Chocolate Chip (Spice-less) Hot Cross Buns

I think that I have gained lots of cooking and baking knowledge from blogging.

Exactly one year ago, when I started to learn bread baking, I tried to bake chocolate chip hot cross buns but they were as not as yummy as I expected as they were not as fresh and soft on the next day. I wasn't satisfied with this bake and really wish that I can bake these buns to acceptable level of perfection. To year-marked my progress in baking, I have decided to bake the same kind of hot cross buns again this year. Instead of using the standard recipes from the Breville breadmaker manual, I challenge myself to see if I have learned to choose a better recipe for this bake.

These hot cross buns (with no bread improver) are very soft and delicious and they are still great on the next day. So, I asked myself... Have I learn well enough to identify good recipe? Or am I just lucky? LOL! These buns I'm very satisfied now seeing all my improvement in bread baking.

The only disadvantage of this recipe is that this bread dough is very sticky and soft to handle and would highly recommend kneading the dough using a mixer or a breadmaker. Otherwise, this recipe is really good!

 

The recipe is largely modified from the one from Epicurious.
(with my modification and notes in blue)

2 cups (250g) white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
2 cups (250g) all-purpose white flour (I used Italian OO flour with 10% protein content)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk (replace with water plus 15g milk powder)
1 1/2 tsp (0.18 ounce/5g) instant yeast
2/3 cup (3.5 ounces/100g) raisins, currants, or golden raisins  
(replace with dark chocolate chip)
Finely grated zest of 1/2 orange (I didn't add this)
1/4 heaping tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice (I didn't add this)
2 tsp (0.35 ounce/10g) fine salt
3 1/2 tbsp (50g) superfine sugar
1 medium free-range egg
3 1/2 tbsp (50g) butter

For the crosses
6 tbsp (50g) all-purpose white flour
7 tbsp water
(I find that this paste is too watery to handle and so I've added 2 tbsp more of flour. I tried not to add too much flour because I didn't want a thick paste to make the bread crust too tough to eat.)

To finish
1 tbsp apricot (or other) jam, sieved (replace with honey)
1 tbsp water (I used warm water)

If you have a stand mixer, combine the flours, water, milk, yeast, salt, and sugar in the bowl and fit the dough hook. Add the egg and butter and mix to a sticky dough.

Add the dried fruit, orange zest, and spices (I didn't add this) and knead on low speed until silky and smooth. (You can do this by hand, but it will be sticky to handle) Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hr, until doubled in size.

Deflate the risen dough and divide into 8 (or 15) equal pieces. For this bake, I have baked 6 chocolate chips buns and 9 plain spice-less buns. For the chocolate chip buns, I kneaded in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips in all 6 divided doughs and I kept the rest of 9 doughs as plain buns. 

Shape each dough into rounds and dust with flour. Place on a floured board (or a lightly greased 35cm x 25cm baking pan), cover with plastic wrap or linen, and let proof for about 30 min, until roughly doubled in size. (I did mine for 1 hr)

Preheat the oven to 400°F (or 180°C fan forced). To make the crosses, whisk together the flour and water until smooth, then transfer to a pastry bag and snip off the end to make a fine hole. Transfer the risen buns to a baking sheet (I did this before the final proving) and pipe a cross on top of each one, then bake for 15 to 20 min (I bake mine for 15 min).

Meanwhile, melt jam with the water in a pan (or mix honey with warm water). Brush over the buns to glaze as you take them from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm, cold, or toasted.

Happy Baking
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