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Hot cross buns with daffodils at the top.
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5 from 2 votes

Vegan Hot Cross Buns

You won't be able to resist these gently spiced, sweet, fruity and delicious Vegan Hot Cross Buns. Perfect treat to enjoy at Easter & beyond!
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine British
Keyword dairy-free, egg-free, hot cross buns, vegan
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Proving Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes
Servings 12 buns
Calories 227kcal
Author Jo Allison

Ingredients

Hot Cross Buns

  • 350 g strong white bread flour
  • 100 g wholemeal flour see notes
  • 50 g caster (fine) sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon mixed spice see notes
  • 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon see notes
  • 2 teaspoon (or 7g sachet) dried (instant/easy) yeast
  • 50 g vegan block butter I use Flora Plant
  • 300 ml oat milk
  • 120 g mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, orange peel etc.) see notes
  • zest of 1 orange or lemon optional

Cross

  • 4 tablespoon plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 2-3 tablespoon cold water

Glaze

  • maple syrup, sugar syrup, apricot jam, orange marmalade choose whatever glaze you like

Instructions

  • Put all the dry ingredients + orange or lemon zest (if using) in a large mixing bowl or bowl of your stand mixer. Make sure to keep yeast away from salt and sugar at this point.
    Give it all a good mix with a whisk or paddle attachment (if using stand mixer)
  • Put butter in a small saucepan/milk pan and melt it gently over low heat. Once melted, take it off the heat, add oat milk and give it a little stir.
    The heat from just melted butter will warm up the oat milk and the mixture will be just the right (warm to hand) temperature to use in the dough.
  • Make a well in your dry ingredients and pour in milk and butter mixture.
    Slowly start incorporating it into the flour until you get sticky, shaggy dough mixture. As hot cross buns dough is quite sticky to work with, I would highly recommend using stand mixer with dough hook for kneading.
    Turn the dough out onto lightly floured counter and knead for approximately 10 minutes by hand (or 5 if using your stand mixer). Make sure to use lowest possible speed if using mixer.
    The dough should become smooth and elastic but it will remain pretty sticky. You can add a little bit of flour as you go to make the dough easier to handle, however, try not add too much as it will result in denser buns.
  • Add dried fruit and continue kneading your dough until it's well incorporated.
  • Once you've incorporated dried fruit into the dough, return it into lightly oiled bowl, cover with clean tea towel (or plastic shower cap) and put it somewhere warm to prove until doubled in size. 
    Proving time will depend on the temperature of the environment.
  • Punch your risen dough to deflate it, give it a quick knead and divide into 12 equal balls. I like to weigh my dough but you don't have to. 
    Shape the balls into neat buns and place onto prepared baking sheet making sure that you leave some space between them to allow for expansion.
    Cover the tray loosely with a clean tea towel and leave the buns to prove in a warm place until they double in size or at least puff up substantially.
  • Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
  • Make crosses by preparing simple paste from mixture of plain flour in water. You want it to be consistency of thick paste.
    Put it in a piping bag or simple plastic sandwich bag, snip off the tip and pipe a cross on each of the buns.
  • Bake hot cross buns in preheated oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.
  • As soon as the buns are out of the oven brush them with some maple syrup for that shiny, sticky glaze and transfer onto cooling rack.
  • Enjoy!

Video

Notes

  • Nutritional information is approximate, per bun and should be treated as a guideline only.
  • Feel free to use 100% white flour here. I added a bit of wholemeal for a little bit of goodness. You could also go the other way and increase the amount of wholemeal flour vs white one but your buns will not be as light.
  • Feel free to use single spices like ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves etc. instead of mixed spice if you want but keep overall amount to 2 tsp.
  • If you are not a fan of cinnamon, feel free to use 1 teaspoon instead of 2.
  • When it comes to mixed fruit, I usually stick to raisins or sultanas but feel free to use whatever mixture you like. 
  • You can make these hot cross buns overnight. For details see "Overnight hot cross buns" above.
  • Best eaten on the day they're baked. Freezer friendly.
Tips:
  1. Use stand mixer with dough hook attachment if you've got one.
  2. Don't add too much extra flour.
  3. Don't let yeast come in contact with salt and sugar when you add your ingredients into a bowl. Always put yeast on one side and salt and sugar on the other.
  4. Use airing cupboard if you've got one for proving your dough.
  5. Don't worry if your hot cross buns don't exactly double in size during second proving. As long as they've risen a bit and puffed up, that's fine.
  6. Use reusable shower cap to cover bowl with your dough when proving.

Nutrition

Calories: 227kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 139mg | Potassium: 164mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 56IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg