Cinnamon rolls: soft yeast buns with cinnamon sugar and icing
Twelve buns rolled from one sheet of buttery yeast dough spread with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, baked snugly together so the sides stay soft, and iced while still warm. The dough is enriched with egg and butter, so it rises more slowly but stays fluffy for two days. A Saturday breakfast worth getting up an hour early for.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Kneading 15 min
- Rising 60 min
- Rolling and cutting 20 min
- Rising 40 min
- Baking 25 min
- Icing 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneKnead the dough
Cream the yeast with a tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of lukewarm milk, leave 10 minutes until frothy. Add to the flour with the salt and remaining sugar, pour in the rest of the milk and the egg; knead 8 minutes. Only then add the soft butter a piece at a time and knead another 4 minutes, until smooth, glossy and coming away from your hand.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 220 ml milk · 20 g fresh yeast · 60 g sugar · 1 pcs egg · 80 g butter · 1 tsp salt
TipButter at the end, not the start: fat coats the gluten and stops it linking up. First the gluten network, then the butter.
Butter last; dough smooth and glossyFirst rise
Shape the dough into a ball, cover and leave somewhere warm 60 minutes, until doubled. A dough with butter and egg rises more slowly than a bread dough; don't rush it.
Doubled, a smooth domeRoll out and spread
Knock back and roll on a floured counter into a 40 × 30 cm rectangle, about 7 mm thick. Spread the very soft butter over the whole surface with a spatula, leaving a 2 cm clean strip along one long edge. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle evenly.
Ingredients: 80 g butter · 100 g brown sugar · 2 tbsp cinnamon
TipThe butter should be like a cream, not melted: melted butter runs out in the oven and the cinnamon stays dry. Take it out of the fridge an hour ahead.
Butter to the edges, cinnamon sugar evenRoll into a log
Roll up from the long side, tightly, pressing at every turn; loosely rolled buns unwind in the oven. Moisten the clean strip with water and pinch closed, then lay the log seam down.
Tight, seam downCut with thread
Cut the log into 12 equal slices, about 3.5 cm each. Thread gives the cleanest cut: slide it under the log, cross the ends on top and pull; a knife squashes the spiral. Lay the slices cut side up in a paper-lined tin 2 cm apart. Cover and leave 40 minutes, until risen and touching. Heat the oven to 180 °C.
Thread instead of a knife, cut side upBake
Bake 22–25 minutes, until golden on top and the sugar at the edges starts to bubble. Don't overbake: the centres should stay soft and slightly moist. If the tops brown too fast, cover with foil after 15 minutes.
Golden, grown together, sugar bubblingIce while warm
Stir the icing sugar with the milk into a thick, pourable icing. Wait 10 minutes and drizzle over the still-warm rolls; the icing melts into the gaps. Best the same day; the next day 20 seconds in the microwave brings the softness back.
Ingredients: 120 g icing sugar · 2 tbsp milk
Icing on warm rolls, melting into the gaps
Before you start
Cream cheese glaze
Beat 100 g cream cheese with 60 g icing sugar and a spoon of milk: creamy, slightly tangy, like in American coffee shops.
Tonight for tomorrow
Cover the cut rolls in their tin with film and refrigerate overnight. In the morning leave out for 45–60 minutes, until clearly risen and touching, then into the oven, 3 minutes longer.
With walnuts or raisins
A handful of chopped walnuts or raisins over the cinnamon sugar before rolling. Cardamom in place of some of the cinnamon gives the Scandinavian version.
