My three favourite ways to eat hot cross buns are as follows: 1) warm, straight from the oven, with butter. 2) pulled in half (not sliced, so you get the craggy edges) and toasted, with butter. 3) buttered and stuffed with aged cheddar or Gouda or whatever cheese you happen to be loving at the moment, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It occurred to me yesterday, when I realized it was a week from Easter and spontaneously decided to make a batch of hot cross buns, that there aren’t a huge number of recipes out there for them – it doesn’t seem to be a staple in baking books, so I went back to my old standby. They’re fairly simple to mix together, as yeast doughs go-it’s a nice buttery one, flavoured with orange zest and studded with currants or raisins. If you like candied peel, and can find some good stuff, go for it-I tend to leave it out and rely on lots of cinnamon and orange zest or even a big spoonful of chunky orange marmalade in the dough (replace some of the sugar).

The dough is easy to mix – if they’re intended for breakfast, you can shape the buns, cover and refrigerate them overnight to slow the rise. A little beaten egg right before they go into the oven makes them glossy. And while some pipe icing crosses onto their baked, cooled buns, there are two reasons I like to add a flour-water paste before they go into the oven: I like that they bake right on, and don’t get sticky, and I like to eat these warm, which would mean the icing would melt and slide off unless I waited until they cooled completely. If you want to go the icing route, by all means skip the flour-water paste and pipe on whatever icing/drizzle you like.

I like baking these on a sheet, but if you line them up in a 9×13-inch pan, they’ll bake up against each other,

Hot Cross Buns

AuthorJulie

Yields12 Servings

2 tsp active dry or instant yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup milk, warmed (any kind-oat, dairy, yellow pea, nut)

3 1/2-4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed

1/4 cup butter, softened (or canola oil)

1 large egg

grated zest of an orange

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 cup currants or raisins

Paste

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp water

Gloss:

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp honey

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, along with a pinch of the sugar. Add the milk and about 3 1/2 cups of flour along with the rest of the sugar, the butter, egg, orange zest, cinnamon and salt. Stir or knead with the hook attachment of your stand mixer until well blneded. Add the remaining flour, if you need it, and knead until it’s soft and sticky (but not so sticky that you’d have to scrape it off your hands). Knead in the currants or raisins, cover the bowl and leave it for an hour or so, until it has doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet or into a parchment-lined 9x13-inch baking pan, cover with a tea towel and set aside for another hour.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Put the flour and water into a small ziplock bag and knead to make a smooth paste. Snip off one corner and squeeze over the buns to make crosses. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until deep golden. In a small dish, melt the butter and honey and brush over the buns while they’re still very warm.

Makes 1 dozen hot cross buns.

Categorybread

Ingredients