The Hot cross bun is a spiced mildly sweeted bun made with dried fruits like raisins or currants and marked with a cross on the top;  traditionally consumed on Good Friday. This bread is also made at the part of Christmas as well as new year celebrations too.

Here I have made whole wheat version of these sweet spiced buns which turned out really moist and tasty without any amount butter or added eggs. I used Chakki fresh atta with which i make rotis; you could use whole wheat bread flour too. I hadn't baked any hundred percent whole wheat bread  till then and i was happy with the outcome.

Healthy hot cross buns
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Proofing Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes
Cuisine: UK
Makes: 10 nos

INGREDIENTS:
Whole Wheat Flour- 3½ cups (I used Chakki fresh atta; You could use bread flour too)
Brown sugar/ Honey- 1/4 cup (Use 1/3 cup for more sweetness)
Salt- 1 teaspoon
Luke warm Milk+water- 2 cups approximately (Use 50:50 ratio if you use full fat milk; I used low fat so I used 75 percent milk and 25 percent water )
Yeast- 2 ½ teaspoons
Oil- 1/4 cup+ for greasing
Cinnamon powder- 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg- pinch (optional)
Black raisins/ black currants- 1/3 cup
Orange zest, fresh/ dried peel powdered- 1 teaspoon
Butter/milk/ egg wash- to brush
To fill the cross:
All purpose Flour- 1/4 cup
Water- less than 1/4 cup

Healthy egg less hot cross buns

PROCEDURE:
  • Mix milk and water together; heat till it becomes luke warm.
  • From that mixture, take a cup of milk water mixture and add the yeast as well as a teaspoon of brown sugar from the 1/4 cup you kept for making bread.
  • Stir well and allow to ferment for about 10 minutes till the frothy layer appears on top.
  • Take a wide deep bowl and add the whole wheat flour, sugar and oil.
  • Now drizzle the fermented yeast milk over the flour and knead to make a sticky dough. Add the milk kept aside and knead well. Add extra milk/water if needed to get this sticky consistency.
  • Transfer the dough on a clean flat surface and knead and stretch to make a non sticky pliable dough. 
  • Grease the same bowl as well as dough with oil and transfer the dough and close the bowl using cling film and keep in a warm place to raise the dough for an hour.
  • Once the dough doubles in size, punch the dough with hands and sprinkle the remaining flavoring ingredients such as orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisin.
  • Knead and transfer the dough on a flat surface and stretch; knead the dough once again to distribute all the ingredients evenly.
  • Then divide the dough in to 10 equal balls.
  • Grease your hand and stretch the dough slightly outward and fold them down to get a even outer surface without cracks and make uniform balls.
  • Give a criss cross cut over each ball and allow to raise for 1 hour on a warm place.
  • Once the dough doubles in size brush each ball with egg wash/ melted butter.
  • In a bowl add the all purpose flour with a pinch of sugar. Drizzle the water little by little till you get a thick paste of piping consistency.
  • Fill a piping bag/zip lock bag and pipe the mixture on the cross you made earlier.
  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake the buns on middle rack for about 15- 20 minutes till you get the golden crust on top.
  • Brush the buns with melted apricot/pineapple jam if needed (I have not done  that here)