Dish · british
Hot Cross Buns
A spiced, yeasted dough studded with currants is shaped into buns, marked with a flour paste cross, baked, and glazed while warm.
Where it comes from
Hot cross buns are tied to English Good Friday tradition, where the cross marked the bun as a Lenten food, though spiced buns marked with crosses predate that specific Christian association by some accounts.
What cooks argue about
Cooks argue over the cross: a flour and water paste piped on before baking versus icing piped on after, which changes whether the cross bakes into the crust or sits on top.
Nobody has published a hot cross buns recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.