Yup…it’s the sweet, fluffy, warm, and delicious sourdough hot cross bun recipe! I know it’s not Easter. We are months past April, but my kiddo insists on having them, whenever she hears the hot cross bun song. We love to make and enjoy them year-round. So, I thought why not share the sourdough recipe that I use to make these sweet, soft, and delicious buns. And yes, it is an eggless recipe.
Table of contents
This sourdough hot cross bun recipe yields buns that are:
- Soft and fluffy
- Perfectly spiced
- Sweet and warm
- Stuffed with raisins and candied or dried fruit
- Glazed with apricot jam
- Frosted with cream cheese cross
What are sourdough hot cross buns? Its history and significance.
Hot cross buns are the sweet buns made around Easter celebrations. But we are making them using the sourdough starter instead of the commercial yeast, so we are calling it the sourdough hot cross buns recipe. If you want to learn about how to make a quick sourdough starter with minimum discard: A Comprehensive Guide, I have a complete post on that.
These buns are spiced and filled with raisins and candied fruit peels. Traditionally they are made with candied orange peels but you can use whatever you like. I sometimes use candied ginger.
The hot cross buns are symbolic of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, burial and his resurrection.
They are made around Easter for their religious significance. The sugar reflects the sweetness in the heart of Jesus for all His believers, the spices signifies the spices used to embalm him on his burial and the orange peel reflects the bitterness of his time on the cross. The cross symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus. It is symbolic of the sacrifices that Jesus did.
Ingredients discussion
Sourdough starter
To make this sourdough hot cross bun recipe, begin with a fed starter. If you keep your starter in the fridge, take it out way ahead and feed it. We want to ensure that we use it at its peak, way before it starts to fall or decline. The starter in the decline stage is much sour than the ripe starter.
Making this recipe with the commercial yeast
If you do not want to use the sourdough starter, you can simply make this recipe using commercial yeast. Use instant dry yeast, active dry yeast, or live yeast. All would work great for this recipe. Just ensure that the yeast is not expired. A packet i.e. 2 ¼ teaspoon of any commercial yeast can be used as a sourdough substitute to leaven this hot cross bun recipe.
Flour: Though bread flour makes the best hot cross buns, but I am going to stick to all-purpose flour as these hot cross buns made with all-purpose flour is equally good if not more. But if you still want to go for bread flour, you have a green light. Just note that you should add 1-2 percent more milk or water.
If you want to make them using whole wheat flour, it is going to be another recipe.
Butter:
This recipe uses unsalted butter. If you are using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe. Do not use low-fat butter.
How to make vegan sourdough hot cross buns?
In case you want to make vegan sourdough hot cross buns, use the vegan butter of your choice. Sugar: I use fine caster sugar in this hot cross bun recipe. If you substitute it with brown sugar or any other dark sugar, note that the dough is going to get much darker. If that is a concern for you, stick to the white sugar.
Spices and flavor
I am going to add cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg. You can choose to omit or use the spice mix of your choice. Sometimes I use the pumpkin pie spice mix.
I have not used vanilla extract, but many people use vanilla extract in their hot cross buns. Choose what you like.
Dry milk powder
Dry milk powder makes these hot cross buns super delicate and enhances their keeping quality.
Raisins and candied fruits
You can use whichever type of raisins you like or have in hand. Be it golden, Muscat, or sultana. I am using large black raisins. I like to chop into small pieces. Also, I am using some homemade tutti frutti. Tutti frutti is an Indian candied green papaya. I love them in my hot cross buns. You can use any candied fruit you have on hand or simply omit it. Candied orange peels are a conventional choice.
For the glaze
In this sourdough hot cross bun recipe, I am using conventional apricot jam for glazing the buns. You can apricot jam or marmalade or whatever you have or want to use.
For piping, the cross
Conventionally a mixture of flour, and milk is used to pipe the crosses on the buns. But I wanted to add the cross as a frosting to enhance the flavor.
2 Ways to Pipe the cross on the hot cross buns
Way 1:
First way is the conventional way. A paste of flour and water or milk is used to create a thick paste than be easily piped on the buns. If that is how you like your hot cross buns, do this:
To ¼ cup of flour, add 3 to 3 ½ tablespoon of milk and make a thick paste of piping consistency. Then transfer it to a piping bag or a squeeze bottle. Pipe cross over the proofed buns, right before putting them into the oven.
Way 2:
This is how I am going to pipe the cross in this sourdough hot cross bun recipe. I am using some cream cheese. First I beat the cream cheese and some milk and then powdered sugar with some vanilla extract. Beat all to make a smooth frosting. You can also use some orange extract if you like the flavor of oranges in the hot cross buns. I use this frosting to pipe crosses on by baked and cooled buns.
Step by step Instructions
1. Feeding the sourdough starter
If you keep your starter refrigerated, start in the morning. Take out the starter from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Remove the discard and feed it. By evening, your starter should have peaked. In other words, the starter should be ripe. Use a rubber band to mark your starter after feeding, and observe when it reaches its peak. Once it begins to decline, it starts getting sour. We need to use it before it starts to get sour. Measure the starter and set it aside.
A few of our popular sourdough resources are:
- Making a quick sourdough starter with minimum discard: A Comprehensive guide
- Everything you need to know about making a dehydrated sourdough starter and easily reviving it
- Fried sourdough starter to make your life easy: 5 recipes!
2. Kneading the dough:
In a bowl of a stand mixer, add all the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, sugar, milk powder, and spices. Mix well with a fork or whisk. Now add the starter, followed by the milk.
If kneading in a stand mixer
Directly place the bowl in the stand mixer and put the dough hook. Start at speed 1, and start kneading the dough. Let the dough knead at low speed for 6-7 minutes. It should start leaving the sides of the bowl. If the dough still looks very sticky, add a tablespoon of flour or more if needed. It would not require more than 2 tablespoons of additional flour if you have followed measurements accurately.
Now bump up the speed and knead at medium speed for 5-6 minutes.
Start adding the softened butter at this stage. Add in 2-3 small batches. Do not add the next batch until the previous batch is completely incorporated. The dough will shiny and smooth towards the end and will not stick to the fingers anymore.
If kneading with hands
Roughly combine everything to form a dough-like consistency. Make sure to leave no dry flour patch. Once the flour is fully hydrated, cover the dough and let it autolyse for 20 minutes. Then, transfer the dough onto the workstation and start kneading. Add 1-2 tablespoons of flour if needed. As the dough starts to come together and become less sticky, add butter and start kneading. For incorporating the butter into the dough, grease the surface. Now stretch the dough forward with the wrist and then collect. Knead for good 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and supple.
3. Bulk fermentation:
Now remove the dough into a greased bowl and let it bulk rise at 70-85 0 F for 1 hour at room temperature. Then, you can transfer the bowl to the fridge and let the dough cod retard overnight.
Alternately you can let the dough bulk rise at room temperature only. The issue with that is that the dough can become difficult to roll and shape if it is completely bulk risen at room temperature. Cold retard makes the dough easy to handle.
If you are letting the dough bulk rise at room temperature, do not let it over rise. Start shaping, once the dough has almost doubled in volume.
4. Shaping the hot cross buns:
Once the dough has bulk risen, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface and start stretching the dough into a thin sheet. I start by collecting the dough to form a smooth big round and then start to flatten it with my hands. You can switch to a rolling pin if you feel the need. But all you need to do is simply stretch the dough in opposite directions. Keep doing that until a uniform thickness sheet of dough is formed.
Now, evenly spread the finely chopped raisins and candied fruits, (tutti frutti is my case) on the dough sheet. Then roll the sheet to form a log.
In this sourdough hot cross bun recipe, I have spread the raisins and candied fruits while shaping, but for the sake of convenience, you can also add them in the beginning while making the dough.
Divide the log into 9 equal parts with the help of a bench scraper. Take each portion and seal the cut edges under to form round balls. Prepare an 8-inch square pan or 8-inch circle pan. Place the dough rounds into the prepared pan.
5. Proofing :
Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to proof. The rolls should rise well above the rim, before going into the oven for baking. Place them in a warm corner of your kitchen to provide suitable temperature for the yeast to multiply. Kitchen oven with light turned on is one of my favorite places to proof my bakes.
When the buns are nearly proofed, preheat the oven to 375 0 F.
6. Baking:
Bake the hot cross buns for about 20-25 minutes or until the desired color is obtained on the buns. I like to bake mine for about 22 minutes till brown color is obtained.
While the hot cross buns are baking, take a tablespoon of apricot jam and add 1 teaspoon of water. Add more of the consistency of your jam or marmalade is till thick or chunky. Mix well to form a smooth paste. Set aside.
As the buns come out of the oven, brush them with the apricot jam paste.
Transfer the baked buns to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before piping the cross.
7. Piping the cross:
While the hot cross buns are cooling, prepare the frosting, by first whisking the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and milk. Beat till it becomes smooth and light. Then add the powdered sugar. Beat again to form a smooth and luscious frosting. Transfer to a piping bottle or a piping bag.
Once the buns have fully cooled, pipe cross across the buns and there you have , the delicious, hot cross buns!
Give them to your daughter, give them to your son…
I bet you they will ask for more, as no one can eat just one!
Timeline for making sourdough hot cross buns
Remove the starter from fridge: 9:00 a.m.
Feeding and discarding: 10:30 a.m.
Starter peeks around: 3- 4 p.m.
Start making the dough : 4 p.m.
Bulk rise at room temperature: 4:20 p.m.
Transfer the dough to fridge for cold retard: 5:30 p.m.
Remove from fridge, early next morning: 7:30 a.m.
Shaping and spreading the raisins: 7:35 a.m.
Keep for proofing : 7:45 a.m.
Ready for baking, so bake at: 11 a.m.
Ready to glaze at: 11:25 a.m.
Piping cross: 12:p.m.
Enjoy!
I start at around 9 in the morning by removing the starter out of the fridge. I let it come to room temperature. After one and an hour or so, I remove the discard and feed the starter. It peaks around 3-4 p.m. That is the time I start making the dough. I bulk rise for an hour before putting it for cold retard.
The next morning, I shape and put the buns for proofing. By 11 they are ready to bake. On hot summer days, they will proof much faster and I would bake them around 10 a.m.
This timeline is perfect if you are planning to make them for weekend or Easter lunch, or for a weekend brunch.
Storage notes
If I have some left over hot cross buns, I like to slice them into cubes and bake them into sweet croutons. I use them to top my ice creams and puddings.
- Store the leftover hot cross buns in an airtight container for 2-3 days in a cool and dry place in your kitchen.
- If you wish to store them for a longer time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container for 5-6 days. But remember that they will get dry on refrigeration.
- Alternately you can freeze them in a freezer-safe bag for 1 month. Make sure to squeeze out all the air from the bag. Also, double warp the freezer bag with aluminum foil.
- You can skip the orange zest if you are using the candied orange peels.
Quick Recipe Tips
- Do not use a sour or hungry starter.
- If you want to make this sourdough discard hot cross buns using this recipe, make sure that you use fresh discard and prepare a levain from the discard. This will strengthen the culture and overcome the sourness in the discard( if any).
- To make this recipe with commercial yeast, replace the sourdough starter with 1 packet of commercial yeast. Be it the instant dry yeast or active dry yeast.
- As far as the piping of the cross is concerned, you can use the paste of flour and milk to create a thick paste that be easily piped on the buns. To ¼ cup of flour, add 3 to 3 ½ tablespoon of milk and make a thick paste of piping consistency. Then transfer it to a piping bag or a squeeze bottle. Pipe cross over the proofed buns, right before putting them into the oven.
- Use whatever jam you have on hand to glaze the hot cross buns.
- As far as the raisins and candied fruits are concerned, they can be added at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients. It does spare you a step, but in that case, the raisins do get mushed on kneading.
- Also, adding raisins, in the beginning, does inhibit gluten development. But you can totally do that.
- If kneading with hands, allow the dough to autolyze for 20 minutes before starting to knead. It does make the process much easier.
- You can also make this sourdough hot cross bun recipe a no-knead recipe. They will still be good. But you will have to compromise a bit on the texture of the buns. A little cost for the efforts that you will save!
- To make this recipe vegan, use some high-fat vegan butter and coconut milk to replace the dairy butter and milk.
- Reduce or increase the amount of sugar in the recipe to suit your taste and liking.
Frequently asked questions
Well, the tradition of hot cross buns dates back to the 14th century when a monk developed a recipe of buns with a cross marked across it for good Friday. A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun usually made with candied or dry fruits and is, marked with a cross on the top. The cross symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus, the spices signifies the spices used to embalm him on his burial and the orange peel reflects the bitterness of his time on the cross. It is customary to eat Hot cross buns on Easter. In fact, they are available in the market during the entire spring months.
Yes, hot cross buns can certainly be eaten cold, but they are best enjoyed warm. You can eat them with jam, marmalades, chocolate spreads, butter, or however your heart desire. You can enjoy them as warm toast or cold.
The hot cross buns will last for 5-6 days in your fridge. But make sure to place them in an airtight container or bag. Also, note that refrigeration is not the ideal way to store them. They stay best at room temp. for 2-3 days. But if you want to keep them longer, you can always freeze them.
A few of our popular sourdough recipes on the blog:
- The best Sourdough doughnuts recipe with Cinnamon sugar
- How to make Eggless Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls from Discard
- How to make sourdough hot dog buns from scratch?
- No-knead wild yeast bread: It’s a Yeast water bread recipe
- How to make Sourdough Brioche
If you found this sourdough hot cross bun recipe useful, do not forget to share it with your friends. I would highly appreciate a comment and a rating! It helps me create more resources like this.
Happy baking!
Sourdough hot cross bun recipe card
Sourdough hot cross bun recipe
Ingredients
For the dough
- 312 g all-purpose flour about 2 ⅓ cups
- 50 g butter
- 75 g sourdough starter
- 35 g sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 2 tbs dry milk power
- ¾ cup +3 tablespoon whole milk
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
- 70 g raisin or candied fruits i used black raisins and candid raw papaya
For glaze:
- 1 tablespoon Apricot jam
- 1 teaspoon water
For piping the cross
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon milk
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese
- Few drops of vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Start by feeding the sourdough starter. Use an active sourdough starter. Starter should be ripe. Use a rubber band to mark your starter after feeding, and observe when it reaches its peak. Once it begins to decline, it starts getting sour. We need to use it before it starts to get sour. Measure the starter and set it aside.
- Chop the raisins and candied fruits into tiny pieces, and set aside( we will need them next day). In a bowl of a stand mixer, add all the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, sugar, milk powder, orange zest, and spices. Mix well with a fork or whisk.
- Now add the starter, followed by the milk. Roughly combine everything to form a dough-like consistency, or directly place the bowl in the stand mixer. Start at speed 1and start kneading the dough.
- Let the dough knead at low speed for 6-7 minutes. It should start leaving the sides of the bowl. If the dough still looks very sticky, add a tablespoon of flour or more if needed. It would not require more than 2 tablespoons of additional flour if you have followed measurements accurately. Now bump up the speed and knead at medium speed for 5-6 minutes. Start adding the softened butter at this stage. Add in 2 batches. Do not add the next batch until the previous batch is completely incorporated. The dough will be shiny and smooth towards the end and will not stick to the fingers anymore.
- Now remove the dough into a greased bowl and let it bulk rise at 70-85 0 F for 1 hour at room temperature. Then, you can transfer the bowl to the fridge and let the dough cod retard overnight.Alternately you can let the dough bulk rise at room temperature only. The issue with that is that the dough can become difficult to roll and shape if it is completely bulk risen at room temperature. Cold retard makes the dough easy to handle.
- Once the dough has bulk risen, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface and start stretching the dough into a thin sheet.
- Now, spread the finely chopped raisins and candied fruits, (tutti frutti is my case) on the dough sheet. Roll the sheet from a log. Divide the log into 9 equal parts with the help of a bench scraper.
- Take each portion and seal the cut edges under to form a round dough ball. Prepare an 8-inch square pan or 8-inch circle pan. Place the dough rounds into the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to proof. The rolls should rise well above the rim, before going into the oven for baking.
- When the buns are nearly proofed, preheat the oven to 375 0 F.
- Bake them for about 20-25 minutes or until the desired color is obtained on the buns. I like to bake mine for about 22 minutes till brown color is obtained.
- While the hot cross buns are baking, take a tablespoon of apricot jam and add 1 teaspoon of water. Mix well to form a smooth paste. Set aside.
- As the buns come out of the oven, brush them with the apricot jam paste.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before piping the cross.
- While the hot cross buns are cooling, prepare the frosting, by first whisking the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and milk, and then adding the powdered sugar to fix the consistency. Transfer to a piping bottle or a piping bag.
- Once the buns have fully cooled, pipe cross across the buns and there you have, the delicious, hot cross buns!
Notes
Storage notes
- If I have some leftover hot cross buns, I like to slice them into cubes and bake them into sweet croutons. I use them to top my ice creams and puddings.
- Store the leftover hot cross buns in an airtight container for 2-3 days in a cool and dry place in your kitchen.
- If you wish to store them for a longer time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container for 5-6 days. But remember that they will get dry on refrigeration.
- Alternately you can freeze them in a freezer-safe bag for 1 month. Make sure to squeeze out all the air from the bag. Also, double warp the freezer bag with aluminum foil.
- You can skip the orange zest if you are using the candied orange peels.
Quick tips
- Do not use a sour or hungry starter. If you want to make this sourdough hot cross bun recipe using the sourdough discard, make sure that you use fresh discard and prepare a levain from the discard. This will strengthen the culture and overcome the sourness in the discard( if any).
- To make this recipe with commercial yeast, replace the sourdough starter with 1 packet of commercial yeast. Be it the instant dry yeast or active dry yeast.
- As far as the piping of the cross is concerned, you can use the paste of flour and milk to create a thick paste that be easily piped on the buns. To ¼ cup of flour, add 3 to 3 ½ tablespoon of milk and make a thick paste of piping consistency. Then transfer it to a piping bag or a squeeze bottle. Pipe cross over the proofed buns, right before putting them into the oven.
- Use whatever jam you have on hand to glaze the hot cross buns.
- As far as the raisins and candied fruits are concerned, they can be added at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients. It does spare you a step, but in that case, the raisins do get mushed on kneading.
Also, adding raisins, in the beginning, does inhibit gluten development. But you can totally do that. - If kneading with hands, allow the dough to autolyze for 20 minutes before starting to knead. It does make the process much easier.
- You can also make this sourdough hot cross bun recipe a no-knead recipe. They will still be good. But you will have to compromise a bit on the texture of the buns. A little cost for the efforts that you will save!
- To make this recipe vegan, use some high-fat vegan butter and coconut milk to replace the dairy butter and milk.
- Reduce or increase the amount of sugar in the recipe to suit your taste and liking.
Nutrition Facts
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