I have loved raisin rolls since I was a child. They are delicious all year round, but they have a very special place on the Easter brunch table. The perfect raisin bun is soft and buttery and just sweet enough to be served with a spoonful of jam. This year, however, no raisin buns will end up on my breakfast table. Because I’ve found something better! Have you ever heard of hot cross buns? The sweet rolls actually originate from Great Britain and are traditionally eaten on Good Friday.
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The luxury version of raisin buns
Hot cross buns are actually just like raisin buns – only the luxury version! A raisin bun with warm spices and a good spoonful of orange marmalade – in the dough! For me, hot cross buns are the perfect spring pastry. They combine the fresh summery orange peel with warm winter spices.
Sourdough hot cross buns: Aromatic and soft
Hot cross buns – just like raisin buns – are actually made from yeast dough. But not this one! Everything tastes better with sourdough, doesn’t it? The sweet rolls are super aromatic, juicy and theoretically keep fresh much longer than yeast buns. Butter and sugar make the sourdough a little slower than with classic bread doughs. I mixed the dough for the hot cross buns the day before, left it to rest for a few hours at room temperature and put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I formed the buns and let them rise again. Just before baking, I gave them the traditional cross made from a mixture of water and flour.
Baked goods made from sourdough are certainly not fast food, but the dough does most of the work all by itself. The buns are also perfect for freezing. So one big baking day and then freshly baked hot cross buns on the breakfast table every Sunday – how does that sound? So grab your apron and bowl and off you go!
Ingredients: What you need for sourdough hot cross buns
- Sourdough starter: It is not necessary to constantly feed the sourdough starter fresh, but the last refreshment should not be longer than a week ago. If you have a sourdough discard I will be happy to provide you with suitable recipes. My personal method is to feed my sourdough with an equal amount of water and flour. I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholemeal rye flour. If you choose a different water-to-flour ratio for your sourdough, remember to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly. Here are some helpful tips to keep your sourdough starter vital and healthy at all times.
- Wheat flour: Bread flour is best for your challah.
- Water: Cold in summer and lukewarm in winter.
- Sugar and brown sugar for sweetness.
- Butter or a vegan alternative. The butter should be soft so that it combines well with the other ingredients.
- Salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg for the taste.
- Orange marmalade and raisins provide a fruity aroma.
- Oil, with a neutral taste, for the typical crosses on the buns.
Helpful tools – My recommendations
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- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A piping bag* for the cross on your hot cross buns.
- A stainless steel oven tray*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A sharp bread knife*.
You can find more product recommendations here.
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Recipe for the perfect hot cross buns with sourdough
Ingredients
Pre-Dough
- 60 g sourdough starter
- 240 g wheat flour all purpose flour (or type 550)
- 170 g water
- 30 g sugar
Dough
- Pre-Dough
- 330 g wheat flour all purpose flour (or type 550)
- 150 g water
- 100 g soft butter or vegan butter
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 30 g sugar
Filling
- 3 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 2 tbsp. orange marmelade
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- 200 g raisins
Crosses
- 40 g flour
- 40 g water
- 1 tsp. oil with neutral taste
Sugar syrup
- 30 g brown sugar
- 30 g hot water
Instructions
Day 1: prepare the pre-dough and main dough
- Pre-dough: mix the ingredients for the pre-dough in a bowl and let it rest for 6 hours at room temperature.
- Main dough: knead in the ingredients of the main dough into the pre-dough. Let it rest 1-2 hours at room temperature.
- Prepare the filling: soak the raisins for 30 minutes in hot water, and then let them drip off thoroughly. Mix with cinnamon, cloves, orange marmalade and nutmeg.
- Add the filling: add and knead the raisin mixture into the dough. Let it rest for 3-4 hours at room temperature until the dough has significantly increased in size and then let it rest in the fridge over night.
Day 2: form, bake and glaze
- Form the buns: divide the dough into 12 equally-sized pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball.
- Let the dough pieces rest: place the buns onto a baking tray with baking paper, brush with (oat-) milk, cover with a piece of cloth and let them rest for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) with circulating air, including a steam tray made from a stainless-steel oven tray* and lava stones*.
- Add the crosses: stir together flour, water and oil to a smooth paste. Fill it into a pastry press* and draw a cross onto each bun.
- Bake the buns for a total of 30 minutes: 15 minutes with steam and another 15 minutes without steam.
- Glazing: stir brown sugar with hot water into a syrup and brush it onto the buns immediately after taking them out of the oven.
Notes
- You can use either wheat sourdough or rye starter for this recipe. I use a universal sourdough for all types of flour. I feed my sourdough with equal parts water and flour. If you use a different different mixing ratio, you will need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe.
- The sourdough does not need to be freshly fed for this recipe, but it should not have been more than a week since it was last refreshed. The longer your sourdough has not been fed, the longer the dough usually needs to rest.
- Butter slows down the fermentation process, so you should give your dough enough time. The time schedule in the recipe should be seen only as an indication. Depending on the room temperature and the activity of your sourdough, it may take more time for your dough to rise.
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