Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns are a traditional Good Friday food, and here they are made with sourdough! These are soft and pillowy, heavily spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and orange, chock full of dried fruit or chocolate chips, and finished off with a piped cross + sweet glaze. You'll probably want to eat them year round!Makes 15 buns.
Servings: 15
Calories: 288kcal
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
- 240 grams whole milk
- 200 grams sourdough starter
- 100 grams dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 500 grams bread flour
- 13 grams salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- Zest from 1 orange
- 1 cup raisins OR 1 ½ cup chocolate chips
Flour Cross
- 75 grams all purpose flour
- 75 grams water
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
Directions
Make the Dough
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once melted, remove from heat and pour in the milk. Mix the starter, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the warm butter and milk and mix until fully combined. Switch to the dough hook and add the flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and orange zest. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, add in the chocolate chips or raisins. Knead on low speed for 5 minutes. It will still be sticky, but will start to look shiny towards the end of kneading.Gather the dough into a ball in the bottom of the bowl, cover tightly, and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size - about 12 hours. (Note that this may take longer since the dough is so heavy!)
Shape the Rolls
- Turn risen dough out onto a generously floured surface. Fold envelope-style to make a rectangle, then cut into 15 roughly equal squares. Shape each piece into a roll, and place seam side-down into a greased 9x13-inch pan. Cover the pan and let rise at room temperature until the rolls are nicely puffed up - about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Pipe the Crosses + Bake the Rolls
- Toward the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the flour and water until smooth and transfer to a Ziplock bag. Snip a small hole in one of the corners of the bag and pipe a line down each row of rolls. Go slowly to allow the paste to sink into the crevices between rolls. Pipe perpendicular lines across the tops of each roll to form the crosses. (See note if you want to do an icing cross). Bake for 22-25 minutes, until baked through and browned, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
Make + Drizzle the Glaze
- While the rolls cool slightly, make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over the pan of rolls and allow to seep in for a few minutes before digging in!Store cooled rolls covered at room temperature. Reheat before eating.
Notes
To make crosses using icing - whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of milk. You want this to be thick enough to be able to pipe, and smooth enough to form a nice line without breaks. Pour the glaze on while the buns are still warm, then wait until they are COMPLETELY COOL before piping the crosses - otherwise they will melt and run.
Nutrition
Calories: 288kcal (14%) | Carbohydrates: 54g (18%) | Protein: 6g (12%) | Fat: 6g (9%) | Saturated Fat: 3g (19%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 24mg (8%) | Sodium: 354mg (15%) | Potassium: 164mg (5%) | Fiber: 2g (8%) | Sugar: 15g (17%) | Vitamin A: 172IU (3%) | Vitamin C: 1mg (1%) | Calcium: 44mg (4%) | Iron: 1mg (6%)
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