE AHEAD: As with all homemade bread, it is best served on the day it’s made. The No-Knead version doesn’t keep quite as well as the kneaded version – dries out more. For the day after, reheating makes all the difference to make them soft and moist again – 15 sec in the microwave! These freeze great, then just defrost. To reheat batches, I pop them on a tray and cover with foil (to avoid the surface getting too crisp), then reheat at 160C/320F for 8 minutes or so.Or cut in half and toast.