It's coming up to that time again when the scent of cinnamon is in the air, the leaves on the trees are turning a wonderful colour and I have a hankering to design another gluten free Hot Cross Bun recipe. This year I've decided to make some Brioche style buns (& tried to fit as much butter & eggs into them as I can without them being too over-the-top).  My family were wonderful taste testers :).

Eat them hot from the oven with a bit more butter - delicious! 

This recipe is best suited for a stand mixer. 

 

This recipe was designed for use with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour, I don't know whether the recipe will give you plump soft buns if another gluten free flour is used. 

 

Ingredients

Bun mix

150 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

15 g Maize starch

3/4 tsp Psyllium husk (or psyllium powder)

1 tsp Yeast

25 g Brown sugar

 3/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/4 tsp Mixed spice

1/2 tsp Salt

90 g Sultanas

Optional extra 90 g Choc Chips (flavour is your choice) 

155 g Warm water

1 Egg (at room temperature)

90 g Butter (melted)

Extra Oil

 

Psyllium husk - Psyllium is used to make the dough easier to handle however the downside to this is that the buns won't rise as much if too much is used. I've deliberately used as little as I dare & use the Texas muffin tin to give the bun shape. Omit the psyllium if using the brown Bakers' Magic blend.

Water - Add in an additional 10 g of water if using the brown Bakers' Magic blend.

 

Stripe

10 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

20 g Maize starch

25 - 30 g Water

 

Glaze

20 g Caster sugar

20 g Boiling water

or 

Warm jam - I used some apple jelly

 

Method

Optional - Soak the sultanas in 155 g of boiling water for approximately 30 mins. Pour off the water into a little bowl - you'll use this to pre-incubate the yeast. Add in 5 g of the brown sugar to the poured off water. Warm the water up a little (microwave or float the dish on some hot water) and add in the yeast.  

Warm water is ~1/4 to 1/3 of boiling water with the remaining cold water (tap). Whether you use 1/4 or 1/3 will depend on how cold your tap water is. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast.

Pre-incubate the yeast at room temperature for approximately 5 - 8 mins in the warm water containing 5 g of sugar. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar & disperse the yeast. This gives the yeast a readily available food source & they can "revive" in a relatively undisturbed environment. After the allocated time the surface of the yeast mixture should be slightly frothy. This indicates the yeast are viable. 

If the yeast mixture has a frothy top or you can see bubbles proceed with bread making.

Are you going to proof the dough in your oven or in another warm spot? If proofing in your oven turn oven to ~50 C for approximately 10 mins then turn it off again.

Oil the Texas muffin tin.

Mix together, preferably in a food processor, the dry ingredients (flour, starch, salt, sugar, spices and psyllium husk). Set aside. 

Completely melt the butter & transfer to a mixing bowl. You want the butter to still be molten when you add in the egg & yeast.  

Mix in the egg & pre-incubated yeast. 

Add in the dry ingredients (excluding the sultanas & optional chocolate chips) into the mixing bowl. 

Combine ingredients using the flat beater until for approximately 1- 2 minute(s) - it will be very runny, this is okay.

Scrape down the sides and let the dough sit for 5 mins. At this stage we want the dough to cool down so that the butter starts to solidify. Feel the side of the bowl, if it is warm to the touch leave the dough to sit for another 5 minutes. You don't want the chocolate melting if you are adding choc chips.  

Mix the dough for approximately 3 minutes. The dough should be a lot thicker. At this stage the dough should be getting lighter in colour and will be a sticky dough. The colour change is partly due to creaming the butter - creaming the butter is a good thing. 

Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides and add in the sultanas (& choc chips). Mix in the add ins slowly.  

The dough is ready for proofing & putting on the stripe.

Transfer dough to a slightly oiled work surface (I use non-stick paper or my kitchen bench). Put a bit of the extra oil on your hands - it helps to keep the dough from sticking to you when you are dividing & shaping it. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions - the size will depend on whether you added in the choc chips. I wanted the buns to be approximately the same size (photographic reasons) so I oiled a bowl & weighed out the individual buns. I shaped the dough into buns by transferring it quickly from oiled hand to oiled hand & then put it into the muffin tin.

Mix together the ingredients for the stripe. It will be a stiff mixture. Transfer mixture to a small plastic bag or piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. If the mixture is in a plastic bag push the mixture down to one corner. Snip off a little of the corner so that the mixture can be pushed out in a thinnish stream.

Pipe crosses onto the buns.

Let the dough proof for approximately 45 mins in a warm moist environment.

Turn your oven on to 190 C.

If you are proofing in your oven put on the timer for ~35 mins. When the time is up take the proofing dough out of the oven and turn the oven up to 190 C. The 35 mins is an estimate, it will depend on how long it takes your oven to reach 190 C.

Bake at 190 C for ~30 mins. If your oven has a hot spot turn the tin halfway through baking.

Prepare the glaze by dissolving the sugar in boiling water. It may need to be stirred a little. 

Take the buns out of the oven, remove them from the tin & put them on a cooling rack. Use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the buns/loaf with the glaze. 

Get the butter & knife ready. These buns are best eaten hot on the day they were made. When needed warm them up in a microwave. 

Simply enjoy!