Year of Bread: Better-than-Cinnabon Cinnamon Buns

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A lot of the bread I bake is done with the intent of eating it over the course of several days — as toast, in sandwiches, with soup, etc. But sometimes you need something sweet and decadent and meant to be scarfed down fresh out of the oven. And cinnamon buns fit the bill on all accounts.

cinnamon bun cross sectionFor a lot of Americans (especially those who make frequent trips through an airport or mall), Cinnabon is the apex of cinnamon roll-goodness. But frankly they tend to be cloyingly sweet, huge, and not consistently fresh. This recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice  yields cinnmon buns that are fluffy and balanced, not overly sweet or buttery, and just the right size for breakfast.

If you’re the planning type, these buns can be finished 90% of the way the day before baking to ensure optimal freshness and straight-from-the-oven warmth. Unfortunately, the long proofing time if the dough is chilled (3-4 hours) might require getting up early in the morning to pull the buns from the fridge.

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Better-than-Cinnabon Cinnamon Buns Recipe

Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Yields 8-10 cinnamon buns

Ingredients

  • 3 1/4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 egg, slightly beaten (about 1.5 tablespoons of egg)
  • 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 3/4 cups (8 oz) AP or bread flour
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk or whole milk, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar (3 1/2 tbsp sugar plus 3/4 tbsp ground cinnamon)

Cinnamon Buns Instructions

  1. Cream sugar, salt and butter together. Add egg and lemon zest and mix until smooth. Then add flour, yeast and milk.
  2. Knead with a dough hook for about 10 minutes, or by hand for 12-15 minutes. The dough should be silky and supple, but not too dry. The dough should pass the windowpane test. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and roll dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap.
  3. Let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
  4. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and dust with flour. Gently roll out with a rolling pin to make a rectangle about 2/3 inch thick. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over surface of dough, then roll up into a log. Cut in half with a sharp knife, then cut each half in half. Finally cut the four pieces in half once more to make 8 pieces.
  5. Arrange the buns in a parchment lined (or sprayed) pan about 1/2″ apart. They shouldn’t be touching, but should be close to each other. (From personal experience, if you don’t place them close enough together, they’ll kind of unravel as they bake. Mist with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap.
  6. Proof at room temperature for 75-90 minutes, until pieces have nearly doubled in size.
    1. At this point you can stick the cinnamon buns in the refrigerator and retard them for up to 2 days. Pull them out 3-4 hours before baking to allow for proofing. I did this for breakfast buns before work, so I had to get up around 4 to pull them out of the fridge (and promptly when back to bed).
  7. Preheat the oven to 350F with the oven rack on the lowest shelf.
  8. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.I used a glass pan so I could check the doneness of the undersides easily.
  9. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then streak with fondant glaze while buns are warm but not too hot.

White Fondant Glaze

Sift 1 cup powdered sugar into a bowl, then whisk with 1-2 tablespoons of warm milk until sugar is dissolved. If you like, you can add a few drops of lemon extract or some more cinnamon, but I like mine to be pure sugary goodness.

pan of cinnamon buns

Year of Bread: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

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Confession: I don’t like raisins. I’ll eat pretty much any other dried fruit, and enjoy it, but raisins just aren’t my thing. So when I got to this particular recipe for cinnamon raisin bread in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, my first thought was to just leave the raisins out. Unfortunately, I live in a house of raisin bread lovers, so instead of throwing them out entirely, I decided to split the difference and bake a loaf of with raisins for everyone else, and a loaf with walnuts for me. They were both fantastic.

This recipe produced the softest, most supple dough. It’s got a good amount of fat in it — milk, egg and a touch of vegetable shortening — to keep it from being too dry. It’s also got a healthy dose of cinnamon kneaded right into the dough, which is why this is definitely cinnamon raisin bread and not just, well, raisin bread.

cinnamon rollingAdding chunky ingredients like dried fruit and nuts should always be done towards the end of the kneading process, otherwise they end up getting squished. I divided the dough in half before incorporating the walnuts and raisins, then folded the ingredients in until they were (somewhat) evenly distributed.raisin bread dough

The bread also has a spiral of cinnamon sugar swirling through it, which is easy enough to add but looks fancy — just sprinkle a healthy layer of cinnamon sugar into the dough before rolling it up into a loaf shape. I added extra raisins during this stage, to the raisin loaf. I also sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top of the loaves, which looks and tastes great, but makes them slightly sticky on the outside, especially after a day or two of sitting around in the kitchen. I would probably skip the cinnamon sugar crust next time in favor of an egg or butter wash.

cinnamon walnut bread

Cinnamon Raisin Bread and Cinnamon Walnut Swirl Bread

Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Yields two smallish loaves or one biggish loaf

Ingredients

  •  3.5 cups (16oz) unbleached bread flour
  • 4 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 large egg, slightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp shortening, melted or at room temp
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, room temp
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 1/4 cup raisins, rinsed and drained (optional)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For Filling/Topping:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon

Process

  1. Stir together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cinnamon) in a mixing bowl.
  2. Add wet ingredients and stir until ingredients come together.
  3. Turn dough out onto a floured counter and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be soft and silky– not too stiff or sticky (although at this point it’s better that it’s slightly on the wet side, so add flour or water to adjust as necessary.
  4. Add most of the raisins or walnuts (or both), and knead for about 2 minutes — you want them to be fairly well distributed, but don’t knead so long that they start to fall apart.
  5. Shape the dough into a ball and return to an oiled bowl, covering with plastic wrap. Let rest for 2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
  6. If you’re baking 2 loaves, divide into 2 equal pieces and form them into loaves. Place the loaves in greased bread pans and mist the top with spray oil, then cover loosely.
    1. Forming Loaves:  Gently press the piece of dough into a 5×8 rectangle. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar, and the remaining raisins or walnuts, if using. Starting at one of the short ends, roll up into a loaf, pinching the seam closed to seal.
  7. Proof at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. The tops of the loaves should crest the top of the pans and swell considerably. Preheat the oven to 350F while the loaves are rising.
  8. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate the pans 180 degrees and back for another 20-30 minutes. Note: If you’re baking a large loaf, it may take longer. The loaves will be golden brown and should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
  9. Immediately remove the loaves from their pans and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing. Enjoy cinnamon raisin bread plain, or toasted with a slather of butter.

cinnamon raisin loaf from above