Easy Homemade Hot Cross Buns
Easter is almost here so why not make some homemade delicious hot cross buns. Did you know it was so easy to make these? A little bit of kneading is all it takes to give your family homemade fresh bread they will enjoy. I have used raisins in the bread but you can certainly add other dry fruits such as apricots, dates, cranberries or plums.

I prefer to use bread flour because it gives a soft tender bread but for years we made these with plain all-purpose flour /maida. The cross on top can be made with dough or with icing. I have given you the recipe to make it with dough.
However, if you prefer icing instead -
- Take 1 cup powdered sugar/ icing sugar and
- 2 tbsp of water to create a smooth paste - don't add too much water - it must be thick.
- Put the icing in a piping bag and pipe crossed on each bun -after the buns are cooled down completely.
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Equipment /Tools
- Kitchen scale
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 180 ml Milk warm
- 2 ¼ tsp Yeast or 25 grams fresh yeast
- 2 Eggs
- 50 grams Sugar
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 100 grams Butter
- 430 grams Bread flour or plain flour
- 1 cup Raisins
- ½ tsp Cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg powder
- ½ cup Flour maida for kneading
For the cross
- ½ cup All-purpose flour maida
- ⅓ cup Water
Instructions
- Soak the rainsins in warm water for 30 minutes - drain and set aside
- In a bowl combine warm milk (barely warm almost room temperature), eggs, sugar, yeast, - let rest for 5 minutes until foamy - set aside
- In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
- Now, combine the yeast mixture to the flour mixture
- Knead the dough for 3 minutes - using little flour as possible - keep the dough soft
- Then add the room temperature butter nad knead it in well.
- The dough will be soft but continue to knead for 2 minutes until you have a soft dough
- Place in an oiled bowl - cover and set aside in a warm place for an hour or until double in volume.
- Punch down the dough - add the raisins and gently knead them in
- Divide into 12 equal pieces - form into balls
- Place them on a baking tray - cover with a clean kitchen cloth and let rise for 30 minutes
- Preheat the oven at 180 C / 350 F
- In the meantime, combine the flour and water to make a smooth paste that can be piped similar to frosting.
- Add the flour paste to a ziplock back. Cut a small tip at the end of the bag.
- Pipe a cross on each bread. Brush the bread with a beaten egg
- Bake the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden
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Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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