A homemade cinnamon bun and a nice cup of coffee, is probably as good as life get, don't you think?
The goal is to get cinnamon buns deliciously juicy so that they just melt in your mouth. So here are our best tips for getting really
fluffy cinnamon buns with lots of buttey cinnamon flavor. Just like the ones you buy at bakeries in the Nordics!
- First, make sure to use room temperature ingredients. Set everything out for a while before baking, it is important that the milk is luke warm so that it activates the yeast.
- Avoid the yeast coming into contact with the sugar and salt. Sugar and salt are a disturbance to the fermentation process of the yeast. Therefore, wait to add the sugar and salt until you have added the flour, to get the best result from your yeast and have a nice rise in your dough.
- Work the dough for a long time! At least 10 minutes by machine or by hand. You know the dough is ready when it has enough gluten threads and is elastic. You check this by taking a piece of dough and carefully strech it out really thin. If the dough does not break, you have strong gluten threads and thus you have worked the dough long enough. The dough should also look shiny and not be as sticky any more.
- Shape the buns before you let them rest and rise, and the dough will be easier to work with. The dough is stiffer before it starts to rise and that is the reason why it is easier to work with. We therefore always fill and shape the buns immediately after kneading and then let them rise for a few hours before baking them in the oven.
- Let the dough rest and rise. It's important to give it time to rise properly, but don't leave the buns for too long.
How much time they need depends on the temperature and humidity so depending on what time of year it is, it can take anywhere from 1-2 hours. To be sure they are ready, test by pressing gently on a bun, and if the dough "bounces back" they are ready. - Add a little salt and a little water to the beaten egg used to brush the buns. It dissolves the egg and makes it much easier to brush with. This avoids lumps of fried egg on the ready-baked buns.
- Make the buns vegan. Do this by replacing the butter with dairy-free margarine and the milk with soya or oat milk. The cinnamon buns are can also be brushed with the plantbased milk instead of egg.