My Favorite Festive Food – Chocolate & Hot Cross Buns
Easter is my second favorite festival of the year when I grew up. Every Easter, I got to eat all the chocolates I want. Given that my parents rarely buy chocolates for me unless it’s for special occasion, Easter is always like a dream-comes-true holiday for me. Apart from all the Easter chocolates, hot cross buns are another favorite festive treat of mine. I remembered my parents used to buy me those packaged hot cross buns from Marks & Spencer. And I really look forward to having those of breakfast during Easter holiday. As Easter is coming soon and after last week’s Easter bunny rolls creation, I figured why not combining 2 of my favorite festive food into one and make them using sourdough? Hence, I present you the perfect Sourdough Chocolate Hot Cross Buns. These buns have a brioche like texture with a hint of orange, cinnamon and allspice. Tastewise, they are super buttery and chocolate-ly, definitely the best Easter treat to make!
Yudane Method
These sourdough chocolate hot cross buns have a brioche-like texture thanks to the use of Yudane. As I learned more about sourdough baking over the past year, I came across the Yudane Method. Yudane method is the secret to make a soft and fluffy brioche type bread. In order to bake using this method, you simply mix an equal portion of flour and boiling water. The effect of adding boiling water to flour is that it gelatinises the starch. The gelatinised starch will allow the starch to absorb more water, and thus enhancing the sweetness of the bread.
Yudane method is in fact similar to the Tangzhong method I used in my sourdough shokupan recipe. Unlike the 1:1 flour-to-water ratio in Yudane method, the Tangzhong mixture is made by heating up a mixture of flour and water in the ratio of 1:5 to 65°C. And this time, I use 50% whole wheat and 50% white bread flour in the Yudane.
Ancient Grains In Sweet Dough
For almost every sourdough I bake, I will usually add 10-30% of ancient grains in my recipes. And spelt is my recent favorite grains to use. 🌾 Some people might be reluctant to use whole grain flour in sweet bread, as whole grain bread are usually tough and dry. Fortunately, as I use both Yudane and sourdough in this recipe, these sourdough hot cross buns are not only moist and fluffy, but it also has a hint of nuttiness and earthy flavor. Spelt flour provided a more varied and complex flavor profile, hence greatly improved the depth of flavor of these buns.
Love Spelt? Take a look at my other recipes using spelt flour.
- Orange Chocolate Sourdough
- Cinnamon Turmeric Sourdough
- 100% whole grain (50% spelt + 50% whole wheat ) recipe
- New & Improved – Vegan Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Blueberry Sourdough (that tastes like Blueberry Cheesecake)
- Chocolate Sourdough Focaccia (better than chocolate cake)
- Matcha & Black Sesame Spelt Sourdough
- Masala Chai Apple Sourdough (tastes like an apple pie)
Sourdough Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Course: Baked Goods, Bread, Festive, Sourdough12
servings30
minutes20
minutesThis recipe makes 12 hot cross buns in a 10″ x 9″ baking pan.
Ingredients
- Stiff Levain (50% hydration)
80g stiff starter (50% hydration)
240g bread flour
120g water
- Yudane
45g bread flour
90g hot boiling water
- Dough
80g spelt flour
420g stiff starter (from above)
All the yudane dough (from above)
103g soy milk
30g sugar (I used coconut sugar)
9g salt
35g vegan butter
Zest of 2 oranges
- Raisin soaker
80g raisins
1 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
- Chocolate Paste
40g dark chocolate
32 g soy milk
- “Egg” Wash
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp soy milk
- Cross Paste
70g water
Directions
- The night before (8pm)
- Build your levain by mixing all ingredients in a clean glass jar. Leave it to rise at room temperature until peak. Mine took around 12 hours at 25°C or 77°F.
- Mix 45g whole wheat flour and 45g bread flour with 90g boiling water in a bowl. Set it aside and let it cool completely. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge until the next morning.
- Soak raisins in 1 cup of water for at least an hour or until soft and plump. Drain and store it in the fridge for later use.
- Next Morning (8am)
- Melt 40g of dark chocolate in 32g of soy milk. Set aside to cool for a bit.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix spelt flour, stiff levain, yudane and soy milk at low speed until everything is incorporated.
- Add salt and sugar. Knead for about 5 minutes until the dough comes together and forms a dough ball.
- Gradually add in vegan butter followed by chocolate paste and continue knead for 10 – 15 more minutes or until reach window pane stage.
- Add cinnamon and allspice to the soaked raisins and mix well. Add the mixture, together with orange zest, to the dough. Mix at low speed for 1 minute until the raisins are evenly distributed.
- Cover and let it rest for an hour at room temperature.
- Place the dough into the freezer for 15-30 mins for easier shaping (optional).
- Divide the dough into 12 equal portions (about 76g each). Shape each portion into a bun and place them into a lined baking tray.
- Cover and let it rise for 3-5 hours until they are puffy and almost doubled in size.
- Preheat oven at 350°F (175°C). Brush the buns with egg wash.
- Mix the ingredients of the cross paste. Pipe the cross to the buns.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, brush with more “egg” wash. Then bake for another 5 minutes.
- Let the buns cool completely before serving and enjoy! 🐰
