Hot Cross Buns
Tue, Apr 19, 2011
Breads, Easter, Fun Family Activities, Holidays, Honest Cooking, Itsy Bitsy Foodies Sightings, Search by Course, Yeast Breads
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I love my mom’s Hot Cross Buns with a hint of cinnamon but this Easter season I decided to mix it up and try a new recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. It’s a classic sweet bread recipe that can be used for many purposes. These moist, buttery rolls are yummy plain or with dried fruit. To enjoy them both ways, I left half of the dough plain and kneaded chopped Craisins and dried pineapple into the other half (a dried fruit combo that turned out to be a hit). As with all hot cross buns, make icing crosses on them while they are still warm so that the powdered sugar glaze starts to melt into the buns.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 6¾ tsp yeast (3 packages)
- 8-9 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup chopped Craisins
- ½ cup chopped candied orange peel or other dried citrus fruit
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp water
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp milk or water, to consistency
- Combine the sugar, salt, yeast and 2 cups flour in a large bowl.
- Heat the milk and the butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter melts and the mixture is very warm.
- Gradually add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing them together at a low speed.
- Once combined, increase the speed to medium and mix for two minutes more.
- Add the eggs and 2 more cups flour.
- Beat the mixture for two minutes.
- Then stir in enough additional flour (roughly 4 cups) to make a soft dough.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly-floured surface and knead it for 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic.
- Form the dough into a ball.
- Place the dough ball in a large, greased bowl and then flip the dough over so that the greased side faces up.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for one hour or until doubled.
- Punch down the dough.
- Then divide the dough in half.
- If desired, knead chopped dried fruit into the dough at this point.
- Divide each half into 12 pieces and shape them into balls.
- Place them in a greased 9x13 pan.
- Cover the pan with a towel and let the buns rise for one hour or until doubled.
- Repeat the process with the 2nd half of dough or reserve the remaining dough for another use.
- Once the buns have doubled in size, mix 1 egg yolk with 1 tsp water and brush the buns with the egg glaze.
- Bake the buns at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the tops are brown and glazed.
- Make the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk/water until a smooth glaze forms.
- Remove the buns from the oven and make an icing cross on them with the powdered sugar glaze.
- Serve them warm or let them cool completely and store them in a sealed container.
- TIP: To enjoy the hot cross buns both plain and with dried fruit, knead some dried fruit into only a portion of the dough and leave another portion plain.
Recipe source: The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook
Tags: bread, buns, butter, Easter, hot cross buns, sweet bread, yeast bread
I was looking at your recipe and the GH recipe, almost identical (except yours is mostly doubling everything, and you don’t add any spices). I was wondering what effect the eggs have, since i noticed you didn’t increase the amount of eggs as compared to the GH recipe. Does it make it less dense by not adding extra eggs?? I’m looking for a light sweet bread type bun. All the recipes I’ve tried so far are pretty dense. Your pictures look exactly like what I’m looking for, so just wanted to hear your thoughts… I want to make your recipe here but I dont think I want 2 dozen buns or to keep extra dough. Thanks in advance!
Hi Aimee, There must be more than one GH recipe for hot cross buns because the one that I used is exactly as in the book that I have: the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. If you don’t want 2 dozen buns you should be able to cut the recipe in half because the quantities are all nice round numbers. I’m not really sure about the eggs because I have nothing to compare it with. These buns are sweet, buttery and rich…more like a pastry dough than a bread dough. I have another hot cross bun recipe on my site that is linked from this recipe. It is far less buttery and rich, more like a lightly sweetened dinner roll with a subtle cinnamon flavor. It is very different but also very good. (It’s what I grew up with so it has some nostalgic qualities for me 🙂 I hope this helps and let me know how your hot cross buns turn out!!
Thanks for the reply!! The GH cookbook I have is from the early 90s so maybe newer recipes these days don’t care about portion control.. haha. Anyway, I’m gonna try this recipe this weekend. I definitely want a fluffy sweet bread type of roll, the 3 packages of yeast is exciting!! 😀