Why do people say ‘smells like food’ as though its necessarily a bad thing! Alright fine, nobody likes the smell of onions or rotten milk but how about acknowledging that food also brings us some of the most gorgeous fragrances ever? Imagine walking into a house that was oozing with the scents of cinnamon butter, freshly baked bread, hot from the oven. What part of that can you even complain about? Cinnamon is possibly one of the most delicious fragrances if you ask me – its rustic , honest, not-too-sweet-but-still-very-powerful-scent screams autumn. I could add cinnamon to everything (no, really – I use cinnamon scented candles. Im that person.)
Anyway, somewhere in the middle of last week, after an absolutely disastrous day in the kitchen (more about that later), I pulled out a recipe for what could be best described as the most comforting food of all time – Cinnamon rolled buns (you may have seen them on Instagram) !
This was my first time using dry yeast and though I wont say it’s the easiest recipe in the world, I will say this: There is something immensely satisfying about perfectly risen dough and the plethora of possibilities that it brings. Since it’s just dough, you can use it for anything from cinnamon buns to bread to buns stuffed with minced meat. So feel free to experiment.
I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe from How To Be A Domestic Goddess – This is a book that a couple of my friends gave me for my birthday one year and that’s when I started baking, and I swear by it. (Its in shreds now).
Here’s the recipe:
The dough :
- 600g flour
- 100g sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 21g (3 sachets) instant dried yeast
- 100g butter
- 400mL milk
- 2 eggs
The cinnamon filling:
- 150g soft unsalted butter
- 150g sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- And, 1 egg beaten for glazing.
Method:
1) Preheat oven to 200°C
2) Put flour, sugar, salt and yeast together in a large mixing bowl.
3) In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter.
4) Mix the milk/egg/butter mixture into the flour mixture.
5) Mix or knead until smooth and springy. (The dough will be sticky and will stubbornly cling to your hands so if you have an electric mixer with a dough hook, I recommend using that instead)
6) Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 30 minutes to rise.
7) Take one third of the dough and stretch or roll it out to cover a baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.
8) Roll out the rest of the dough on a lightly floured surface
9) Cover with the cinnamon butter – be generous here because you really want the cinnamon butter to be the star.
10) Roll it up into a sausage and slice into 2cm slices, placing each slice on the dough base on your baking tray.
11) Glaze with egg using a pastry brush.
12) Leave for 15 minutes to rise.
13) Put in the over for 20 – 25 mins.
14) Put on a cooling rack, and then eat warm.
Also, here are six things you should know if you’re making these for the first timelike I was.
- Firstly, it could (it probably will) get really messy – but it’ll be worth it.
- Secondly, these are pull apart rolls so they will be stuck to each other when done and that’s fine.
- Thirdly – when you’re slicing the dough sausage and placing it on to the pan, it may look all smoodgy and not at all cooking-show worthy, but when it’s baked it’ll still smoothen out and look fantastic
- Fourth – the dough is just dough – you can even stuff it with Nutella if you like (I did a little experimental batch).
- Fifth – Eating this warm & fresh is the only way this should be eaten. If you’re eating it the next day, heat it a little first.
- Finally, I promise this is completely worth every minute of your time. Happy fall and happy baking !
xxxx