The inspiration for this recipe for eggless hot cross buns comes in two parts.
Meeta, my blogger friend from What’s for lunch honey, had told me about the hot cross buns she made a couple of days ago, on chat, and she enticed me with a gorgeous photo (that’s not a surprise anyway) of the same. At that point, I just thought, ‘wow’ with no intention of making them whatsoever. Then, Saturday morning, I decided to bake some good bread to take to friends we were visiting later that evening. I thought Foccasia would be a good idea. Although I’ve made a Potato Rosemary Foccasia earlier on, I wanted to try something new, which took me to Haalo’s blog. I clearly remembered that she had blogged about a beautiful foccasia bread quite a while ago, the pictures i’d seen then were clearly embedded in my mind.
One thing lead to another, and I was looking at some utterly cute hot cross buns This made me change my mind and go for the buns instead. Also, Good Friday being round the corner, it felt like a good idea.
Since I was making these eggless hot cross buns for the first time, I decided to read up on some other blogger notes, about making them. Most recipes pointed to the recipe on the BBC Food website or the Delia Smith recipe, and the former clearly being the more popular one. I managed to combine Haalo’s recipe with some techniques in the BBC recipe, replacing the eggs with flaxseed meal, to make vegetarian hot cross buns.
It was fun to do this project- A perfectly relaxed Saturday morning, with hubby at work and me smelling the yeast and cinnamon in the house – better than visiting a spa!
Get the recipe for these eggless hot cross buns below…
| Prep Time | 1.5 hours |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
buns
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- 1 tbsp active dry yeast * (see directions step 2)
- 1 1/2 cups milk lukewarm
- 1/2 cup castor sugar
- 1 tbsp flaxseed ground
- 3 tbsps water Egg | replacer
- 50 grams butter melted
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (plus some more) for dusting
- 1 tsp cinnamon ground
- 1 tsp all spice Chinese powder
- 1/2 cup raisins black
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsps all purpose flour
- 2 tbsps water cold
Ingredients
For piping the crosses:
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- Preparing flaxseed puree: Mix the flaxseed meal and 3 tbsp water in a small saucepan, whisk and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and transfer into a large mixing bowl. Take a cup of flax seeds in the mixer and dry grind to a fine powder.
- Activating the yeast: To the mixing bowl, add the yeast, all of the milk, 2 tsp sugar. Whisk well and keep covered in a warm place for around 10 minutes, till it has frothed up like beer. (if using Instant yeast instead of Active dry yeast, then reduce quantity to 1.5 teaspoon)
- Preparing the dough and proving: Add the melted butter, remaining sugar, spices into the yeast mixture. Sift the flour into the bowl along with the salt. Add the raisins. Knead all the above into a dough, which will be sticky at this stage. Remove the dough to a dusted clean surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place this in a well oiled bowl, cover this with a cling wrap. Wrap the bowl in a large tea towel and keep in a warm place ( I place it inside the microwave oven) for around an hour to let the dough double in volume.
- First knock-down: This part is adapted from the BBC recipe where the dough is allowed to rise three times, in total. The risen dough is punched down, removing all the air by folding it on itself several times and then pressing down with knuckles. Shape again into a ball and place in an oiled bowl for a second rise. Cover and rest the bowl for 40 minutes or so, till dough is double in volume.
- Second knock down and shaping: Knock down the dough as explained above and shape into 12 equal balls. Line a rectangular 9 X 12 inch baking tin [or a 9" square baking tin + a loaf tin] and place the balls side by side. Cover and let this rise for 15-20 minutes. They will puff up and invading on the neighbouring bun's territory, filling up the tray beautifully.
- Crossing the buns and baking: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 Celsius. Mix the flour and water for the crosses and pour into a small piping bag with a very small nozzle. (I used a plastic milk bag and made a small diagonal nick one of the corners.) Pipe a cross in the centre of each bun and bake for 12 minutes or so, until the buns are golden brown on the top and well puffed up.
- Glazing: While the buns are baking, prepare the sugar glaze. Dissolve 3 tbsp sugar in 2 tbsp water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and keep it simmering until the solution has thickened. Once the buns are out of the oven, brush them with glaze while still hot and let them cool off before removing from pan.
Tasting notes:
OK, I must confess that since I was making them for the first time, I was very eager to try out if they came anywhere close to the yummy hot cross buns I'd eaten at Gaylord's - a cafe in Churchgate that also sells amazingly fresh baked goodies - hot cross buns and chocolate easter eggs sell like 'hot cakes' at this time of the year. I did not wait until they cooled completely, and i felt that although the buns had risen very very well, felt incredibly soft and the colour was perfect, it could have been a bit drier on the inside. Also this could be due to my inexperience in baking with all purpose flour. But taste wise, they were wonderful - just the right sweetness and very cinnamony!.
After a quick chat with Meeta, I decided to leave them out and not dare to bake them a second time - but toasting them before eating for a better texture. I did manage to take these to our friends' place later in the evening and I was glad to hear words of praise from our friend who is a very well known caterer specialising in Parsi food.
After-thought:
I would love to make these again, for friends - as I am not a big fan of all purpose flour. I will reduce the quantity of milk by 1/4th cup as the dough became quite difficult to shape and handle towards the end, and I could not slash the cross on them either - had to be satisfied with the piped crosses. Our chef friend also pointed out that the buns would have turned out drier inside, had I used egg. So next time, I will use the one egg after all.
Update: My dear friend Meeta has posted her version too, with absolutely inspiring pictures. She made them before I did, but i beat her to posting it :).
Photos updated on 14 April, 2017
dear nandita!! i just posted my comment and hit blog search and ended up with this….this is getting made on thursday in time for good friday…thanks so much…
Really cute recipe, Nandita! Glad to find an eggless recipe for this one :).
One a penny, two a penny – Hot X BunsIf you have no daughters, give them to your sonsBut if you’re really smart, you’ll just eat them one by one 🙂
Those hot cross buns look just lovely. What a relaxing Saturday morning! What a great first try with hot cross buns! I’m getting inspired to make them sometime this week for the holiday! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nanditha,Landed up here off the casserole post & am glad i found your page. Love it. The hot cross buns are like a Daring Baker challenge! WOW…must admit I’ve never made these! You’re almost enticing me to make them! Cheers Deeba
Arundati – Glad you found it and please let me know your feedback…if you don’t have a problem with eggs, use 1 egg instead of the flaxseed meal, you’ll get better results.Musical – Kya karen, DH stopped eating eggs – and he is my chief tasting officer, so I had to find an alternative :)KayKAt- Very cute rhyme there – and you are so right! But I’m smarter, I share it with friends :)Joy – It is fun indeed to wait and watch over these beauties, because the end result is totally worth it.Deeba – Haha, dont even compare me to the daring bakers, i dont even have one tenth of the daring here…this recipe seemed simple enough for me to gather courage – do make them this weekend!
So soul sister your hot cross buns look great but then I saw them before you posted the recipe. To the recipe I have to say I love the flax seeds addition. Lovely idea!
Was searching for hot cross buns…led me to this post….Too good for a first try 🙂
they look lovely… 🙂 I bought an egg replacer here… maybe you could try that too :-)Are you talking about Ms. Mitra?
They look absolutely yummmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyynext time we meet, u make me some… 🙂
As you said, I am going to try both flax and egg in this recipe. Beautiful, Nandita.
Looks so good! There is this almost similar bun very popular in dimsum houses that uses mung bean paste filling. I will try to re-create that at home using your bread recipe! Thanks!
Hi Nandita,Am itching to try this out! I havent seen any Chinese All spice powder here. Any alternative ? or can I make it in my own kitchen? Likewise I havent seen any flaxseed powder so I intend grinding the seeds at home.Your blog is warm and professional and perfectly spiced with humour, love, friendship and health! Keep up your good work swwetheart.Vibha
Rachel – this could be what ppl call beginner’s luck 🙂 I want to make it a second time, hope the luck stays with me!Meeta – yes darling, updated with link to my soul sister’s HCBs.Raaga – you are bang on…you do seem to more or less know whoever I talk about LOL! send me mail about egg replacer brand and where to get it etc..is it egg derived or vegan?Aarti- surely, but as i was saying, given the flight delays, i may start hogging them enroute itself…why dont you come over here?Suganya – You mean both in same recipe? Please do let me know how it turns out…Lalaine – Dimsum with mung bean paste sounds interesting!Vibs – Thank you for your sweet words, as ever…and sorry i did not mention that I made flaxseed meal, by finely grinding plain flaxseeds in a mixer. And Chinese five spice is something like our garam masala – but this one has ginger, cinnamon, anise, fennel, clove and liquorice root…this is not asked for, but since it had a mix of spices I used it…you can go with cinnamon-clove-ginger powder – will fit in perfectly.
Beautiful!! I loved eating them while we were in UK, haven’t made then at home yet. Great looking buns N, good job! I am on break until May, see you then. Take care girl!:)
Gosh, Nandita. These look fabulous. I’m not much of a baker. But I’m thinking quite seriously about a batch of these for Easter…
Ehat a beautiful blog and what yummy looking buns! Thanks so much for the eggless recipes – quite hard to come across!
hi nandita, just posted my version….whole wheat!! and i did use the egg…. cheers!!
Liked this recipe. Any idea where I can find flaxseed meal? Perhaps you could give me the brand or something?I’ll try this one when we’ve moved and settled in.Thanks.
hey i have heard the nursery rhyme for this hot cross buns… well did not know they actually existed :).I would love to make these for my kids someday …glad its an egg less version, as i just discovered my sons allergic to eggs.
Aparna, have updated the flax seed info on the post. Flax seed meal is nothing but dry ground flax seeds. If you do not find them in your grocers’ you can pick up from your local Fabindia. They stock organic produce and flax seed is one of them.Archana,Yes the British nursery rhyme originated from these buns 🙂 I’m sure your kids will love it with a glass of milk.
They look wonderful!
They r looking YUM !!
I want to make them this weekend, Sumanji!
after seeing your post my mouth is watering 😛