cinnabuns
Recipe rehash time! I know I've posted something similar before, but after some kitchen-tinkering study avoidance time, I think I've almost perfected my Cinnamon Bun dough - quite a claim, I know, but this last batch I made (based on a Swedish, rather than my usual Norwegian, recipe) was almost Sublime - I think even Burke may nearly have wept at it's (to steal an obscene-in-the-best-possible-way line from Nigella) silky inner-thigh softness; it's ethereal lightness; it's dense delicacy; it's sweet sharpness...
I guarantee you'll be smiling like a seraph at the merest whiff of spice leaden air that rushes out of the oven to envelop you in a hallucinogenic fug so irresistible that it can charm and intoxicate even the most psychotropically seasoned red-haired Wisconsinite metal drummers...
You can add more sugar to the bun dough if you like - up to 200 grams, but I'd be wary about adding more than that - but I prefer a quite mildly sweet dough so that I can go crazy with the saccharine cinnamon filling. It's one of those personal preference thingames though, so do whatever you like.
Svensk bästa kanelbullarna
Makes about 40
I know that seems like an excessive amount but, trust me, it's not. If you can stop yourself from wolfing down three of these easier than breathing before the tray has even left the oven, then... I disown you. No, really, I'm serious.
Dough
80 grams of fresh yeast (about 35 grams of dried yeast) - yes, really!
2 eggs
500 ml of blood temperature milk (infused with 1 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom seeds, and a strip or two of lemon or orange peel, if you like)
1 kg Italian '00' style bread flour
100 grams of brown sugar
150 grams (or maybe a little more...) of butter, melted
a large pinch of salt
an extra teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom
Filling
100 grams or so of soft butter
brown sugar, to taste
cinnamon, to taste (lots!)
a tablespoon or so (or a little more) of rum
Optional: mix a tablespoon or so of chopped mixed peel through the above mixture, I don't think it's necessary, and detracts from the cinnamonny goodness - but I tried it with the peel for Christmas, and it made a nice seasonal change.
Topping
1 egg
a little milk
Optional: * flaked almonds
* demerara sugar/coffee crystals
* extra filling mix spread on top
Assemblage
1. Mix the yeast with the sugar, both the eggs, and half the flour in a large bowl (a seriously large bowl - with this amount of yeast, this stuff goes into reproductive hyperdrive, and will try to escape whatever pan you've put it into - escape and create it's own colony of yeast-people in the prophesied far and distant land where they'll be free from crazy bakers like me).
2. Add the warm milk and mix until well combined. Don't worry if there are lumps - what the yeast doesn't dissolve, you can work out in the kneading later on.
Leave this mixture to prove for one hour - I cover it with a damp tea-towel, put it above a smaller bowl of boiling water, and then pop it into the shoe-warming compartment of the Aga. If you have a slightly more modern kitchen than I, just cover the bowl with a damp cloth and sit it in front of a heater vent, or in a sunny place, out of the way of cold draughts.
3. Add the rest of the flour, along with the sugar, salt, the extra cardamom, and the melted butter. Mix well with a wooden spoon (or any spoon really, but they always specify wooden in cookery books, and who am I to go against such a charming convention?) then turn out onto a floured surface.
You may need to add a little extra flour at this point - flours differ in their absorbencies, and all that.
Knead for 5 to 10 minutes (or more if you like, this dough is very fun to play with) until it's no longer sticky, and of the most delectable finely grained silky texture.
4. Place the kneaded dough into a bowl, well greased with butter, and leave to prove again - for about half an hour this time.
5. Punch the risen dough down (fun!), divide into manageable pieces (two or three equal parts) and roll out each piece on a floured board into something resembling a rectangle - about half a centimeter thick: thinner is better than thick, in my opinion, because then you almost get a filo-baklava like effect, layered with the butter it makes the buns incredibly fluffy.
So, then, mix the filling ingredients together well and spread evenly over the dough pieces.
Starting from the long edge, roll the rectangle up fairly tightly into a cinnamon flavoured snausage type thing - William Murderface Murderface Murderface wouldn't approve, so proceed to chop the unspeakable object into even sized pieces roughly 3cm long.
6. Place these pieces into paper cupcake cups (the Swedish style) or close but not touching (Norwegian style - what does that say about their society?) on a well greased tray.
Cover with a damp tea-towel and leave to prove in a warm place, again, for another half an hour. (I've left these to prove in the footwell of my car with the heater on to prove for an hour and a half while I drove to a party - and it didn't seem to harm them in the slightest. I think this dough is so fabulous you could probably leave it out for a week and it would still make the most divine little buns imaginable.)
7. To finish, beat the topping ingredients (the egg, with a splash of milk) and dab, with your fingers or a pastry brush, over the buns to make them go all glazed and shiny. Sprinkle extra filling mix, sugar, flaked almonds, or whatever you like, over the top of the glaze - these are perfectly lovely without extra accoutrements though.
8. Bake at 250°C for about 6 minutes - keep your eye on them! As soon as the tops are blushing with a faint golden glow, take them out, or the bottoms will burn.
9. Serve immediately with a glass of milk, or a tot of rum, and a golden haired Swede on the side. Läcker!
I guarantee you'll be smiling like a seraph at the merest whiff of spice leaden air that rushes out of the oven to envelop you in a hallucinogenic fug so irresistible that it can charm and intoxicate even the most psychotropically seasoned red-haired Wisconsinite metal drummers...
You can add more sugar to the bun dough if you like - up to 200 grams, but I'd be wary about adding more than that - but I prefer a quite mildly sweet dough so that I can go crazy with the saccharine cinnamon filling. It's one of those personal preference thingames though, so do whatever you like.
Svensk bästa kanelbullarna
Makes about 40
I know that seems like an excessive amount but, trust me, it's not. If you can stop yourself from wolfing down three of these easier than breathing before the tray has even left the oven, then... I disown you. No, really, I'm serious.
Dough
80 grams of fresh yeast (about 35 grams of dried yeast) - yes, really!
2 eggs
500 ml of blood temperature milk (infused with 1 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom seeds, and a strip or two of lemon or orange peel, if you like)
1 kg Italian '00' style bread flour
100 grams of brown sugar
150 grams (or maybe a little more...) of butter, melted
a large pinch of salt
an extra teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom
Filling
100 grams or so of soft butter
brown sugar, to taste
cinnamon, to taste (lots!)
a tablespoon or so (or a little more) of rum
Optional: mix a tablespoon or so of chopped mixed peel through the above mixture, I don't think it's necessary, and detracts from the cinnamonny goodness - but I tried it with the peel for Christmas, and it made a nice seasonal change.
Topping
1 egg
a little milk
Optional: * flaked almonds
* demerara sugar/coffee crystals
* extra filling mix spread on top
Assemblage
1. Mix the yeast with the sugar, both the eggs, and half the flour in a large bowl (a seriously large bowl - with this amount of yeast, this stuff goes into reproductive hyperdrive, and will try to escape whatever pan you've put it into - escape and create it's own colony of yeast-people in the prophesied far and distant land where they'll be free from crazy bakers like me).
2. Add the warm milk and mix until well combined. Don't worry if there are lumps - what the yeast doesn't dissolve, you can work out in the kneading later on.
Leave this mixture to prove for one hour - I cover it with a damp tea-towel, put it above a smaller bowl of boiling water, and then pop it into the shoe-warming compartment of the Aga. If you have a slightly more modern kitchen than I, just cover the bowl with a damp cloth and sit it in front of a heater vent, or in a sunny place, out of the way of cold draughts.
3. Add the rest of the flour, along with the sugar, salt, the extra cardamom, and the melted butter. Mix well with a wooden spoon (or any spoon really, but they always specify wooden in cookery books, and who am I to go against such a charming convention?) then turn out onto a floured surface.
You may need to add a little extra flour at this point - flours differ in their absorbencies, and all that.
Knead for 5 to 10 minutes (or more if you like, this dough is very fun to play with) until it's no longer sticky, and of the most delectable finely grained silky texture.
4. Place the kneaded dough into a bowl, well greased with butter, and leave to prove again - for about half an hour this time.
5. Punch the risen dough down (fun!), divide into manageable pieces (two or three equal parts) and roll out each piece on a floured board into something resembling a rectangle - about half a centimeter thick: thinner is better than thick, in my opinion, because then you almost get a filo-baklava like effect, layered with the butter it makes the buns incredibly fluffy.
So, then, mix the filling ingredients together well and spread evenly over the dough pieces.
Starting from the long edge, roll the rectangle up fairly tightly into a cinnamon flavoured snausage type thing - William Murderface Murderface Murderface wouldn't approve, so proceed to chop the unspeakable object into even sized pieces roughly 3cm long.
6. Place these pieces into paper cupcake cups (the Swedish style) or close but not touching (Norwegian style - what does that say about their society?) on a well greased tray.
Cover with a damp tea-towel and leave to prove in a warm place, again, for another half an hour. (I've left these to prove in the footwell of my car with the heater on to prove for an hour and a half while I drove to a party - and it didn't seem to harm them in the slightest. I think this dough is so fabulous you could probably leave it out for a week and it would still make the most divine little buns imaginable.)
7. To finish, beat the topping ingredients (the egg, with a splash of milk) and dab, with your fingers or a pastry brush, over the buns to make them go all glazed and shiny. Sprinkle extra filling mix, sugar, flaked almonds, or whatever you like, over the top of the glaze - these are perfectly lovely without extra accoutrements though.
8. Bake at 250°C for about 6 minutes - keep your eye on them! As soon as the tops are blushing with a faint golden glow, take them out, or the bottoms will burn.
9. Serve immediately with a glass of milk, or a tot of rum, and a golden haired Swede on the side. Läcker!