I absolutely ADORE hot cross buns. When it comes to most holiday type foods I try not to buy them store bought, because it’s too easy to just eat a whole pack in one sitting….and I can eat a whole bag in one sitting 🤷🏻♀️🙈 this includes things like Mince Pies, Stollen, and Hot Cross Buns. So I decided I wasn’t going to eat any more hot cross buns until I made them myself. I’ve put together a wee video on how I made them, but the full recipe is just below, and printable too!
Of course I made them vegan, but to be honest, you’d never tell the diference. A lot of store bought ones these days are unintentionally vegan anyway. So it’s a win all round. My go to vegan butter in the UK is Naturli. To be honest, we don’t have a lot of options here for vegan block butter. Thankfully, Naturli Vegan Block Butter is absolutely delicious. They have a spreadable version too which is so so tasty as well.
If you’re in the States or Canada, you can use Earth Balance.I’ve tried to get it here but it’s almost impossible.
Honestly, it’s such an easy and straightforward recipe. I’m not a huge fan of mixed peel but if you’re feeling super traditional you can replace some of the raisins with the peel. I used orange zest as well, but lemon will do just as nicely. I used unsweetened Almond Milk in this recipe, but generally would use Oat milk. Almond is all I had because I’ve had to substitute with this Covid-19 Lockdown as Oat milk seems a bit more scarce. If you only have sultanas, use those! I prefer raisins, because they’re less mushy. I know! I’m a texture freak! 🤷🏻♀️
So experiment away, just keep the measurements correct and you’re good to go. An easy, fluffy, simply more-ish hot cross bun!
If you’re wanting to save even more time, forget the crosses! That’s just for show…but can you really call it a hot cross bun without it?
Vegan Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
- 500 grams White Bread Flour
- 75 grams White Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 tsp Mixed Spice
- 1 tsp Salt
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 3 tsp Dried Active Yeast
- 300 ml Plant Based Milk
- 80 g Melted Vegan Block Butter
Instructions
- Throw the Flour in to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Place the sugar, spices, zest, and salt to one side of the mixer. Place the yeast in the bowl away from the other ingredients. Sugar and Salt will kill yeast if in direct contact. Turn on the mixer to combine. You might have to use a rubber spatula to combine more thoroughly.
- Melt the vegan butter and add it to the plant milk. Mix until incorporated. There's no need to heat the milk too as you don't want the mixture to be too hot. Lukewarm will do!
- Slowly pour the milk and butter mixture into the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer on medium high and beat the dough until it starts to come away from the sides of the bowl. This should take about 8-10 minutes.
- Oil a medium sized bowl and form the dough in to a loose ball. Cover with clingfilm and set in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours or until doubles in size.
- Once risen, knock the air out of the dough and add the raisins by hand. You can do this in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface.
- Once the fruit is incorporated, cut 12 equal sized pieces of dough. Be careful not to tear the dough as this will damage the structure of the gluten.
- Form the balls of dough tightly and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet or dish. Cover them with clingfilm and let rise for another hour.
- Mix together some flour and water to make a pipeable paste. I used 50 grams of four and 40ml of water. Add the water as you need it. Place in a piping bag and pipe crosses on the buns. This step is completely optional!
- Bake at 180F in a fan oven for 25 minutes, until golden.
- Glaze the buns with warmed up apricot jam, or any other syrup you prefer.
Notes
