In this post:

Recipe of Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
List of Ingredients
Method
Suggested Schedule
Variations

The story of hot cross buns begins where spring baking meets religious tradition. One of the loveliest and most enduring versions leads to St Albans in England: local tradition says that as early as 1361, a monk of the abbey, Brother Thomas Rocliffe, distributed small sweet spiced buns marked with a cross on Good Friday. Even today, St Albans presents this story with care — as a long-lived tradition that preserves the memory of the bun’s origins, while acknowledging that the earliest source material is still being researched.

The firmly documented part of the story appears later: the Oxford English Dictionary dates the earliest known printed use of the term “hot cross bun” to 1733. By then, the buns were already closely associated with Good Friday, when they were baked and eaten as a special seasonal treat.

Everything about them carries memory and ritual with surprising elegance: the cross on top is traditionally understood as a reference to the Crucifixion, while the bun itself belongs to the Easter table and to the end of the Lenten season. Perhaps that is why hot cross buns have lasted so well through the centuries: they hold together bread, spice, domestic warmth, and the feeling of spring finally arriving.

Today, I am sharing a sourdough version the hot cross buns. The use of natural leavening makes the process slower, of course, but it also gives the buns a deeper flavour, a more delicate texture, and that particular kind of warmth that only long fermentation seems to bring. It is a version well worth trying if you would like hot cross buns to taste not only festive, but truly special.

To make the process easier, I have included a suggested schedule at the end of the recipe. If followed, it helps break the preparation into calm, manageable stages, so the buns can fit naturally into the rhythm of the day without feeling too time-consuming.

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Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

for fluffy and tender Easter, 12 buns

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Ingredients

Dough

576 g all purpose flour
110 g caster sugar
311 ml warm milk (this means that you can barely feel the warmth of the milk with your hand)
1 egg at room temperature
128 g fresh sourdough starter (15 g 100% leaven, 75 g whole grain flour and 75 g water)
50 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tsp mixture of allspice, cloves, and nutmeg
zest of 1 orange
210 g sultanas

Crosses

75 g all purpose flour
5 tbsp water

Glaze

1 tbsp apricot jam
2 tsp water

Method

Making Dough

1. Combine the flour and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix the milk and egg. Bring the two mixtures together until all the flour is fully moistened. There is no need to knead for long at this stage, and the dough does not need to be smooth yet. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Add the sourdough starter to the dough and begin kneading. After about 10 minutes, add the melted and cooled butter and the salt; a little later, add the spices and zest. Knead for another 10–15 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and forms a ball. Add the sultanas at the end of kneading.

3. Shape the dough into a ball, cover it with a towel, and leave it in a warm place for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, perform a stretch and fold. Leave it again for another 30 minutes. Repeat the stretch and fold two more times.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a towel, and place it in a warm spot (24°C) for ~12 hours. The dough should increase significantly in volume.

Shaping and Baking

5. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.

6. Shape each piece into a ball and place them on a baking tray.

7. Cover the buns and let them proof in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours. They should increase in volume by about one and a half times.

8. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.

9. Prepare the mixture for the crosses: combine the flour and water until you get a smooth mixture.

10. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and cut a 3 mm opening. Slowly pipe the mixture onto the buns, forming a cross on each one. Make sure the crosses sit snugly against the buns.

11. Bake the buns for 25–30 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Glazing

12. While the buns are in the oven, prepare the glaze: combine the apricot jam and water, warm the mixture, and stir until smooth.

13. Brush the hot buns with the glaze.

14. Cool the buns slightly and serve.

Suggested Schedule

A convenient schedule is the key to spending as little time in the kitchen as possible while still achieving an impressive result. For making these fluffy buns, I prefer the following timeline:

Day 1 (morning, ~7:00):

• making sourdough starter of 15 g 100% leaven, 75 g whole grain flour and 75 g water.

Day 1 (evening, ~19:00):

• prepare the dough and leave it to rise in a warm place overnight.

Day 2 (morning, ~ 7:00):

• shaping, baking and glazing the buns.

Variations

You can substitute any kind of jam for the apricot glaze, or even honey. Just keep in mind that apricot jam is almost translucent, and applying apricot glaze won’t change the color of the finished buns.

Conclusion

The finished buns turn out wonderfully fluffy: light in the hand, with a delicate crust and a soft, almost lace-like crumb that springs back gently under your fingers. It is the sourdough that gives this enriched dough not only greater depth of flavor and a subtle aromatic complexity, but also its distinctive texture – airy, lively, and never hollow.

Sourdough baking has another virtue as well: long fermentation allows the dough to develop in a different way, making the flavor more expressive and the finished bake, for many people, easier and more pleasant to enjoy.