A brief but informative post on how I like to make cinnamon rolls. This is by far one of my most treasured formulas from culinary school, making some of the most gorgeous rolls at home. It is also a fairly simple method that helps you to get them in the oven faster the day you're serving them for breakfast.
To Shape:
What makes these stand out compared to most homemade cinnamon rolls is their clean edges. Of course, they can be made more compact to get that more rustic, jagged look (and create softer edges), but I love how professional this makes the end product.
You can control the size and spiral of the roll with the dimensions you roll the dough out to. The taller the rectangle, the more the spiral and wider the roll. The wider your rectangle, the more individual cinnamon rolls you make. In my case, I roll my dough to be 13" tall (rolling North-South), then roll the width to flatten the dough to approximately 1/8" thickness (rolling East-West). Do this while the dough is still cold out of the fridge for easy handling.
Distribute the filling across the rectangle, leaving a 1" blank gap at the bottom. Roll the top of the dough down and continue rolling as tight as possible to make a log. Try your best to keep the sides flush to avoid excess dough needing cut off. Mark your desired width for each roll, mine was 1 1/2", and cut with a very sharp knife.
To make individual cinnamon rolls, take a divided piece of dough, unravel the end to reveal the section without filling. Gently stretch the dough, and tuck it underneath the roll. Some filling may fall out, but that's ok! Place this side down on the baking sheet and repeat with every roll. Proceed to proofing stage.
Cinnamon Rolls
Yield: 13 cinnamon rolls
Sweet Dough
Warm all of the liquid ingredients to 55° F
Pour the liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer and add all of the dry ingredients
Mix on first speed until clean up stage using a dough hook, approximately 4 minutes
Soften butter by beating it with a rolling pin, and slowly add butter to the dough in stages, increasing mixing speed to 2 mix for about 2-5 minutes
When the dough has a medium developed gluten window, you can give it two hours of bulk fermentation at room temperature
Place on a sprayed parchment-lined sheet pan, cover with plastic and place in the fridge overnight
Next day, roll out the dough to 13" tall, and roll the width until the dough is 1/8" thick
Roll to create a log, divide into 1 1/2" pieces and tuck the tail under the roll to create individual rolls
Cover with greased plastic wrap and allow to proof until doubled in size, approximately 60-90 minutes
Bake for 30 minutes at 375° F
Glaze and finish while still warm
Filling
Paddle butter until it is soft
Add all of the sugar, cinnamon and bread flour
Paddle until thoroughly incorporated
Store covered in fridge until use
Glaze
Warm liquid ingredients to 140° F
Sift the powdered sugar if the liquid has been warmed you will not need to sift the sugar
Combine all of the above ingredients
Stir till a smooth consistency is achieved
Use immediately
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight
I normally have better photos, but I was too eager to eat these!
Original recipe from:
Ciril Hitz, Johnson & Wales University
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