edd’s hot cross buns

I’ve hunted high and low, far and wide for a good hot cross bun recipe, one that felt close enough to what I remember eating as a kid. After much trial and error, I reached out to Edd Kimber at The Boy Who Bakes who I had the pleasure of meeting last month in San Francisco. Edd was in town with the editors from Bake From Scratch and we got to hangout and bake with the one and only Alice Medrich.  Edd sent me his recipe to try out and it is absolutely easy to follow and work with. The texture of the buns reminded me of the buns I used to go every year with my grandfather to pick up at the bakery. 

I followed Edd’s recipe to the dot but here are a couple of tips since it is written for a UK audience.

• Yes, you can make the buns in the stand mixer but adapt as follows:
  • Soak the raisins like Edd recommends but only add the liquid to the dry ingredients in the stand mixer bowl. Reserve the raisins and then add and fold them just before the dough comes together. 
  • Use the paddle attachment to mix and make the dough. 
  • Knead time on the stand mixer – medium-low speed for about 5 to 6 minutes until it starts to become elastic. You need good gluten formation.
• Get the golden syrup. I got the Lyles brand which gets the job done right.
• You can use raisins, crystallized ginger, dried figs, apricots etc (any type of dried fruit you like) but raisins are more traditional. 
• The cross – the traditional way to do it is with a flour-water paste. Avoid sugar pastes, they can also caramelize.
• Baking temperature, Edd’s recipe uses 200C at Gas Mark 6 – I used 390F and got fantastic results.

Here’s Edd’s recipe for Hot Cross Buns , happy baking!