Hot Cross Buns have been in our stores since just after Christmas but as Easter is nearing, I thought I give making some at home a try. You might be thinking why would you do that, the store bought ones are so delicious. Oh, I know they are but have you seen the ingredients. If you haven’t looked lately, check out this awesome and informative article by my friend Francine Bell from Additive Free Kids. Francine is one of Australia’s leading independent voices in Additives and Preservatives.
Anyways, a few of our awesome email community sent me some hot cross bun recipes to try. Katherine sent me this oldie and said perhaps I could give it a make over. So below this image is my make over.
Our family loved them so much that I have since made another batch.
Ingredients
Dough
- 300ml coconut milk (I used Coco Quench Coconut Milk. You could use normal milk or another mylk source)
- 1 tblspn dried yeast
- 3 tblspns raw honey (check out your local bee farmers for the best honey. How’s is from the Griffin Family Crescent Head – Delicious!)
- 600g wholemeal plain flour
- 1 tpsn cinnamon
- 1/2 tspn nutmeg
- 1 tblspn grated fresh ginger
- 50g sultanas
- 30g goji berries (soaked for 5 minutes and drained)
- zest of one orange
- zest of one lemon
- 100g butter, room temperature, cut into small cubes
- 1 egg
Cross Paste
- Thin slices of apple as your crosses – this idea is from Georgia from Well Nourished – check out her Hot Cross Buffins recipe here.
Glaze
- 1 teaspoon of raw sugar
1 teaspoon water
1/4 tspn cinnamon
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
- Line a baking tray
- Heat milk over medium heat until it’s warm
- Turn off heat and stir in yeast and honey
- Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes – the mixture should froth a bit*
- Mix until combined the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sultanas, goji berries, orange and lemon zest
- Turn the flour, spice and fruit mix into a food processor
- Add in the yeasty sweet milk mixture, the butter and egg and combine until it forms a dough (there will be still small chunks of butter)
- Place dough into a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and place it on the stove top to allow it to prove – it will become really soft and supple and increase in size
- Wet hands and grab a good handful of the mixture, roll into balls
- Place balls on baking tray, cover with the tea towel again
- Leave to prove for another 25-35 minutes until doubled in size
- Press the apple slices into the top to make the cross
- Bake in the oven 25-30 minutes or until golden on top
- Mix up the ingredients of the glaze
- Take the buns out of the oven and whilst hot, brush with the glaze
- Allow to cool slightly on the tray, then cool on a wire wrack (or slide open gently whilst warm and butter and eat, YUM!)
*if yeast doesn’t froth in the milk mixture (mine didn’t), in a different bowl add 1/4 cup warm water, 1 tblspn yeast, 1/2 tspn of sugar and let this sit for 10 mins). Then add it into the mixture when you add the milk.
I haven’t tried these out Gluten Free yet, but I think you could sub out the wholemeal flour for a mix buckwheat, rice and a standard gluten free flour. Let me know if you try this out and how it goes.
Leave me a comment and let me know how your family enjoyed these hot cross buns.