Best chocolate hot cross bun there is!
Soaking Fruits
When adding in dried fruits in to the hot cross buns, it is recommended to pre-soaked the fruits in a sugar syrup the night before. The dried fruits are commonly soaked in sugar syrup infused with different spices and peels like cinnamon, anise seed, orange peel and often enough even alcohol for that zing!
Soaking the dried fruits also ensure that they are moistened so as not to absorb all the liquid in the bread recipe which can cause the hot cross bun to be really dry. In my recipe, I added a bit of grand Marnier, which is a type of orange peel liquor and orange zest in the soaking syrup, and when you bite in to the bread and hit the plumped up soaked fruits, you get that booze! Of course, if children are involved, you can omit the liquor.
RECIPES
Soaked Cherries
40 g Dried Cherries
60 g Sugar
1 Orange Zest
1 Juice of Orange
100 g Water
2 tbsp Grand Marnier
1 Cinnamon Stick
5 g Vanilla bean / 1 teaspoon
Chocolate Cherry Hot Cross Bun Dough
60 g Unsalted Butter Melted and cooled
300 g Milk at 30°C
7 g Instant Yeast
100 g Caster Sugar
520 Baker’s Flour
25 g Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Ground Clove
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
50 g Egg / 1 Medium egg
220 Dark Chocolate Chip
80 g Soaked Cherries
Hot Cross Mix
50 g Egg / 1 medium egg
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
3-5 tbsp Plain Flour
2 tbsp Water
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add flour if mix is too runny. Should be like a paste. Transfer the hot cross mix into a piping bag and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
Gelatin Glaze
6 g Gelatin powder
30 g Water
60 g Water (2)
100 g Caster Sugar
Method
For the Soaked Cherries
1. Combine all ingredients except the alcohol in a pot and bring syrup to a boil. Take it off the heat once it starts to boil and when the sugar has fully dissolved, take the pot off the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier.
2. Transfer the soaking fruits in to a bowl, cover with cling film and leave overnight to soak and cool down in the fridge.
3. Strain before adding in to the dough the next day.
For the Hot Cross Buns
1. Warm 100 g milk to 30°C, add one tablespoon of sugar from the recipe and the yeast. Stir to combine and leave for approximately 15 minutes until it becomes frothy.
2. Meanwhile melt the butter and leave aside to cool.
3. Once the yeast is ready, add in all of the ingredients except chocolate chip, soaked cherries and the 200g milk.
4. Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients in the stand mixer then gradually add in the rest of the milk.
5. Mix on low speed for 7 minutes, then medium speed for 12 minutes or test it with window test.
6. Add in the soaked cherries and chocolate chip. At first it will look like they are not mixing through, increase speed to incorporate then back to slow speed until the chocolate and fruit are well incorporated.
7. Do not be tempted to dust the dough with any flour.
8. Lightly spray a large bowl, transfer dough on to the bowl and leave covered for approximately 1 hour to 1 ½ hour to bulk ferment.
9. Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer on to a floured bench and knocked back.
10. Portion 12 x 120 g dough and roll them in to smooth balls and line the dough on a 32 cm x 22 cm deep tray sprayed with oil. Lightly cover and leave to proof.
11. Once the dough has increase in size, brush with egg wash (50 g eggs + 50 ml milk), pipe the cross mix on top and bakes at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes.
12. Eat warm or leave to cool
For the Gelatin Glaze
1. Mix Gelatin powder with 30 g of water until it forms a gelatin paste.
2. Boil Water (2), sugar and the hydrated gelatin. Glaze on hot cross bun out from the oven while still hot.
I hope you like this recipe, Happy Easter!
