Hot Cross Buns
Last year I made hot cross buns, I liked them so much that they have become an Easter tradition. The recipe I made last year was really good, but I’m always on the hunt for one that could be better. I use King Arthur Flour and love their recipes. My go to dinner rolls are from their site and they are the best, last years hot cross buns were also a King Arthur recipe. In reading over this recipe I noticed that there is very little rising time involved, 45 minutes for the first rise and 20-30 minutes for the second rise, thats it. I chose to make them on a warm day to make the rise that much easier. The dough comes together quickly, it’s a very wet dough and now I know why they say to use a scoop and plop them in muffin tins, it does give the option of making them free form in a round pan (I chose that option). If you make them be warned the dough is hard to handle, it’s very sticky and soft. I first oiled my hands to try to form the balls and then changed to flour and let me tell you my hands were a sticky mess. I can deal with that but it makes forming the dough balls difficult. The recipe makes 18, I made them larger and it yielded 14. They also are not exactly round, sort of mishapen but they are very soft and fluffy.
Both recipe’s are similar in technique, I like the use of potato flour in these rolls, potato always yields a very soft moist roll, the flavor is good, however I liked the look of the other rolls I made more. Maybe I will play around with this recipe and see if I can’t get them to look better because they sure are delicious. So pillowy soft, a wonderful recipe and after tasting them I forgot about the sticky messy dough.
Ready to rise
Hot Cross Buns
Recipe from King Arthur Flour site
1 cup raisins, golden raisins or dried fruit (I used mixed dried fruit soaked in rum)
2 tbs rum or water
3 3/4 cup all purpose flour (Because the dough was so wet I added 3 tbs of flour to make it cohesive)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup potato flour or potato flakes
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (next time I will use 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 3/4 tsp cinnamon)
1/4 tsp allspice
2 large eggs
4 tbs melted butter
1 3/4 cup lukewarm water
Glaze (Optional but recommended)
1/3 cup sugar
4 tsp water
1 tbs vanilla extract
Icing for cross
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 tbs soft butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs cream or milk
- Mix together the raisins and rum or water in a non-reactive bowl. For best absorption, use a microwave-safe bowl, cover the bowl, and heat for 1 minute, or until the mixture is simmering. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool to lukewarm.
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Stir in the Princess Cake Flavor (if you’re using it), eggs, water, melted butter and the raisin mixture (including any remaining soaking liquid), then beat at high speed for 1 minute. The dough will be cohesive, but not smooth; that’s OK.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rest/rise in a warm place for 45 minutes; it’ll get a bit puffy, but won’t really increase much in size.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 18 muffin cups. If you have just one 12-cup muffin pan, use aluminum foil cups for the remainder of the dough; or make free-form buns, and place them in an 8″ round cake pan.
- To make the glaze: Stir together the glaze ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl, then heat in the microwave until the sugar dissolves when you stir the mixture. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes.
- Use a muffin scoop or 1/4-cup measure to fill the muffin cups; each should be about 3/4 full. If you have a scale, use about 77g (2 3/4 ounces) dough in each cup.
- Brush the lukewarm glaze atop the shaped buns.
- Let the buns rise, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until they’ve risen just over the top of the cups.
- Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and quickly turn them out of the pans onto a rack; if you wait too long, the glaze will cause them to stick.
- Allow the buns to cool for 10 minutes before icing.
- To make the icing: Combine all the icing ingredients in a small bowl and beat until thick.
- Use a pastry bag and tip to pipe thick crosses onto the buns. If you don’t have a pastry bag, fill a sturdy plastic bag with the icing, squeezing it down into one corner. Snip the tip of the bag off, and squeeze the frosting onto the buns.
- Store, well-wrapped, for 2 days at room temperature, or freeze for up to a month.
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