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Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns are spiced brioche-like breads usually filled with currants or raisins and glazed with orange marmalade. They’re decorated with an icing cross and served on Good Friday, a Christian holiday two days before Easter. The traditional hot cross bun is delicious, but when I saw that the iconic Bourke Street Bakery of Sydney, Australia, makes chocolate hot cross buns, I was intrigued because I’ve always enjoyed the combination of chocolate with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
I created this recipe for yeast-leavened chocolate hot cross buns and loved the outcome. They’re less sweet than cinnamon rolls or chocolate chip muffins, and they have the classic feathery bread texture of brioche. The dough recipe is the result of tinkering with the ingredients in Breadtopia’s more classic: Sourdough Hot Cross Buns with Kamut Flour, and the chocolate icing, formulated to bake semi-solid rather than melt, was born of luck and a bit of baker’s intuition. I totally plan to bake these buns at other times of the year without the iced cross and possibly with candied orange peel.
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Fluffy spiced hot cross buns with chocolate chips.
Flour Substitutions
The dough for these buns is 75% strong bread flour and 25% yecora rojo whole grain flour, which adds flavor and color. You can substitute other whole wheat varieties, levels of bran extraction, and change up the ratios as desired. Simply add the water slowly and aim for a dough that is dry enough to roll into a ball but is still supple.
I also experimented with adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the dough but I prefered the flavor of buns without this extra chocolate.
Testing 1 Tbsp cocoa powder in the dough.
Scaling the Recipe
This hot cross bun recipe is scaled for a 9 x 9 inch pan and makes nine buns. If you’d like to make this recipe in a 9 x 13 inch pan for fifteen buns or twelve very large buns, multiply each ingredient by 1.45 to fill the volume of the larger pan. Feel free to round up and down as needed. For the eggs, you can whisk two eggs together and then weigh out 70 grams of egg. (Eggs average about 50 grams, so 1.4 eggs is 70 grams.)
Converting to Sourdough Leavening
To make these buns with sourdough starter instead of instant yeast, subtract from the dough recipe the 80 grams of water as well as 80 grams of either of the flours; it doesn’t particularly matter which. Instead of the instant yeast, mix 160 grams of ripe sourdough starter into the dough. Expect longer rise times e.g. roughly five hours for 75-100% expansion during the first rise and roughly three hours for the dough balls to double during the final proof. Note that your dough/ambient temperature and starter strength may result in shorter or longer fermentation times.
Make sure you look at the Photo Gallery after the recipe for target dough expansion, whether you use instant yeast or sourdough starter.
Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Chocolate spiced hot cross buns are a delicious alternative to traditional dried fruit filled buns. Enjoy them warm and melty and feel free to play with other tasty additions to the dough, such as dried cherries or candied orange peel.
Ingredients
Dough
Chocolate Icing
Simple Syrup Glaze
Instructions
Mixing and First Rise
Shaping and Final Proof
Icing, Baking, and Glazing
Photo Gallery
Shopping List
Red Star® Organic Instant Dry Yeast — 5 Packets
$7.50Yecora Rojo Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries
Yecora Rojo Whole Grain Flour
High Protein Bread Flour
Dough and Storage Bucket w/Lid – 2 qt. Square
Extra Long Bench Knife by Lamson — Walnut Handle
Chocolate Hot Cross Buns