I LOVE Cinnamon Buns. But seriously, who doesn’t!

The little touch of malted flour in this recipe brings a subtle underlying flavour that many won’t be able to put their finger on, but it really is the difference between “yum” and “MMM YUM!”

This recipe is a variation of what we make in my American Bread Making Course and for this I’ve opted for quite a liquid vanilla icing, almost a glaze more than an icing and it is essential that you drizzle it over while its hot. That way it’ll set up nicely and bring a little crunch to the top.

Oh, and here’s a tip: In my oven I have a baking stone that lives there permanently on the middle shelf. If you slide your tray of cinnamon buns onto a hot stone to bake, the sugar and butter will caramelise on the underside making the bottom of your buns super chewy!

Malted Cinnamon Buns

This recipe will make 12 buns

Difficulty

Easy

4.5 hours

Ingredients

For the dough

275g      Strong White Bread Flour

100g       Malted Wheat Flour

5g           Salt

50g         Caster Sugar

20g         Fresh Yeast

175g      Room Temperature Milk

1              Medium Egg

35g         Room Temperature Butter

For the filling

75g         Soft Butter

100g       Soft Brown Sugar

1Tbsp    Cinnamon

For the icing

150g       Icing Sugar

30g         Water

2g           Vanilla Extract

Method

1.       Weigh your two flours, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl, mix them together. Add the butter in pieces and the egg.

2.       Weigh milk into a jug and your yeast too. Mix to soften the yeast.

3.       Pour your liquid into the dry mixture and bring everything together into a dough.

4.       Knead your dough well for 8-10 minutes. Then, shape it into a ball, place it back into the bowl to rest with a cloth on top for 90 minutes.

5.       While you are waiting you can prepare your filling. First make sure the butter is spreadable, then in a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Line your tray with parchment paper.

6.       When your dough has rested and risen, turn it out of the bowl and roll it out into a large landscape rectangle around about 45cm by 30cm. You may need a little flour to dust with so that it doesn’t stick.

7.       Now, spread all over with your butter, right to the edges, and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture all over stopping just 2cm shy of the top edge.

8.       Starting from the side closest to you roll up the dough into a sausage. When you get to the top edge, you can use that buttery edge to stick.

9.       With a scraper mark out twelve lines where you will cut your sausage. Slide a piece of cotton underneath the dough, bring it up round the sides, cross the ends over and pull to “snip” the dough into rounds.

10.   Arrange your buns on the tray with a space in between each to give them room to rise up and touch one another.

11.   Let them rest for 60-90 minutes until they have risen nicely. At some point during this time, preheat the oven to 170°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. With a shelf in the middle and deep roasting tray on the oven floor. Half fill a kettle with water.

12.   Boil the kettle. Put the cinnamon buns onto the oven shelf, carefully pour the hot water into the tray below, and close the oven door. Bake your buns for 25-30 minutes and while they are baking, mix up your icing. Remove the hot buns from the oven and drizzle all over with the icing while they are still hot. Eat as soon as they are cool enough!