”You have to taste a culture to understand it.”

– Deborah Cater

Cinnamon rolls

Step by step video tutorial
Serving Size:
Makes about 20
Time:
Prep time: 30 min
Rest time: 1 h
Cook time: 15 min
Difficulty:
Medium

Ingredients

Yeast dough:
  • 25 g (2.7 tbsp) fresh yeast or 10 g (3.5 tsp) dry yeast
  • 25 g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 250 ml (1 cup) milk
  • 200 g (7 oz) butter
  • 450 – 500 g (3 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour plus some for dusting, kneading
  • a pinch of salt
Filling:
  • 50 g (1.7 oz) unsalted butter (soft)
  • 10 tbsp sugar
  • 8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 tsp cardamom
  • 1 egg for spreading on top

Directions

Making yeast dough
  1. Crumble fresh yeast in a bowl, add about half a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of flour.
  2. Warm up milk in a pot on the stove, so that it is fine to touch, and pour a little in the bowl with the yeast. Mix the yeast with the sugar, flour and milk, and leave it to activate, start growing.
  3. Put the rest of the milk back on the stove to heat and add to it butter, the remaining sugar and a pinch of salt. Slowly heat the milk till the butter and sugar melt.
  4. Remove the pot from the stove and let the milk cool a little.
  5. Pour the milk in a big bowl and add the yeast to it.
  6. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add flour.
  7. Mix and knead the dough for a few minutes till it holds together, is smooth and can be shaped into a ball. If the dough feels too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time. Too much flour will make the dough harder, therefore it is important not to add too much flour.
  8. Cover the bowl and put in the fridge for half an hour (or longer if you are not ready to bake yet).
Making rolls and baking
  1. Mix sugar, cinnamon and cardamom for the filling.
  2. Dust the kitchen countertop with flour and roll the dough in a rectangle shape a few mm thick.
  3. Spread the sugar/cinnamon mix on top of the dough, covering also the sides as much as possible. Leave only a few mm free at one of the narrower ends, which will be the end of the roll.
  4. Roll the dough, starting from the other narrower end, trying to roll as tight as possible, without stretching the dough, but not leaving gaps. Rolling all the dough at once will make bigger cinnamon rolls. Rolling half of the dough in one go, which is what I do, will give smaller, but more cinnamon rolls.
  5. Cut the roll in about 2 cm thick slices or how thick you want your cinnamon rolls to be.
  6. Put parchment paper or a silicone baking mat in a baking tray and dust with flour.
  7. Arrange the cinnamon rolls on the baking tray, leaving some space around them as they will grow while baking. Make sure the ends of the rolls are not open. Pinch them to the side of the roll or put underneath.
  8. Cover the tray and leave the rolls to rest for about half an hour.
  9. Set the oven to heat to 180° C or 400° F.
  10. Break and egg in a glass and whisk it a little.
  11. Spread the egg on the sides and tops of the cinnamon rolls.
  12. Bake the rolls for about 12 to 15 minutes till they look golden brown
  13. Remove from the oven, let them cool a little and enjoy!

Notes

  • For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are made with weighed ingredients using grams. Other measurements are provided for your convenience.