Vegan Hot Cross Buns
Soft and flavourful vegan hot cross buns packed with dried raisins and candied citrus peels. The perfect breakfast or dessert to welcome spring and the Easter season, or just to eat year-round.
Ingredients
Dough
- 190 g unsweetened plant based milk, around 37C/98F, but no more than 48C/120F
- 55 g brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 300 g all-purpose flour, or bread flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground clove
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp orange zest
- 45 g neutral oil, (grapeseed, canola, vegetable...)
- 65 g dried raisins
- 65 g mixed candied citrus peels, recipe here
Cross
- 30 g all-purpose flour
- 30-35 g water
Glaze
- simple syrup, melted apricot jam or maple syrup
Instructions
Dough
- Combine the lukewarm milk, yeast and sugar and set aside to let the yeast foam.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, lemon and orange zest. Then pour in the foamed yeast mixture along with the oil.
- Stir everything together until a rough dough forms then tip it out onto an oiled or lightly floured surface and knead until it forms a nice smooth ball (10 to 15 minutes) and you’re able to stretch a piece thin enough to see light through it without it ripping. About 5-10 minutes in a stand mixer at medium speed.
- Pat it out into a flat circle, place the raisins and candied citrus peels in the center, fold the dough onto itself and give it a few kneads until they’re evenly distributed.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, making sure it’s all oiled to avoid a crust forming, cover it with a damp tea towel and place it in a warm place to proof for about 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. This will depend on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Once it’s doubled, punch it down to deflate it and divide it into pieces weighing about 80g. Cover them back with the tea towel.
- Grease a 9X9 inch pan, ball each piece by tucking it into itself and place it in the pan.
- Cover back up with a damp tea towel and proof again for 30-60 minutes. When it’s almost ready, preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F.
Cross
- When they’re ready to be baked, whisk together the flour and water for the cross in a small bowl. Using a piping bag or ziploc bag with the corner cut off, pipe crosses onto each ball.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches between 90°C/194°F and 94°C/201°F. If you see that the top is browning too fast, you can cover it loosely with aluminium foil and continue baking.
- When you take them out, immediately brush them with the glaze. Let them cool in the pan about 5-10 minutes before pulling the whole thing out and placing it on a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- The amount of spices can be adjusted to your liking.
- The raisins and candied citrus peels can be changed for other dried fruits if you don’t like them. All raisins, all citrus peels, replace a part of it with dried currants, chopped up dried apricots (although not traditional), etc.
- If your raisins are drier than dry, soak them for about 10 minutes in warm water or even rum to rehydrate them.