Buttermilk Cinnamon Buns

So, something kind of unprecedented happened in the writing/developing of this blog post, and although I want to share it with you, I am not sure if it will endear me to you, or kind of freak you out. But here goes: I consumed 8 buns of still-warm-from-the-oven, slightly gooey cinnamon buns, with a buttermilk glaze, just prior to sitting down at my desk to begin writing this post. Now, I say this was unprecedented not because it was the first time I ate just a wee bit/way too much of a treat I developed and intended to blog about. But instead, because the treat I was eating too much of was spectacular. Like over-the-top delicious and perfect. And you see, in the past, when I have consumed too much of a still-in-development sweet, it is because something about it is not over-the-top delicious and spectacular. Therefore, in order to determine what said un-perfect sweet needs, I keep nibbling and nibbling and nibbling.

This time? the sweet needed nothing and yet the nibbles were unstoppable. Now, how is it that I came to develop these most perfect of cinnamon buns? I thought you’d never ask. I’d been thinking about cinnamon buns for a while, and not only because my 10 and 11 year old roommates are quite partial to them. In fact, ever since developing my buttermilk parker house rolls, I’d had buns on the mind, as the rolls are soft, fluffy and buttery, and I was pretty confident that they would be fantastic rolled up with cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter, and covered with a thick, sweet, cinnamon glaze. (Spoiler alert: I wasn’t wrong.) I had never made yeasted cinnamon buns before (when I worked at Baked, although we made cinnamon buns each morning from a recipe similar to the Cooks Illustrated cinnamon buns. But no longer being saddled with yeast-phobia, I knew i wanted my buns to be of the rising variety and that my parker house roll recipe would be the perfect launching pad.

Despite the fact that I had the roll/bread component of the bun figured out, and the fact that the filling, assembling, and glazing of cinnamon buns is essentially the same the world-over, research was in order. I looked to Food Network and understood the ratio of filling to dough. But it was on food52, in a post written by the amazing Erin Mcdowell, that some cinnamon bun science was truly dropped. It was at food52 that I was motivated to add a bit of flour to my filling, to spread my filling to the edge of the dough (we never did that at Baked . . . not sure why), to leave plenty of room in the pan between buns (so that the center of the bun doesn’t rise up above the outer edges due to being squished) and to, under no uncertain terms, over-bake the buns.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I also gave my filling a rest before spreading it due to Erin’s post, and decided on an egg wash, rather than a heavy cream one, and was kind of partial to her oven temp, too. In short, Erin’s tips were game-changing and although I hope you will make my buns, I also hope that you will read her post. Word of caution: please make my buns when you have friends around with whom to share them. I think this will preclude you from falling into the “oops i ate all 8 buns” predicament that befell me.

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Buttermilk Cinnamon Buns

Recipe Author Jessie Sheehan

Course Dessert

Cuisine Cinnamon Buns

Servings 12

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon or so, as needed
• 1 1/2 cup bread flour
• 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 tbsp shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk plus one tablespoon or so, as needed
• 1 large egg room temperature

Filling

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

egg wash

• 1 large egg
• pinch kosher salt

Glaze

• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 4 to 6 tablespoons buttermilk

Instructions

To make the dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, combine the flours, yeast, sugar, salt, and starch, and mix until incorporated. On medium-low speed, add the butter, shortening, buttermilk, and egg, and continue to beat until a shaggy dough forms.
• Increase the speed to medium-high, and continue to beat the dough until a smooth mass forms that comes off the sides of the bowl and sticks only a bit to the bottom, about 7 to 9 minutes. If your dough is not sticking at all to the sides or bottom when you begin kneading it with the dough hook, add more buttermilk, a tablespoon at a time, and if it sticks too much, add a little flour.
• Remove the dough from the stand mixer bowl, grease the bowl with butter or spray, and then return the dough to it. Turn the dough ball over in the bowl to coat it in butter/spray, tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it has practically doubled in size. while it is rising, make the filling – it's nice to let the filling set and cool.

To make the filling

• Combine the butter with the rest of the filling ingredients and whisk until a spreadable paste forms. let rest so that the mixture cools.

To assemble

• Grease a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray or softened butter, and line with parchment.
• Once the dough has doubled, turn it out on to your work surface. Using your hands, roughly shape the dough into a rectangle (the long side of the rectangle should be closest to you) and roll it out until it is about 18×12-inches.
• Spread the filling in an even layer all the way to the edges of the dough. Begin rolling the rectangle up and away from you, into a long cylinder shape. Roll it as tightly and evenly as you can. Pinch the dough together along the seam.
• Using a sharp serrated knife, and a gentle sawing motion, cut the cylinder into twelve, 1 1/2-inch pieces and evenly place them in the prepared pan.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap, and set aside for about 30 to 45 minutes or until the buns rise to about 1 1/2 times their size. If you want to make these ahead and bake them in the morning, wrap the pans in plastic wrap at this point, and place in the fridge over night. In the morning allow the buns to have their second rise, and to grow to 1 1/2 times their size, about 1 1/2 hours. In a perfect world, the buns will be in the refrigerator for only 12 to 18(ish) hours.
• Once they have risen, make the egg wash by combining the egg and the salt. Brush the wash on the buns and place in the oven until the buns are nicely browned, about 20 minutes. Do not over bake them! While they are baking, make the glaze.
• To make the glaze, combine all of the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and fully incorporated.
• When the buns are done, transfer the buns from the oven to a cooling rack and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Spread the glaze evenly over the buns so it drips decoratively down the sides. Serve and eat immediately, while still warm.