Hot cross buns that are soft and fluffy, a little warm spice and sweet. These are an absolute favorite for Easter in our family and it's a tradition that's celebrated with fond memories. They are so delicious and if you want them to last, you'll probably have to hide them away!
Hot Cross Buns Recipe South Africa
Happy Easter! In South Africa Easter is synonymous with hot cross buns and picked fish. It's a tradition and a celebration in homes across the country.
These hot cross buns have been spiced up a little so the results are tones of just a hint of sweetness, light caramel taste from the muscovado sugar, sticky buns from the glaze, the perfect Easter treat! Always a great combination with Pickled Fish over Easter.
Homemade Hot Cross Buns For Easter
We honestly don't celebrate every public holiday throughout the year but Christmas and Easter is where our hearts are at.
Why Is Easter Celebrated?
For Christians Easter is about the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's about Jesus Christ paying the penalty for our sins. Easter is three days after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday which marks the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. Celebrating with Pickled Fish A South African Easter Tradition and hot cross buns is a part of the tradition and also makes it fun 🙂
Spiced Homemade South African Hot Cross Buns For Easter
This recipe is made with my mother in mind. After chit chatting with her on the phone this week about Easter and yes the recipe too, I can't help but remember how wonderful her hot cross buns were. They always came out of the oven piping hot and I believe the aroma was incredible by my rather large family swooning into the kitchen.
What Is The Significance Of Hot Cross Buns?
The significance of hot cross buns was the end of suffering. The end of lent whereas the cross over the hot cross buns symbolizes the crucifixion, and the spices refer to the balm of Jesus. Referenced here
This recipe can be made using a stand mixer or you can mix everything by hand using a bowl and spoon. It just takes a bit longer by hand and a whole lot of arm exercise.
To make it easy for you I have divided it into sections and this is how it will look.
- Mix the dry ingredients except the yeast
- Set the yeast to rise
- Measure and add the wet ingredients
- Roll the dough out for 2 min
- 1st Dough rise
- 2nd Dough Rise
- Egg wash
- Bake
- Egg wash
- Piping crosses
- Glaze
- Enjoy!
What Equipment You Will Need
Here are some of the key items that you will need;
Scale - First things first, a scale! Why? For accurate measurements, it's always best to measure correctly rather than 'eyeball' everything out.
Mixing bowl - A fairly large mixing bowl- this would be the bowl of the cake stand if using a stand mixer.
2nd bowl - Another fairly large mixing bowl where the dough is going to rest so that it can rise. Or you can use the same mixing bowl.
Kitchen towel- A clean kitchen towel to cover the dough when it's in an unlit oven to rise and while you at it, put the oven rack in the center for baking.
Sift/strainer or whatever you use to sift the flour.
Bowls - Small bowls for the measured spices and seasonings.
Measuring jug for the milk preferably one that goes into the microwave otherwise use a microwave proof container to heat the milk.
Pro Tip
Kitchen tissue paper is invaluable to have for all the little wipe ups or a small damp cloth. Try not to overfill the piping bag because it spills over as you squeeze unless you're smart and tied the top to block any spilling.
On the occasion that I don't use a piping bag and nozzle I used a basic freezer bag and cut a small slit on the corner. Just so you know what I'm talking about here's one of the many recipes where the freezer bag works brilliantly. In this Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni.
How To Make Hot Cross Buns
Combine the dry ingredients: Add the sifted flour, sugar, spices and salt into a bowl. Gently whisk together to combine and set aside.
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Proof the yeast: Heat the milk, add yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar, give it a stir and let is stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the top is foamy.
Combine: Add melted butter, egg and vanilla, combine and add the yeast/milk mix. Mix together. Add the raisins and combine. Sorry I don't have a photo of the raisins but if you watch this video you will see they do go in!
Prep to knead: Once you have a dough consistency, you can either work on a floured surface and knead the dough or use a stand mixer to do the kneading.
Dough Hook: If using a stand mixer, connect the dough hook to knead the dough.
Kneading: If kneading on a floured surface or using the electric stand mixer, knead until you have a smooth cohesive ball of dough. It should not have a look of 'tearing' on the surface, it must be smooth.
As mentioned earlier, kneading by hand can be done, but it will take some muscle work to get it smooth. If using an electric mixer, increase the speed to medium and let it knead for about 4 to 5 minutes.
Set the dough to rise: Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside and turn it around to coat it all over. Cover with a clean dish towel and leave it in a warm spot until doubled in size. This is the 1st rise of the dough.
Deflate: Gently punch down into the dough to release the air and role it into the shape of a log. Slice the log into 1-inch slices and it should make 8 to 12 slices depending on how small you make them.
Shape: Flatten each piece out to the shape of a disc and then shape each disc into a ball. Flatten the disc and then start pulling in all the sides as you fold them inwards. Watch the video and see how I fold them.
Prep for the 2nd rise: Place the shaped buns onto a baking sheet with baking/parchment paper.
Pro Tip: Use a regular table knife to cut cross shapes, not deep ones just visible enough. It gives an idea where to pipe later! Cover the buns for the second rise which takes around 30 to 40 minutes until increased in size again.
Egg wash: Combine one egg and a tablespoon of milk, beat it together. Brush the egg mix over the buns.
For the cross: Make a paste with flour and water in a small bowl. Transfer the paste to either a piping bag or a Ziploc bag. You must make a small cut on the tip of the Ziploc bag to squeeze the paste out. Pipe the mixture over all the dough buns creating a thick cross.
I've shared a bit earlier on about the piping the only other thing I can say is that it's not actually difficult to keep going once you start with the icing. It's good to have the icing hug around each bun. Once you start it keeps coming out the challenge is actually to stop it from coming out 🙂 But it really is all fun and I really hope that you enjoy making these hot cross buns.
Bake: Bake the buns in a pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are a beautiful golden brown. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out and serve warm!
If you do try these hot cross buns don't forget how much I love hearing from you so snap a photo and tag it #anosmickitchen or @anosmickitchen.
If you love this Hot Cross Bun Recipe…..then you must try my Pickled Fish Recipe next!
Please rate my recipe in the recipe card below, thank you!
The Best Hot Cross Buns Recipe
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS (BUNS)
- 235 grams cake flour
- 200 grams unbleached bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar regular table sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar used here - Muscovado sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cardamom spice
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- 10 grams instant dry yeast
- 1 cup mixed dry currents
WET INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup milk
- 60 grams unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 Tablespoons Amaretto liquor optional and can also use another liquor
- 1 Teaspoon vegetable oil for rubbing the inside of the bowl
Extra Flour For Dusting
- ¼ cup
JAM GLAZE
- 2 Tablespoons apricot/peach jam
- 2 tablespoon boiling water
EGG WASH
- 1 egg
- dash of milk
PASTE FOR CROSSES
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 2 Tablespoons water
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the milk in the microwave for 50 seconds. Add the dry yeast and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. When the yeast is activated you should see a creamy foam on the surface of the milk.
- Weigh the flour out on a scale for accuracy.
- Sift the both flours into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients except the yeast/milk and the dried currants.Whisk to combine everything together. Set aside.
- Measure out the extra flour for dusting and set aside.
DRIED CURRANTS
- Add the dried currants into a microwave bowl. Add the liquor and microwave on high for 30 to 40 seconds until slightly softer. Set aside.
WET INGREDIENTS
- Add the soft butter, egg and vanilla essence into the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to mix until all the ingredients are combined.
- Pour the milk and yeast in and continue mixing with the spatula. This is just get all the ingredients combined before starting the cake mixer.
- Add the currants and liquor, mix them in with the spatula.
LET'S PULL IT ALL TOGETHER (Get your cake stand hook out and set in place)
- Set the speed on medium and mix for 2 minutes. Increase the speed to slightly higher and mix for a minute.
THE DOUGH
- Take the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface. (your extra flour for dusting)
- Knead the dough for about 5 minutes using the inside top of your hand. See the video for this.
- Oil the inside of a bowl and place the dough into the bowl, covered with a clean dish towel/cloth and place in a turned off oven for 2 hours to rise.
Rise No. 2
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper for the balls. Set aside.
- Take your dough out the oven, remove the cloth and now the dough should've risen and not necessarily double in size, just bigger than when you started. Punch the dough down to get the air out, take it out and place it on a floured surface.
- Knead it for a minute and while kneading shape into a long roll shape. (like a swiss roll)Cut the dough into sections and then into slices (more or less the same size) and then shape each one into balls. See notes below or watch the video on how to shape the balls. Very easy old fashioned way of rolling in all the edges and shape into a bun round shape.
- Place the buns smooth side up on the baking tray.
- Cover the buns and leave set aside to rise for an hour - 2nd rise.
- 10 minutes before the hour is up for the 2nd rise, if the buns are in an unlit oven then you have to remove them and place them on the kitchen counter so that you can heat your oven to 180 Celsius. (if your microwave is big enough you can also let them rise in there)
BEFORE BAKING AND AFTER THE 2ND RISE
- Start preparing the piping paste. Get it into a bag, test the nozzle or the plastic bag to make sure the paste is not too runny. See more below under 'crosses'Set it aside and go on with the egg wash.
EGG WASH
- Whisk the egg, add a drop of milk and brush the egg wash over the buns.
CROSSES
- Mix the flour and water into a thick paste.If the paste is runny add flour and vice versa although the measurements work perfectly so start with that first. Try and use quite a small nozzle to place into a piping bag which you will fill with the paste. You can also use a plastic freezer bag and cut a slit/hole on the end to squeeze the paste out but just be careful to not make the hole too big! Do a small test before squeezing it on the buns. Pipe crosses, one line at a time over each bun. As you do the piping, it may not stop coming out so just go with it carefully from one to another as long as you doing the same line continuously. The paste will kind of hug each bun then you do the other way. It's loads of fun so enjoy 🙂
BAKE
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes max or they start getting too dark on top and can stick to the baking paper. Set the timer for 18 minutes.Have a slight peep and they should already be a light golden color. Leave them another minute or 2 but keep a close watch. Once they are a shade darker take them out. Try and get them off the baking paper while they are hot because if you've left them a minute too long they will stick to the paper. Let them cool and mix your jam.
- Simply add about tablespoon of boiling water to your jam, mix and brush onto the buns.
- Give them a light brush over with the jam while still warm and cooling.
- Please Enjoy! Miranda xoxo
Notes
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If you love this recipe, please consider giving it a star rating when you post a comment because the star ratings helps other people like you find my recipes online and that means so much to me thank you! Miranda, xoxo
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