Description
Soft, golden, and packed with warm spices and raisins: these hot cross buns are everything you want on a cool morning. Don’t worry if your dough’s a little sticky; that’s how you know they’ll be tender and fluffy once baked!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Dough:
- 4 cups cake flour, sifted
- 10 g instant yeast (1 sachet)
- 1/2 cup castor sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 300 ml lukewarm milk (just warm, not hot)
- 40 g melted butter
- 1 1/2 cups seedless raisins
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
Flour paste:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 5 tbsp water
For the glaze:
- 2 tbsp castor sugar
- 1/3 cup of water
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 4 cups of flour, 10 g yeast, ½ cup castor sugar, spices, salt, and 1½ cups raisins.
- Stir in 2 beaten eggs.
- Combine 40 g melted butter with 300 ml lukewarm milk, then pour it into the dry ingredients.
- Use a flat spatula to bring it together; it’ll be a little sticky, but that’s okay!
- Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
- Lightly grease a clean bowl with oil, place the dough inside, cover with a clean towel, and let it rise for about 1½ hours, or until doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down to release the air, knead again for a minute, and divide into 12 even portions.
- Roll each into a smooth ball and place on a parchment-lined baking tray, spaced slightly apart so they’ll touch when baked.
- Cover the tray with a towel and let the buns rise again for 30 minutes, until puffy.
- Mix ½ cup flour and 5 tbsp water until smooth with no visible lumps.
- Spoon into a piping bag (or a small ziplock with the corner snipped off) and pipe a cross over each bun.
- Pop them into a preheated oven at 190°C (170°C fan) and bake for 20–25 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.
- While they bake, simmer 2 tbsps castor sugar and ⅓ cup water in a small pot for 3 minutes until syrupy.
- Brush the glaze over the buns as soon as they come out of the oven; that’s what gives them that beautiful, sticky shine.
Notes
Created, prepared, tried, and tested by Gail
