The last couple of weeks have been really busy. Which means I’ve not been on top of baking new things. I baked for a charity bake sale in Otley, so did some of my older classics, like my brownies and peanut butter cookies as well as some Oreo truffles and a ginger loaf with lime frosting. Unfortunately the charity fair itself flopped a bit, but it was great practice for me doing large orders and I got to take some of the leftovers to my friend’s birthday party.
Then I had an order of brownies for my friend Katie’s final year photography exhibition. I couldn’t make the night myself but apparently there were none left, that’s got to be a good sign right? I was supposed to be climbing a mountain in Scotland this weekend for Wateraid200 but unfortunately lots of people dropped out last minute, meaning it wasn’t possible anymore. We are hopefully re-arranging for a later date when more of us can actually manage it. I raised over £100 so I really don’t like the idea of letting people down.
Because of that being cancelled I had an extra weekend which I wasn’t expecting. This gave me some time which I’ve been using to get my life together a bit. And also to do some baking. I’ve been wanting to make Cinnamon Buns again for a long while, but they take a fairly long time to bake, due to the rising/proofing stages. As I was completely plan-less I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to make them. The last time I did make them, I made them far too large. But I managed to get these ones just right.
- For the buns:
- 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 50g/1¾oz light brown sugar
- 15g/1oz fresh yeast or 1½ tsp dried yeast
- 75g/3oz butter, softened
- 200ml/7fl oz milk
- 2 free-range eggs, plus one egg yolk, for glazing
- flavourless oil, for oiling
- For the filling:
- 75g Granulated brown sugar
- 50g granulated white sugar.
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 50g butter, melted.
- Mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Stir in the dry yeast (or crumble in fresh, I personally have a store of dry in).
- Work the butter into the flour mix until there are no large lumps remaining. Do this with your fingers or using a mixer on a low speed. It doesn’t have to be as fine as breadcrumbs.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the milk and one of the eggs. Mix together using a spatula or your hands. It’s quite a sticky mix but keep on mixing and the flour in the mix will slowly absorb the excess liquid.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface (lightly floured if necessary). Knead the dough for 10 minutes. By the time you are done you should be able to cut a small piece off and stretch it out thin enough to see light through it/the shadows of your fingers.
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and place somewhere warm to rise for around 80-90 minutes (until it has roughly doubled in size).
- Towards the end of this time, make the filling. To do this mix together the sugars and the cinnamon. Add a small amount of the melted butter and mix.
- Knock back the dough onto a lightly floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll out into a rectangle about the thickness of a pound coin.
- Using a pastry brush coat the dough with the melted butter then spread the cinnamon mixture over the top.
- Roll into a log shape carefully. You don’t want to squash it too much. Divide the log into 12 equal pieces buns.
- Place these into a greased pan, spacing them apart for when they rise. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to proof for about 45 minutes. While they are rising, preheat the oven to 200°C(180°C fan).
- Before placing in the oven, beat together the remaining egg and the yolk. Brush the top of each bun with this.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then drop the temperature to 180°C (160°C fan assisted) and bake for a further 20 minutes.
- Once you have removed them from the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool.
