Gluten-free Hot Cross Buns

If you are looking for Hot Cross Buns that are full of fruit and spice then this is exactly the recipe you need! And they are gluten and dairy-free too.

This is a very easy recipe to follow. If you are new to gluten-free baking, these buns (leave off the cross to simply make Spicy Fruit Buns all year round) are a great introduction. Check out what one happy baker had to say about them in the Testimonials.

Ingredients

60g currants

60g raisins *

1 cup boiling water

25g psyllium

5g xanthan gum

15g instant dried yeast

25g brown sugar

30g rice syrup

plus extra water **

35g cooking oil

1 large egg

5g cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

140g tapioca starch

210g gluten free flours ***

10g baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon glutinous rice flour

1 – 2 Tablespoons water

Method

Combine the dried fruit and boiling water in a bowl and set aside to soak.

Weigh up the tapioca starch, flour/s, baking powder, xanthan gum, spices and salt; stir to combine.

In a large bowl combine the psyllium, yeast, brown sugar, oil, and rice syrup. Drain the liquid from the fruit and make up the amount to 350g with extra water, whisk into the psyllium, etc. Then whisk in the egg, vinegar and vanilla essence. Stir in the soaked fruit, and then add the dry ingredients; mix well to combine until the dough all comes together. It will be quite a soft dough.

Weigh out 12 balls of dough of approximately 90g each. With oiled hands shape into balls and place into a 20 x 30cm oven tray lined with baking paper. Set aside to rise for 20 – 30 minutes.

Mix together the glutinous rice flour and water until just runny, use to make the crosses on the buns. Carefully pour from the end of a spoon or use a piping bag.

Place the buns into the oven, preheated to 190oC. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden.

Best served hot! Either fresh from the oven or cut in half and toasted.

Notes & Variations

* Replace 20g of the raisins with mixed glace peel for a citrus tang; or replace some, or all, of the raisins with chocolate chips for chocolate Hot Cross Buns.

** When you make the water weight back up to 350g use hot or cold water as necessary to make the water a little warmer than blood temperature (nice and warm when you stick your finger in it).

*** By ‘gluten free flours’ I mean flours (e.g. rice, sorghum or amaranth) and not a starch (e.g. corn or potato).

The buns can be made egg free: replace the egg with egg replacer; or use 5g psyllium + 40g water. The buns will be denser without the egg.