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Hot Cross Buns, to Make

A sweet yeast bread with cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried fruit, traditionally marked with a cross.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hot Cross Buns, to Make

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and spices.

  2. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter until warm; stir in yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.

  3. Add milk mixture and eggs to the dry ingredients; mix until a dough forms.

  4. Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth.

  5. Incorporate currants or raisins into the dough.

  6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Shape and bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Shape the dough into buns and place on a baking sheet.

  3. Let rise for another 30 minutes, then brush with beaten egg.

  4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Active dry yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become airy.
Eggs
Add richness, structure, and moisture to the dough, and colour the crust when brushed on.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a softer texture.
Milk
Provides moisture and hydrates the flour to form the dough.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas and develop flavour; underproofed dough bakes dense, while a properly risen dough gives a light, airy crumb.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, milk, butter, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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