Hot cross buns

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3:0

Makes 12

Hard

Bake your own hot cross buns this year with our easy hot cross bun recipe. You’ll love our take on these spiced and fruity Easter treats.

Celebrate Easter with a batch of freshly baked homemade hot cross buns. Our hot cross bun recipe is surprisingly easy and make for a delicious treat to share with family and friends. Packed full of flavour with fragrant spices, fruit and orange peel, they’re to be enjoyed for breakfast or as a tasty treat.

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Ingredients image

What you'll need...

For the buns
  • 225ml whole milk
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 500g strong white bread flour
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 10g fast action dried yeast
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground mixed spice
  • 100g sultanas or raisins
  • 75g mixed peel
  • 1 small apple, peeled, cored and diced
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 2 medium eggs, beaten
For the crosses
  • 50g plain flour
  • 2-3 tbsp water
For the glaze
  • 50g apricot jam

Method

  1. Warm the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

  2. In the bowl of stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cinnamon and mixed spice to a bowl and mix to combine. Attach the dough hook and make a well in the centre of the flour. Add milk, butter and eggs and mix on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth.

  3. Cover the bowl with cling and leave in a warm spot for an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. 

  4. After the dough has doubled in size, add the dried fruit, apple and orange zest. Place back onto the stand mixer and set to low speed until everything has been combined. Turn out the dough onto a lightly oiled surface and use a bench scraper to divide into 12-15 even sized pieces. Line 1-2 baking trays with baking paper, then shape each piece of dough into a ball shape, arranging them a few centimetres apart to allow for growth.

  1. Cover the buns with a damp tea towel and leave to rest and prove for another hour in a warm spot.

  2. Whilst proving, preheat the oven to 180C or 200C convention oven. Slow add the water to the plain four until you have a thick paste and add to a piping bag. Remove the tea towel and pipe over the crosses before baking for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

  3. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Melt the apricot jam in a saucepan along with 2 tbsp of water. Once dissolved, brush the glaze over the buns whilst they are still warm.

  4. Enjoy warm or toasted with butter. These buns freeze beautifully. 

Shop the tools you will need

Secondary image for Stand Mixer Main image for Stand Mixer
Stand Mixer

Gun Metal 6L

£224.1

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