Spelt & panela hot cross buns (plant based)
heavenly soft, citrusy and spiced hot cross buns to kick off my brand new Substack series of seasonal plant based & allergy friendly recipes!
Hello everyone and welcome to All Things, my brand new newsletter, where I share joyful recipes that I create every week in my kitchen. Following on from the success of my micro bakery business that I set up in 2020 in COVID, Lily’s Loaf in South London, I want to continue sharing my love of baking and cooking through the recipes I create at home for you to try!
Ever since I was a baby, I have lived with life threatening anaphylactic food allergies, which does make eating out very difficult, stressful and anxiety inducing. But it also means that the world is my oyster when it comes to inspiration for my recipes; everything that I see on my travels or at local cafes/ bakeries in London serves only as inspiration for me to re-create at home. My collection of recipes is largely plant based, seasonal, healthy and affordable. From homemade breads and buns to seasonal cakes, and hearty meals, I can’t wait to share it all with you here.
We’re kicking off the newsletter with my gorgeous spelt and panela hot cross buns. The addition of panela sugar brings a beautiful sweet-burnt flavour to these seasonal buns! I buy mine from Bon Raw Foods.
Please let me know if you try making them and do tag me on Instagram (@lilys_loaf) if you do!
Love Lily x
Spelt and Panela Hot Cross Buns
Makes 10-12 buns
Ingredients
350 grams of white spelt flour
100 grams of wholegrain spelt flour
5 grams of fine sea salt
75 ml of sunflower oil
175 grams of sultanas/ raisins
5 grams of mixed spice
Zest of one blood orange and one lemon
15 grams of dried active yeast
300ml of scalded oat milk/ plant based milk of choice (Scalded at 80c and cooled to 50c)
100 grams of panela sugar
The cross mixture
75 grams of plain flour
5 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
Pinch of baking powder
To glaze
Apricot jam or honey
Method
First mix together the flour, yeast, sugar, sea salt, mixed spice, zest and sultanas. Then add the warmed milk, sunflower oil and bring together to form a shaggy mess. Knead until smooth for 5-10 minutes. If the dough is looking too liquid-y, just add a small handful of flour to bring it together.
Pop the dough into an oiled bowl and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This could take 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on how warm the room is.
Then divide the dough into twelve equal sizes, roughly weighing 85-90g each. Form each piece into a round ball and place on a lined baking tray close to each other.
Now you can either cover with cling film or a tea towel and place in the fridge overnight for a long cold ferment. Or you can proof them a second time for another hour until doubled in size.
When you’re ready to bake
Preheat your oven to 180c.
If you’ve been cold fermenting the buns overnight, take them out of the fridge and bring them to room temperature for about 1 hour-1.5 hours until doubled in size.
Then to make the crosses, whisk together plain flour, water, sunflower oil and baking powder vigorously. You want a thick paste that can be piped easily but still hold its own. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe crosses evenly over the buns.
Bake for 15-20 minutes in the middle of your oven until golden brown. Brush immediately with apricot jam or honey and leave to cool on a wire rack.
This recipe is great. Normally a dough that produces sweet buns that are this soft, tends to be quite sticky to manage, but this dough handles beautifully. The second time I made it, I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and that worked really well to add another dimension to the flavour profile.