Cinnamon Buns

One of the first more “complex” things I learned to bake was cinnamon buns with my Grandma.  Once a year we spend the day making a big batch that the rest of the family fights over, and every year we tweak the recipe a bit based on notes from the previous year (I did here too).

I’ve got to say, one of the best things in the world is your whole house smelling like cinnamon buns (when that “house” is 400 square feet it’s even more concentrated).  It’s just the perfect Saturday morning smell.

Prepare to get your hands dirty, because they’re about to be covered in a beautiful mix of butter, sugar and cinnamon.

Ingredients – Dough

• 1 cup milk
• 7-8 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups cold water
• 2 packs dehydrated yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 2 eggs, well beaten

Cinnamon Filling

• 1 1/4 cups SOFT butter or margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar
• Cinnamon

First, scald milk in a saucepan and add cold water to milk.  Measure 1 cup of the mix and pour into a small bowl. Once the liquid is lukewarm, add 2 tsp sugar and yeast, letting it set and bubble for 15-20 minutes until it looks like below:

Next, measure 7 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl, making a well in the centre.  Add salt, sugar, butter, eggs and then the dissolved yeast to the liquid left in the saucepan and mix well.  Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the well of flour, like below:

Stir until the liquid disappears and begin to “stir” in a swinging, circular motion with your hand until it forms into a smooth ball.  Knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Brush the dough with melted butter, cover with wax paper and a cloth and let it rise at (warm) room temperature for 1.5-2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Welcome back.

Now that the dough has risen, punch it down a few times.  Flour your surface (and sprinkle on some brown sugar if you desire) and roll into a large rectangle, about a half inch thick:

Spread your butter or margarine all over the dough surface, I find that margarine results in gooier buns, however butter also has a delicious result.  Sprinkle on your sugar until it’s a good sized layer over the butter (feel free to add more than the recipe suggests).  Finally, sprinkle cinnamon all over the dough, it will look like the heaven that is below:

Roll the dough (long side) into a long tube and cut into rolls just over an inch thick.  Feel free to add more butter/sugar to your roll (can you tell more is more here?)

Place your rolls into greased pans and let rise 1.5-2 hours, or until doubled in size.  All the space in the photo below is about to disappear once they rise.

And welcome back (last rise I promise).

Bake at 365F for 25-30 minutes (on the shorter size if you’re using a dark pan).  The buns will be ready once they sound and feel hard when you tap the top with your nail.  Flip upside down onto a plate for 5 minutes, then lift pan off plate.

Oh yeah.