Sourdough hot cross buns are not something I grew up eating, but they’re something I grew up singing about. Who else grew up singing “hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns?”
Last year around Easter time, I was excited to try my hand at a sourdough hot cross bun recipe, and they turned out so great! I can’t guarantee that these buns will be as cheap as the old song suggests, but they will be a delicious addition to your Easter festivities. I hope you enjoy.
Ingredients
Dough
- Bread Flour – 400 grams
- Whole Milk – 165 grams
- Eggs – 50 grams (1 egg)
- Salt – 10 grams
- White Sugar – 60 grams
- Mixed Spice – 2 Tbsp (or 1 Tbsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice)
- Butter (Softened, Unsalted) – 57 grams
- Sourdough Starter – 200 grams
Soaked Fruit
- Raisins – 75 grams
- Golden Raisins (Saltanas) – 75 grams
- Water – 150 grams
Topping
- Bread Flour – 50 grams
- Water – 50 grams
- Apricot Jam (Warmed) – 50 grams
Instructions
Feeding the Sourdough Starter
The night before you want to make hot cross buns, take 25 grams of sourdough starter out of the fridge. Add 100 grams of water and 100 grams of bread flour to the leftover sourdough starter.
Stir everything together until it forms a batter-like consistency and there aren’t any dry clumps of flour left.
Cover the jar of starter and let it sit at room temperature overnight, or for about 6-8 hours. The next morning the starter should be roughly doubled in size and ready to use in the dough.
If you want to make your own sourdough starter from scratch in just six days, click here to sign up for my email list and I’ll send you my Sourdough Starter Guide in your first email.
Preparing the Raisins
Measure out the raisins and golden raisins into a bowl. Cover them with water or orange juice and let the fruit soak for at least 30 minutes.
Note: Soaking the raisins is not required, but dry raisins will absorb some of the liquid from the dough, so I prefer to let the raisins soak.
Mixing the Dough
In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, egg, salt, sugar, mixed spice (or cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice), and sourdough starter. Mix well.
Note: Using milk that is heated to about 90°F will help your dough rise faster than using cold milk.
Then, add all of the bread flour and stir everything together until it forms a shaggy dough.
After a dough is formed, add all of the softened butter in chunks and gently incorporate it into the dough.
Kneading
Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes by hand or on medium speed in a stand mixer. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Transfer the kneaded dough into a greased glass container and cover with a lid. Allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and Folds (Adding the Raisins)
Drain the raisins and then mix the regular and golden raisins together. Flatten out the dough with your fingertips and then add one third of the raisins on top of the dough.
Fold in one-third of the raisins into the dough, stretching and folding until incorporated. Allow the dough to rest for another 30 minutes.
After the rest period, place the second third of the raisins on top of the dough. Stretch and fold the dough to incorporate the raisins. Cover up the dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
Note: During this stretch and fold process, you will feel the raisins being spread throughout the dough in layers.
30 minutes later, add the final third of raisins on top of the dough and fold them in with another set of stretch and folds.
The First Rise (Bulk Fermentation)
When the raisins have been fully incorporated, form the dough into a tight ball on the counter and place it into the oiled glass container with the smooth side facing up.
Cover up the dough and let it rise in a warm spot in your house for about 6-8 hours, or until roughly doubled in size.
Dividing and Shaping
When the dough has doubled in size, it’s ready to divide and shape. You can divide and shape these rolls right away, or let the dough rest in the fridge overnight (8-12 hours) and then divide and shape the dough the next day.
Once you’re ready to divide the dough, weigh the entire dough on a digital scale and then cut it into 12 equal pieces. Each piece should be around 93 grams in weight.
Note: You can also divide the dough by eye if you don’t want to use a scale, but it won’t be as precise.
Shape each piece of dough into a ball by rolling it with your hand on the counter. Watch the video for a better tutorial of this shaping process.
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Baker of Seville Bread Lame
Oval Banneton Basket
Non-Stick Bread Pan
Non-Stick Focaccia Pan
Proofing
Place the dough balls onto a 9″x13″ baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between each bun for them to rise.
Cover the tray with plastic wrap and allow the buns to rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature, or until they have doubled in size.
Preparing the Cross Paste
When the buns are almost done proofing, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes.
Prepare the cross mixture by combining 50g of flour and 50g of water and mixing thoroughly to form a paste. Place the mixture into a piping bag or plastic sandwich bag.
Once the buns have risen, cut a small hole in the end of the plastic piping bag and pipe a cross onto each bun.
Baking
Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes at 350°F (180°C), or until the buns are golden brown and then transfer the buns to a wire cooling rack.
While the buns are still warm, brush with warm apricot jam, simple syrup, or any other kind of syrup. Allow the buns to cool for about one hour before serving. Enjoy!
Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
These sourdough hot cross buns might cost you more than a penny, but they're delicious and really easy to make!
Ingredients
Dough
- Bread Flour - 400 grams
- Whole Milk - 165 grams
- Eggs - 50 grams (1 Egg)
- Salt - 10 grams
- White Sugar - 60 grams
- Mixed Spice - 2 Tbsp (or 1 Tbsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice)
- Butter (Softened, Unsalted) - 57 grams
- Sourdough Starter - 200 grams
Soaked Fruit Filling
- Raisins - 75 grams
- Golden Raisins - 75 grams
- Water - 150 grams
Topping
- Bread Flour - 60 grams
- Water - 60 grams
- Apricot Jam (Warmed) - 60 grams
Instructions
Feeding the Sourdough Starter
The night before you want to make hot cross buns, take 25 grams of sourdough starter out of the fridge. Add 100 grams of water and 100 grams of bread flour to the leftover sourdough starter.
Stir everything together until it forms a batter-like consistency and there aren’t any dry clumps of flour left.
Cover the jar of starter and let it sit at room temperature overnight, or for about 6-8 hours. The next morning the starter should be roughly doubled in size and ready to use in the dough.
Preparing the Soaked Fruit
- Measure out the raisins and golden raisins into a bowl. Cover them with water or orange juice and let the fruit soak for at least 30 minutes.
Note: Soaking the raisins is optional, but dry raisins will absorb some of the liquid from the dough, so I prefer to let the raisins soak.
Mixing the Dough
- In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, egg, salt, sugar, mixed spice (or cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice), and sourdough starter. Mix well.
Note: Using milk that is heated to about 90°F will help your dough rise faster than using cold milk.
- Then, add all of the bread flour and stir everything together until it forms a shaggy dough.
- After a dough is formed, add all of the softened butter in chunks and gently incorporate it into the dough.
Kneading
- Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes by hand or on medium speed in a stand mixer. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Transfer the kneaded dough into a greased glass container and cover with a lid. Allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and Folds (Adding the Raisins)
- Drain the raisins and then mix the regular and golden raisins together. Flatten out the dough with your fingertips and then add one third of the raisins on top of the dough.
- Fold in one-third of the raisins into the dough, stretching and folding until incorporated. Allow the dough to rest for another 30 minutes.
- After the rest period, place the second third of the raisins on top of the dough. Stretch and fold the dough to incorporate the raisins. Cover up the dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
Note: During this stretch and fold process, you will feel the raisins being spread throughout the dough in layers.
- 30 minutes later, add the final third of raisins on top of the dough and fold them in with another set of stretch and folds.
The First Rise (Bulk Fermentation)
- When the raisins have been fully incorporated, form the dough into a tight ball on the counter and place it into the oiled glass container with the smooth side facing up.
- Cover up the dough and let it rise in a warm spot in your house for about 6-8 hours, or until roughly doubled in size.
Dividing and Shaping
- When the dough has doubled in size, it’s ready to divide and shape. You can divide and shape these rolls right away, or let the dough rest in the fridge overnight (8-12 hours) and then divide and shape the dough the next day.
- Once you’re ready to divide the dough, weigh the entire dough on a digital scale and then cut it into 12 equal pieces. Each piece should be around 93 grams in weight.
Note: You can also divide the dough by eye if you don’t want to use a scale, but it won’t be as precise.
- Shape each piece of dough into a ball by rolling it with your hand on the counter. Watch the video for a full tutorial of this shaping process.
Proofing
- Place the dough balls onto a 9″x13″ baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between each bun for them to rise.
- Cover the tray with plastic wrap and allow the buns to rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature, or until they have doubled in size.
Preparing the Cross Paste
- When the buns are almost done proofing, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the cross mixture by combining 60g of flour and 60g of water and mixing thoroughly to form a paste. Place the mixture into a piping bag or plastic sandwich bag.
- Once the buns have risen, cut a small hole in the end of the plastic piping bag and pipe a cross onto each bun.
Baking
- Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes at 350°F (180°C), or until the buns are golden brown and then transfer the buns to a wire cooling rack.
- While the buns are still warm, brush with warm apricot jam, simple syrup, or any other kind of syrup. Allow the buns to cool for about one hour before serving, and enjoy!
Notes
- Using milk that is heated to about 90°F will help your dough rise faster than using cold milk.
- Soaking the raisins is optional, but dry raisins will absorb some of the liquid from the dough, so I prefer to let the raisins soak.
- During this stretch and fold process, you will feel the raisins being spread throughout the dough in layers.
- You can divide the dough by eye if you don’t want to use a scale, but it won’t be as precise.