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Orange Currant Hot Cross Buns
Servings: 18 rolls
Ingredients
- 10 ounce package dried currants
- 1 cup warm 180° F orange juice
- 8 – 8 ½ cups flour divided
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 packages 6 ¾ teaspoons quick rise dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ⅓ cup orange juice strained
- 3 large eggs
- Zest from 1 large orange
Egg wash and Hot Cross Paste
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoon rose water*
Honey Orange Glaze
- ½ cup clover honey
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice strained
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine currants and 1 ¼ cups warm no-pulp orange juice. Cover.
- In the bowl of a large stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 5 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Combine milk and butter in a sauce pan or microwave safe bowl. Heat until warm (120°-130°F), stirring constantly. Add to flour-yeast mixture. Add orange juice and eggs. Beat 1 minute at low speed. Scrape down dough from sides of bowl. Beat 3 minutes at medium high speed.
- Switch to the dough hook, on low speed gradually add 3 cups flour, add more or less as necessary flour to form a soft dough. Scrape down dough from sides of bowl. (If you don't have a large stand mixer, you may have to mix the remaining flour in by hand.)
- Mix in drained currants and orange zest. Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes, adding up to ½ cup more flour if needed. Dough should not be sticky.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Loosely cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Line a 15-inch round pizza pan or stone with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray.
- Lightly punch down dough, and let rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough. Divide dough into 18 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Arrange balls on prepared pan in a circular pattern, leaving a little space between pieces. Cover and let stand in a warm place until puffed and rolls are touching, about 25 minutes. (Rolls will rise to edge of pizza stone but will not spill over during baking.
- Prepare egg wash: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon milk and 1 egg. Brush top of rolls with egg wash.
- Prepare Hot Cross Paste: In a medium bowl, stir together 1 ½ cups flour and orange blossom water. Add ½ cup water, 2 tablespoons at a time, until a thick paste forms. Use a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #10 tip, pipe paste over tops of buns to form a cross pattern.
- Baked until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
- Prepare Honey Orange Glaze: In a small saucepan, bring honey and orange juice to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Brush warm rolls with Honey-Orange Glaze.
Notes
*I used plain water
Adapted from The Bread Collection