Savoury HotCross Buns Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Makes: 12-14 hot cross buns
Ingredients Needed
- 25g/1oz bread flour
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4fl ozs water
- 1 cup/250ml/8.8fl ozs milk
- 1/4 cup/80g/2.8oz honey
- 1 egg
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 600-650g/21-23oz bread flour
- 1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Oil spray for greasing bowl
- 125g/4.4oz grated tasty or Cheddar cheese
- 75g/2.6oz grated parmesan cheese
- 100g/3.5oz candied or pickled jalapenos, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoon chives
- 1/2 beaten egg for glaze
Flour Crosses
- 60g/2oz plain flour
- Around 5 tablespoons water to make paste
- 2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan (freshly grated)
Chive Butter
- 75g/2.6oz butter, softened
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped chives
Step-By-Step Instructions
After adding, milk, honey, egg and salt.
Step 1 TANGZHONG ROUX - Make the tangzhong or water roux. Take the 25g/1oz of flour and whisk with 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan until smooth. Heat on medium heat and stir until it thickens to become a roux. You want it to reach 65C/149F (around 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and whisk in the milk in two lots until smooth. Add the honey and whisk until the honey disperses. Whisk in the egg and salt.
Step 2 KNEAD - Place the 600g/21oz flour and yeast in a large mixer bowl and whisk to combine. Add the tangzhong mixture to the flour mix and mix with a spatula. Knead with the dough hook for 1 minute. If the dough is too sticky, add some of the extra flour. Knead until elastic, around 10-15 minutes. The dough needs to be elastic and stretchy but not break and you should be able to pull it apart between your fingers and see through it without it breaking (called the windowpane effect).
Step 3 RISE - Scrape the dough onto a greased surface. Grease a bowl (I use the same mixer bowl) and roll the dough into a ball making sure that there are no cracks on top of the ball and place it in the bowl allow it to rise in a warm place until triple its size. I sit it within another bowl full of hot water. This bulk rise can take 40-60 minutes. Place the grated cheeses in the freezer.
Step 4 CROSS - Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Mix the cross ingredients together to make a pipeable paste and place in a small piping bag cutting a small hole at the end.
Step 5 SHAPING - Line a 32 x 23 x 6cm or 12.8 x 9.2 x 2.4inch baking dish with high sides with parchment. Punch down the dough and knead in the cheeses and the chives. Flour your hands and a surface and shape 12 buns around 110g/3.9ozs each (I weighed the dough just to keep it consistent). Shape into a circle and place the chopped jalapenos in the centre of the bun and roll into a ball without any cracks on the surface by cupping the dough and kneading it against the bench. If the dough is too sticky try greasing your hands with oil spray - that should prevent the dough from sticking to your hands too much.
Step 6 SECOND RISE - Place on the parchment (I could fit 12 buns onto one tray and then another 2 on another) and do not give these a long rise, as long as they puff up a bit that is perfect. Glaze with beaten egg and then pipe crosses on top and then bake for 28-30 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Mix butter with chives to make chive butter and serve with buns.
Personal Note
Laura inspired this recipe as she was looking for a savoury hot cross bun recipe that she could serve at Easter lunch instead of dinner rolls. She said that she saw my bacon and egg HCBs but wanted something savoury baked into the buns. She often gives me great cooking ideas and we also really enjoy our food adventures.
The other night Laura and I headed to one of our favourite places: the Lakemba Ramadan night markets. As we drove up it looked oddly quiet. "Hmm there are lots of parking spots," she mused aloud. "That's weird, are we very early?" I responded. And then we saw the sign saying that Ramadan nights was cancelled. Disappointed and having come all the way, we parked and regrouped.
I found a place in a nearby suburb that was on my list for serving delicious looking Middle Eastern food. When we reached there it looked a bit different from what we had seen on Tiktok. There was no menu of delicious soups or lamb topped hummus, it was basically like a takeaway chicken shop. And because it was Ramadan before sundown they were just selling chicken and chips.
Dejected, we decided to walk back to the car for a regroup to find a third option. It was then that poor Laura almost got hit by a woman driving who sped up towards her and we just wanted to get out of there. By now we were absolutely famished, I needed to pee and we were also thirsty. We had another place in mind so we drove towards it but then stumbled upon a road side sign advertising sandwiches 1 minute away. We took a detour there where there were fantastic sandwiches, a bathroom to use and dogs to pat. Because sometimes you need to pivot and go to Plan C and sometimes that works out!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a friend that you go on food adventures with? Have you ever tried savoury hot cross buns?