Cinnamon buns

This was the end product (after giving away/eating a couple of rolls)

I must say this was a success. A says this is his favourite bake of mine, but then again he is obliged to say that.

After obtaining yeast and my partial success of making bread rolls, I wanted to work with yeast again. There's a certain satisfaction when your yeast starts bubbling and comes alive. Along with the smell, it is really something else.

Who doesn't love cinnamon buns?! My favourite is probably from Bread by Bike but they don't deliver to mine so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I used the recipe from https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/sticky-buns/ She had a video which I recommend watching prior to making the buns. It's no knead, and so so easy to make. Great reviews from friends too! Social distancing included. The dough is pretty incredible.

I came prepared with this one - I bought a 9 inch cake pan with no removable bottom because I only have a springform tin and caramel WILL overflow. It even overflowed (overflew?) with this tin so it was a good investment. Also bought a rolling pin! I used wine bottles when I made pici dough but I wanted this to be a little bit more professional. I also didn't halve the recipe - key to success?

Cinnamon buns (she calls them sticky buns) by Gemma Stafford from Bigger Bolder Baking

Dough

1 cup (8oz / 240g) milk

2 teaspoons Fast acting dried yeast or Instant yeast I used dried yeast

2 teaspoons salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten at room temperature ideally, I didn't beat them

¼ cup (2 ½ oz/75g) honey

½ cup (4oz/115g) butter, melted unsalted, only used about 85g cos that's how much I had left of that stick

3 ½ cups (18½ oz/525g) all-purpose flour

Caramel topping and filling

¾ cup (6oz/170g) butter, melted, plus more for sides of the pan so much butter! I used about 150g unsalted. Also didn't butter the sides of the pan

1 ¼ cup (7 ½ oz/220g) brown sugar finally got dark brown sugar. I couldn't bring myself to use 220g so I used about 180g - definitely more than enough imo

⅓ cup (4oz/115g) honey actually didn't think it needed honey. Maple syrup would have been better. Or get good honey. Mine was a cheap supermarket brand so wasn't good. I used about 80g here?

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups (4 ½ oz/105g) chopped pecans don't know how many pecans I used...I just broke them in halves with my fingers and was pretty trigger happy

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt. Set aside.

**Put the flour first. Then the yeast at one side and the salt at the other. Salt will apparently deactivate the yeast if mixed directly together. Mix the flour in with the yeast; then the flour with the salt; then altogether.

2. In a separate jug, mix together the milk, honey, butter. Pop in the microwave and gently heat for a few seconds until the mix is lukewarm and the butter is melting. Once the butter has melted quickly whisk in the eggs until combined. You want to make sure the mix isn’t hot otherwise the eggs will cook.

I put the mixture in the microwave in about 30s increments until the butter almost completely melted (some solid chunks) then stirred it till it melted completely. I used my handy meat thermometer to make sure the temperature was about 45C *When you add the eggs they will decrease the temperature slightly.

3. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until it forms a dough and all the flour is mixed in. It only takes a minutes to mix the dough together.

This took me more than a few minutes and involved a step stool (I'm not tall) and some biceps. I used a rubber spatula. The moment the wet and dry ingredients mixed you could smell the yeast so I was happy it was being activated. I found that there was quite a bit of flour stuck to the bottom of the bowl not incorporating properly so just kept going at it.

4. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises for a minimum of 4 hours. After the 4 hours you can place it in the fridge for up to 4 days.

And boy did it rise! Luckily I oiled the cling wrap so it didn't stick. I was a bit worried the dough would stick to the bowl as the bowl wasn't oiled but it turned out ok. I did put it in the fridge overnight and rolled the dough out immediately from the fridge.

Forgot to take the before and after photo but this was what it looked like the morning after!

5. For the filling: Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, honey and cinnamon. Set aside.

As mentioned above, I think maple syrup would work better than honey and probably doesn't need as much sugar!

6. Using a 9-inch cake pan, with a spatula spread half the caramel mixture evenly over the bottom and all over the sides Scatter the pecans over the caramel mixture and set aside.

7. Dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the dough to a 1/8 -inch thick rectangle (around 20 inches long). As you roll out the dough, make sure there is enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface

I would add more flour to the surface just to make sure it doesn't stick while rolling the dough into a log. Also remember to flour the rolling pin! I tried to make a rectangle, I really did.

8. With the remaining caramel mixture evenly spread it over the rolled out dough leaving 1 inch around the edge of the dough without the filling.

I added pecans to the filling as well - would recommend. Breaks up the sweetness slightly.

9. Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log. Roll it over until its seam is underneath.

I rolled the dough toward me. So you should really try and make a rectangle because the edges turned out to have much less filling and were much smaller...but hey ho still edible don't worry too much

10. Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 2 ½ inch rolls (around 8/9 pieces). Arrange the rolls over the pecans in the prepared pan, so that the swirled cut edge is facing upward.

I didn't measure them. As you can see the ones at the end are smaller...but I was so happy at this stage! They actually look like cinnamon swirls!!!

11. Cover the tin with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour. During this time they will rise up to meet the tin and becoming bubbly.

I put the extra rolls into muffin tins but they are just not as good. I think the dough needs to stick together and bake before the magic happens.

Fatty bundles of joy ready to be baked after second proof

12. Once proofed, place the rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment, in case the caramel bubbles over.

Oh it bubbled over.

13. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and bake for roughly 40 minutes, or until golden brown and firm in the center.

I baked it for about 38mins and it was gloriousssss

14. While still hot, run a thin spatula around the outer edge of the pan to release the caramel rolls, and invert immediately onto a serving dish. If you let them set too long they will stick to the pan and will be difficult to turn out. Enjoy warm!

I have just halved the proportions and am waiting for the first proof of another batch of dough...will update if it works! Planning to make some kaya buns next. Kaya is a coconut pandan jam - sweet and yummy, best served with toast and butter - not easy to find in London. I had a bottle handmade and delivered by a friend. We've recently reconnected and her and her husband are doing some great things with food. Check her out @comeeatdinner

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine one way or another!

Nic x