Soft & Fluffy Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!

I am sure many of us remember this nursery rhyme – possibly one of the first few I learnt in music class as a kid. Traditionally enjoyed on Good Friday, hot cross buns are made using a sweet dough base filled with spices and dried fruits, then marked with a cross on top prior to baking.

With Easter around the corner, this is my rendition on Hot Cross Buns; but with a fun chocolate orange twist!

Infused with orange juice, the deliciously spiced dough is packed with cocoa powder, raisins, sultanas, orange zest and orange peel for a citrusy kick, AND a hint of vanilla extract for extra flavour.

How to keep Hot Cross Buns soft & fluffy?

I personally like my hot cross buns eaten plain on its own; no toasting, and without butter. So naturally, I’d appreciate it soft, even on day 2 and 3. Most hot cross buns that I’ve tried in the past are either too dense for my liking, or only fluffy when fresh out of the oven and sadly do not stay soft beyond day one.

So I incorporated the Tangzhong (water roux) method to make the softest and fluffiest hot cross buns! Tangzhong method is my favourite method to make bread, as evidently shown in my Recipe Index with various recipes incorporating this method.

These buns can stay soft for a couple of days. I suggest up to 3 days stored in an airtight container, at room temp. After which it is best to store them in the refrigerator for up to a 1 week or freeze them if you wish to store them for longer.

How to Shape Hot Cross Buns?

After the dough has completed its first round of proofing, known as the bulk fermentation, we would then deflate dough and divide into 12 equal pieces. Gather each individual dough and shape into round balls. Then place into a lined/greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Each dough weighs approximately 55-56g, which I find is the perfect size for one hot cross bun.

Essentially what I do to shape the dough is by using the chafing method to tuck the dough in. Take each piece of dough and fold the corners into the center, forming a rough round ball. Then using the corner of your palms at a 45 degree angle, press dough downwards whilst rotating dough to create smooth, taut round ball. Remember to grease your hands either with neutral flavored oil or butter for this action. You may watch this video below for a quick visual guide:

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A post shared by Michelle ♥ (@thebakeanista)

Crosses on Hot Cross Buns

To complete your hot cross buns, you will of course need the cross! It’s basically a mix of flour and water mixed into a paste, then piped on top of each bun before baking.

All you need is a piping bag (piping nozzle not required) or even a zip lock bag. I find it helpful to place the bag in a tall glass to hold the bag whilst you fill the bag with the flour paste.

Snip the corner off and you’re good to start piping. After baking, the “flour cross” does harden a little which is why I personally prefer a slimmer cross. You can most definitely cut a slightly bigger hole on your piping bag to achieve thicker crosses.

Traditionally, the crosses are white but I have opted for a chocolate cross. In a small bowl, mix 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 2 tbsp all purpose plain flour with 40ml water. Stir to combine. This is plenty of paste, way more than enough for 12 buns, but you don’t want to make too little paste as it may get tricky to pipe.

For a white cross, you would need just all purpose plain flour and water. Start with 40g all purpose plain flour, and 30-40ml of water. You want a thick paste that will pipe easily. Add additional water if needed.

Glazing the Hot Cross Buns

For the finishing touch, you’d want to glaze your buns with some sugar syrup, when the buns are fresh out of the oven. The buns will get a little sticky, but see how big of a difference the glaze makes in the pictures below.

On the left, are the buns in all its glory fresh out of the oven and on the right, the buns had a shiny glow up. All with a glaze of simple sugar syrup.

I am one to cut calories and sugar where I can, but in this case, I highly recommend not to skip the glaze. If you want to omit the sugar syrup, you may consider glazing with apricot jam.

For the glaze, I made a simple sugar syrup combining 3 tbsp of sugar with 3 tbsp of water. Bring it to the boil in a small saucepan or if using Thermomix, heat for 2 mins/100°C/Speed 3 without MC.

You can even use orange juice in place of water, for a sweeter orange syrup. It will go really well with these cinnamon-spiced chocolate hot cross buns!

Quick Video on the Making of Hot Cross Buns

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A post shared by Michelle ♥ (@thebakeanista)

Tweaks & Variations

There are a few tweak options you can make to this recipe:

1. If you don’t enjoy orange as much as I do, omit the orange juice in the Tangzhong and use just 100g of water and/or milk. Don’t skip the orange zest though! I would also still highly recommend including the orange peels, but you can omit.
2. Not a fan of dried fruits? Swap them for chocolate chips and you’d have an indulgently rich Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns! Especially when the buns are warm and fresh out of the oven, ohhh those choc chips would be all gooey. Messy, but oh so divine. 😉
3. If you don’t like chocolate (rare, but I believe there are some of you out there), then omit the cocoa powder and instead replace with 20g milk powder. You will get a spiced, orange infused Hot Cross Buns. You can take it further and omit the orange juice as noted in (1) above, and you will get classic Hot Cross Buns.
4. Turn it into a loaf! After bulk fermentation, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces then shaped into round balls and arrange 4 x 2 in a 450g loaf pan. Let dough proof with similar duration of 40 minutes or until 80% to the rim, then bake the loaf at 180°C for 30-35 mins in a preheated oven.

For this particular loaf above, I did tweak #3 replacing cocoa powder with milk powder for a classic spiced Hot Cross Loaf. I also did the white cross as noted above here. I love this loaf version! It’s the convenience of being able to toss the slices into the toaster, and slather on a more generous amount of butter. I mean… Why not, right? 😉

If Experiencing Sticky Dough

For bread maker users, check the dough 10 minutes into the kneading cycle. It should be smooth and the mixing bowl should be clean by now. If your dough is too sticky to manage, you may add 1 tbsp of flour at a time.

For Thermomix users, if you experience a stickier dough, you may want to add 1 tbsp of high protein bread flour at a time and knead for 15-20 seconds until incorporated.

Lightly oil your hands (and the pastry mat depending on how sticky your dough is) using neutral flavoured oil to shape dough into a ball. Apply the chafing technique by cupping your hands gently around the dough, apply a light, downwards pressure to the sides whilst simultaneously rotating the dough in a circular clockwise motion. Continue doing so until a smooth, even, and round ball is formed. Refer to video shared in post body above.

How do I know if my bread is well proofed and ready to be baked?

You may perform the visual test to check. Lightly press the surface of the proofed dough with the tip of your finger for about 2 seconds and observe how fast the dough bounces back up.

• UNDER-PROOF: If it bounces back up too fast without any indentation, it isn’t ready yet, so give it more time.
• READY TO BAKE: It is supposed to bounce back up slowly, about halfway up and leave a slight indent.
• OVER-PROOFED: If the indent remains without bouncing back up, yes it is over-proofed, but don’t worry! You can still save it.

How to save an overproofed bread dough?

If the dough is overproofed, the gluten is being over-stretched and it will be unable to hold up the internal structure of the bread. The buns may collapse on its side. If it isn’t severely over-risen, you have the option to quickly pop it into the oven to bake it right away. Otherwise what you can do to save it is by deflating your overproofed dough and reshape, then repeat the second proofing again.

Which oven rack and what oven setting should I use?

I suggest the second rack from bottom. I bake using top and bottom heat, with fan.

Few Things to Note

When it comes to bread making, there are many factors that will influence your dough and the end product. Recipes should be used as a guide, as you familiarize yourself with the process and dough.

For instance, your dough may require extra kneading time depending on the flour and its protein content. The method used to knead also needs to be taken into account as some machines work the dough quicker, whilst others may require a bit more kneading time.

Temperature and humidity plays a big part in how your dough rises. The amount of time required to proof your dough also varies depending on where you’re based at. For proofing, if the weather is a bit chilly/cold where you are, I suggest heating up a cup of water in the microwave for 60 seconds, then leave dough inside the microwave to rise. If your oven heats up to 40°C, you may also let dough rise in oven with a cup of water.

It’s also very important to try to get to know your oven, as every oven is different. My oven heats up quickly so when a recipe calls for 180-190°C, I sometimes have to drop it down to 160-170°C depending on which rack I use. Keep an eye out as the bread is baking. Adjust either the baking temperature or duration according to how your oven behaves.

Have you tried this recipe?

Leave a comment below or tag me @thebakeanista on Instagram to let me know how you went.

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