Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon Rolls
This tangzhong cinnamon rolls recipe makes the softest cinnamon rolls. Once you’ve tried this method you won’t turn back!
The Tangzhong method is simply heating the milk and flour together before adding it to the rest of the dough ingredients. It’s the secret trick to getting the softest dough!
The dough’s filled with a cinnamon sugar and topped and a vanilla cream cheese topping. These really are the best cinnamon rolls!
Love a sweet dough? You have to try my Apple Crumble Brioche recipe!
Ingredients
Method
Place the milk and bread flour into a saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place the pan onto a medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened, it should take about 2 minutes.
Remove it from the heat and scrape the mixture into a separate bowl.
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add your milk, bread flour, and crumble in your yeast, along with the sugar, milk powder and salt (try and ensure the salt doesn’t touch the yeast).
Pour in the tangzhong mixture (this should have cooled by now - if it is hot it could kill the yeast), along with the eggs and knead on a low speed for 5m. It will still be shaggy at this point so don’t worry. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30m.
Once the dough has rested, put the mixer onto a medium and add the soft butter just a piece at a time, and once it has all incorporated, knead for 10m. By this point, the dough should look glossy and smooth and should not be sticking to the side of the bowl.
Lift the dough out and place it into a large, lightly oiled bowl or container. Proof overnight in the fridge (You can do 1 hour at room temperature if you’re in a rush but doing it in the fridge makes the dough easier to work with the next day!)
Just before you remove the dough from the fridge (or just before it is done rising at room temp) Add the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on a medium speed for 1 minute. The mixture should be evenly combined.
When the dough has proofed, lift it out and place it onto a lightly floured surface.
Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out into a rough rectangle. We want to end up with a rectangle of dough that is roughly 30cm (12”) wide by 55cm (21.5”) long. I like to roll mine bigger than this and then use a knife to cut a perfect rectangle. You waste some dough but it makes the rolling process and the final product a bit cleaner in my opinion. Ensure you are flouring the dough underneath as you go, so it doesn’t stick.
Take the soft brown sugar mixture, and spread this evenly over the dough, ensuring to leave a border, ½” wide at the top and bottom of the dough.
To roll the dough we’re not going to follow the traditional method of rolling the whole log. We are going to roll individual strips as it gives us a cleaner circle and means we won’t squish the dough when we go to cut it.
Take a very small amount of soft butter and spread this along the bottom edge (nearest to you) - this will act as a glue when you roll the strips up.
Position yourself so that the long side of the dough is facing you (the 55cm side). Using a ruler and a knife, measure strips of dough that are 3cm wide (about 1.1”) and cut from the top of the dough down to the bottom. You should now have strips of dough that are 3cm wide x 30cm long (1.1” x 12”).
Take a strip of dough and roll it tightly on itself into a spiral, ensuring to “tail” is stuck to the side of the dough nicely (using that soft butter as glue!)
Lightly grease two baking dishes and line them with a sheet of parchment paper. I used one which was 10”x10” and the other was 8x8”.
Lift the spirals into the baking dishes and ensure they have about ¾” between each one to proof. Cover the baking dish loosely with clingfilm and proof for 1 more hour.
In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to 180C non-fan assisted/355F.
Once the rolls have proofed (they should have doubled in size and be touching now), Place in the oven and bake for 30m until the are a nice light golden colour.
While they are baking, make the frosting. Add the soft butter and cream cheese (ensure both ingredients are room temperature otherwise, you will get lumps) and beat in a stand mixer for 1 minute until smooth.
Sift in the powdered sugar, and add the salt, vanilla and orange zest.
Beat for another minute or two until smooth. If the mixture becomes very runny you can pop it in the fridge for 10m, then beat again and it will thicken.
Once the rolls have baked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15m. Then use a spatula to spread the glaze over the rolls.
Ingredients
Directions
Place the milk and bread flour into a saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place the pan onto a medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened, it should take about 2 minutes.
Remove it from the heat and scrape the mixture into a separate bowl.
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add your milk, bread flour, and crumble in your yeast, along with the sugar, milk powder and salt (try and ensure the salt doesn’t touch the yeast).
Pour in the tangzhong mixture (this should have cooled by now - if it is hot it could kill the yeast), along with the eggs and knead on a low speed for 5m. It will still be shaggy at this point so don’t worry. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30m.
Once the dough has rested, put the mixer onto a medium and add the soft butter just a piece at a time, and once it has all incorporated, knead for 10m. By this point, the dough should look glossy and smooth and should not be sticking to the side of the bowl.
Lift the dough out and place it into a large, lightly oiled bowl or container. Proof overnight in the fridge (You can do 1 hour at room temperature if you’re in a rush but doing it in the fridge makes the dough easier to work with the next day!)
Just before you remove the dough from the fridge (or just before it is done rising at room temp) Add the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on a medium speed for 1 minute. The mixture should be evenly combined.
When the dough has proofed, lift it out and place it onto a lightly floured surface.
Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out into a rough rectangle. We want to end up with a rectangle of dough that is roughly 30cm (12”) wide by 55cm (21.5”) long. I like to roll mine bigger than this and then use a knife to cut a perfect rectangle. You waste some dough but it makes the rolling process and the final product a bit cleaner in my opinion. Ensure you are flouring the dough underneath as you go, so it doesn’t stick.
Take the soft brown sugar mixture, and spread this evenly over the dough, ensuring to leave a border, ½” wide at the top and bottom of the dough.
To roll the dough we’re not going to follow the traditional method of rolling the whole log. We are going to roll individual strips as it gives us a cleaner circle and means we won’t squish the dough when we go to cut it.
Take a very small amount of soft butter and spread this along the bottom edge (nearest to you) - this will act as a glue when you roll the strips up.
Position yourself so that the long side of the dough is facing you (the 55cm side). Using a ruler and a knife, measure strips of dough that are 3cm wide (about 1.1”) and cut from the top of the dough down to the bottom. You should now have strips of dough that are 3cm wide x 30cm long (1.1” x 12”).
Take a strip of dough and roll it tightly on itself into a spiral, ensuring to “tail” is stuck to the side of the dough nicely (using that soft butter as glue!)
Lightly grease two baking dishes and line them with a sheet of parchment paper. I used one which was 10”x10” and the other was 8x8”.
Lift the spirals into the baking dishes and ensure they have about ¾” between each one to proof. Cover the baking dish loosely with clingfilm and proof for 1 more hour.
In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to 180C non-fan assisted/355F.
Once the rolls have proofed (they should have doubled in size and be touching now), Place in the oven and bake for 30m until the are a nice light golden colour.
While they are baking, make the frosting. Add the soft butter and cream cheese (ensure both ingredients are room temperature otherwise, you will get lumps) and beat in a stand mixer for 1 minute until smooth.
Sift in the powdered sugar, and add the salt, vanilla and orange zest.
Beat for another minute or two until smooth. If the mixture becomes very runny you can pop it in the fridge for 10m, then beat again and it will thicken.
Once the rolls have baked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15m. Then use a spatula to spread the glaze over the rolls.
These look yum! Any chance I can halve the recipe ? 😅 Party of 2 here.
Yes absolutely! It should make one 9-inch tin batch (about 9 cinnamon rolls)
Hi thank you for this recipe.
But in the tangzhang part, you didn’t mention how much of the milk we should use for the bread flour to heat up and how much we should keep for smoothing the batter off the oven.
Would you please mention that.🙏🏻
Thanks for flagging this! I’ve just updated the recipe so it should make more sense now!
🙏🏻🫶🏻🍀
These look amazing, can’t wait to try them! I was just wondering, is it possible to make ahead and freeze them before baking?
Hey! I haven’t tried freezing them before baking but it’s worth a go! You just need to proof them at room temp before you bake them for 4-6 hours or until they double in size. Hope this helps!
Maybe a silly question but how long should an overnight proof actually be? I have a habit of late night baking but never know if my dough needs its full 8 hours of beauty sleep!
8-12 hours is good!
Perfect
Do you think if I use flora “butter” and lactose free milk the result will be ok? Thank you!!
I’m afraid it hasn’t been tested with any vegan alternatives.
Thank you for your reply!!
Could you use the pistachio praline paste from your book as a pistachio twist on these rolls?! Unsure how to adapt the frosting, while chocolate blended with blitzed pistachios? Trying to recreate the pistachio chimney cake I had in Budapest!
Yes i think it could work with the pistachio paste!! I think a little melted white chocolate into the crema cheese frosting would be good. Just reduce the sugar to compensate for the sweetness!