Add yeast and a dash of ginger to a large bowl, set aside. Mix inulin (or maple syrup), water and sour cream in a small bowl. Heat up over a water bath to 105-110°F. And if you don’t have a thermometer it should only feel lightly warm to touch.

Pour lightly warm sour cream mixture over yeast, cover bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 7 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly, if it isn’t start again (too cold water won’t activate the yeast and too hot will kill it).

Mix your flours while the yeast is proofing. Add almond flour, flaxseed meal, whey protein powder, sweetener, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to a medium bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

Once your yeast is proofed, add in the eggs, vinegar and orange zest. Mix with an electric mixer for a minute or so until fully mixed. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the softened butter. Keep on mixing until you can no longer see any streaks of butter. The dough will become very sticky, so you want to work quickly to get it mixed properly. Use a wet spatula to gather the dough into a ball.

Lightly wet your hands and form the dough into rounds (I suggest 8 buns, but you can do 6 large ones too). Place on a baking tray, cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm draft-free space for 1.5-3 hours until the dough has almost doubled in size. How long it takes depends on your altitude, temperature and humidity, but just keep in mind that because this is an enriched dough it’ll take its time to rise (just be patient!). And note that if you don’t see it rising, it likely needs a little more warmth (say the top of your oven!).

Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C while the dough is proofing. Lightly brush with egg wash, being careful to avoid the edges so they’re able to rise when baked. Bake for 10 minutes at 375°F/190°C, reduce temperature to 350°F/180°C and bake for further 15-20 minutes. Hot cross buns should be a deep brown when done, but feel free to tent with foil to prevent over browning (around minute 10-12).

Allow to cool on the tray for 20 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Keep in mind that they continue to cook while cooling, so you really don’t want to cut before! Keep stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. Serve at room temperature or lightly warm.

Recipe Notes

*You can feed the yeast with either inulin or an actual sugar. And do remember that the yeast will feed on sugar to emit carbon dioxide, so it doesn’t affect the carb count (but if weary, just use inulin!).

**If you want a lighter bun, you can do 3/4 cup (72g) of your regular almond flour and 3/4 cup (75g) of the fat-reduced almond flour (the one from our pancakes). Similar to most peanut flours out there, this almond flour has been cold-pressed to remove 80% of its fat. This essentially reduces calorie content by 50% (hooray!), and makes for some seriously fluffy baked goods (double hooray)!

And if paleo, or in keto maintenance, you can lighten up the bread by substituting part of the almond flour (1/4-1/2 cup) with arrowroot flour in a 1-to-1 ratio.

(Important note!) I recently made the connection (while at the dentist!) that xylitol inhibits yeast and bacteria growth (which is why it’s the sweetener of choice for dental products). So don’t use xylitol!

Please note that nutrition facts were estimated per hot cross bun, assuming a yield of 8 (3g net carbs!).