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sourdough hot cross bun cooling on a cooling rack

Sourdough hot cross bun recipe

Meenakshi
This sourdough hot cross bun recipe yields buns that are soft, fluffy, perfectly spiced, sweet, stuffed with raisins and candied fruit, glazed with apricot jam and frosted with cream cheese cross. These buns are eggless and make for a perfect breakfast or brunch.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Inactive time 12 hours
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Servings 8
Calories 254 kcal

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

    nutrition facts about hot cross buns

Nutrition

Calories: 254kcal
Keyword hot cross buns, sourdough hot cross bun recipe, sourdough hot dog buns
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