Last year I posted this recipe for Cinnamon Buns (and it went down like a cinnamon bun should: a lip-smacking treat!). Since then I have modified the recipe slightly. Theme and variations of the cinnamon variety. I still love the original, but this new version is a lighter dough, less bready and more like a pastry in appearance. The outer edge is a little crispy and the middle remains a perfectly moist, plump dough.

The ingredients are almost the same but the roll-out method has changed and it now mimics a Pain au Chocolat making-technique.

As you can see – I’m a big fan and I have them for my ‘breakfast pudding’ every day. I bake them every other week as they freeze beautifully.

For the dough:
500g strong white flour
70g light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp dried yeast
80g butter, softened + extra for greasing
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 free range egg
200ml semi skimmed milk + extra for glazing

For the filling:
100g soft brown sugar
100g butter, softened + extra for greasing
3 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

If you’re making the dough by hand…

Mix together the sifted flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl.

Rub the flour together with the softened butter with your fingertips until the large lumps of butter have vanished.

Make a well in the mixture and pour in the milk. Add the egg.

Form the dough with your hands or a spoon. It will feel like quite a ‘wet’ dough at first, but don’t worry as the liquid will incorporate into the flour mixture.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it’s springy and smooth.

Leave to prove covered with olive oil coated cling wrap for about 80 minutes.

Or if you have a bread machine, follow the instructions on your machine for making an enriched dough and there’s no need to wait to prove!

Grease a large roasting dish with butter and line it with greaseproof paper (including up the sides of the dish.)

When the dough has almost doubled in size, pull it out of the bowl and roll it into a rectangle with a rolling pin to the thickness of half a centimetre. You’ll need to flour the work surface for this.

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

In a small bowl, sift the soft brown sugar and add the 3 tsp of cinnamon and mix. Chop the butter into very fine slices and place half of the butter slices on the rolled out dough and sprinkle with half of the sugar and cinnamon mix all over the dough. Fold the dough in half and roll out again and top with the remaining butter slices and sugar mix.

Roll up the dough into a sausage shape. Chop it into 1 inch thick slices and put these into the roasting dish. Cover up with cling wrap and leave to prove for about 40 minutes. Sprinkle a little golden caster sugar over the slices.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, checking on them half way through to see if they need to be turned over.

I love them au naturel although I’ve also tried drizzling melted milk chocolate over the top, which is extra decadent and delectable. Once cooled you can keep them in the freezer for up to a month, however, I can’t guarantee you’ll have many left for that amount of time!

Cinnamon roll. Cinnamon roll.
Roll
role
real
rail
reel
rile
rule
rowel
rouse
round
roulade
crudité…
Klimt.