Hot Cross Buns

Brioche Dough with Holiday Spices

As for the dough, I combined the best part of Chef John’s hot bun dough recipe with Alex French Guy Cooking’s Brioche bread dough recipe to add some extra buttery flavor to the dough.

1. In a large bowl, mix

   bread four        500 g
   beaten eggs        2
   warm milk          200 g (microwave for 30s if from refrigerator)
   dry yeast          8 g / 1 packet

2. After the dough forms, rest for 15 min, then add

   soft butter 100 g/ 1 stick (at room temperature)
   sugar        50 g/ 2 tbsp
   salt         1 tsp

3. Fold in the holiday spices and raisins:

   orange zest    1 tbsp
   nutmeg          1/2 tsp
   cinnamon        3/4 tsp
   raisin          1/4 cup

4. Cover the dough and let it rise for 1.5 hrs or until double the size in a turned off over or any warm, dry place. Your dough should look like this after this.
5. Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces and form a round ball. My dough weighs about 1000 g, so each small piece should weigh about 67 g. Let the small doughs rise for 15 min while preparing for the next step.

Paint the Cross

1. Mix

   all purpose flour      1/3 cup 
   water                  1/4 cup

   into a thin, pip-able dough.

2. Put the mixture in a sandwich bag and cut one corner. Pipe the mixture on to the doughs and paint the white cross.

Let’s Bake and Glaze!

1. Stack the baking pan on top of another empty baking pan to avoid burning the bottom of the buns. Bake the buns at 400 F for 20 min.

2. Prepare the glaze by mixing

   white sugar    1/4 cup
   water         3 tbsp

   and heat at medium heat until boiling.

3. Cook the buns for 5 min, then bush on the glaze.
4. Serve hot and enjoy!