No Knead Cinnamon Rolls
Hey hey! This is Ryan stepping in for another guest entry! You might remember me from such Sum of All Sweets articles as Stovetop Mac and Cheese! But today we’re going to stay true to the blog’s title and focus on dessert! Specifically, we’re going to be making no knead cinnamon rolls.
Dough for No Knead Cinnamon Rolls
Rachel covered a great deal of material on making bread when she shared Chef Gena’s classic focaccia recipe, so I highly recommend you check that out when you have some time! But for now, here are some pointers for making no knead cinnamon rolls.
1./ Schedule lots of time
If you don’t have access to a mixer with a dough hook, time is going to be your best friend. Count on this process taking at least two days. Lower your stress levels by starting early and revisiting your work throughout the day.
2./ Develop that gluten
With most desserts like cakes and cookies, you try to limit how much you handle your product to avoid overdeveloping the gluten and making it tough. With yeasted bread, don’t sweat that stuff–you want gluten development! So give that dough a good handling!
3./ NO BENCH FLOUR
When I used to think about bread bakers, I’d picture someone kneading a big lump of dough into a big pillowy pile of pure white flour! Relatedly, when I first started making cinnamon rolls, I was frustrated because mine were crunchy and tough–not soft and delicate like you’d expect. The reason is because of the bench flour! Use none if possible, but if you can’t handle how sticky your dough is, use the absolute minimum!
4./ Stretch and fold
Going back to that vision of a baker kneading dough, you often pictures them flipping and punching the dough and being really aggressive with it–and that’s fine. You’re welcome to do that if you need a workout (the gyms are all closed as I’m writing this, so it might not be a bad idea!) But these are no knead cinnamon rolls! Stretch the dough out as much as it’ll allow without tearing, and then fold it in thirds. Do that three or four times, then form it back into a ball and set it to rest for an hour. Repeat until your dough is nice and stretchy and soft!
5./ Sliiiiiiightly underbake them
I have a confession to make. I baked my cinnamon rolls pretty dark because they’re more photogenic that way. But as a result, they came out crunchier than I would’ve liked as a result. If you slightly underbake these you’ll find that they’re more tender and soft! (If you do bake them to the point of brownness, they’re not ruined! Cover them in tinfoil and let them sit outside the oven for about 30 minutes and they’ll soften!)
The Filling
There are two schools of thought on making the filling for a cinnamon roll. One is to cream the ingredients together into a paste that you smear inside the dough. It makes for a uniform, reliable product and less of your filling leaks out.
The downside is it makes more dishes to wash, so I go with the second option. Here, you’ll whisk the sugar and cinnamon together, brush down the interior with melted butter, and spread the filling out evenly. You can choose either option–the results are more or less the same if you’re careful to spread the filling evenly.
Rolling Rolling Rolling
For this stage it’s easier to see a video of the rolling in action, but here are some tips: 1./ Start squared off. You can’t roll a trapezoid evenly! 2./ Be patient, take your time and keep it even. 3./ Don’t panic. If it starts going sideways on you, press on. Once they’re cut, they’ll look good and taste better, I promise! 4./ Let the roll rest seam-side down.
Don’t rush to cut your log into rolls! Cover it in plastic and put it in the fridge! There’s a lot of butter in there, and once it’s cold the rolls will be easier to cut evenly. Once they’re cut, pan them up, cover them in plastic, and let them sit in the fridge overnight so you can bake them in the morning!
After baking, I covered mine in a simple cream cheese frosting (see below) but you can cover them in whatever you like! Honey is always a winner, but you can’t go wrong with simple icing, cake frosting, or even fruit preserves or jams!
What do you call these no knead cinnamon buns? Cinnamon ROLLS? Cinnamon BUNS? Sticky Buns? We want to hear from you! Drop your preference in the comments below!
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No Knead Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g AP Flour
- 20 g Yeast
- 75 g Sugar
- 10 g Salt
- 200 g Milk
- 1 Egg
- 75 g Melted Butter
Filling
- 8 oz brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- 2 Teaspoons Allspice
- 4 oz Butter (melted)
Icing
- 500 g Powdered Sugar
- 1 stick Soft Butter (not melted)
- 1 package Cream Cheese (softened)
- dash salt
- Heavy Cream (see below)
Instructions
Dough
- NIGHT BEFORE: Combine ingredients until flour is hydrated. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes
- Remove dough ball from bowl (will be shaggy and rough). Stretch as far as dough will allow and fold into thirds. Repeat 3-5 times. Roll back into ball and return to bowl. Cover and let rest for 1 hourRepeat 3-4 times until dough is shiny, flexible, and doesn't tear when stretched.
- Using hands. press into an even rectangle. Finish with rolling pin until dough is between 1/2 and 1/4 inch thick.
Filling
- Whisk filling ingredients (minus butter) together
- Brush down dough with melted butter. Reserve any remaining butter. Sprinkle filling evenly over melted butter. Drizzle remaining melted butter (if any) over top. Allow to sit for 2-5 minutes so filling can hydrate
- Roll dough into even log. Place seam-side down on a cutting board, cover in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, ideally an hour.
- Trim edges and cut into even slices, 1-2 inches. Thinner slices will yield 16 rolls
- Place in parchment-lined baking pan with at least 1 inch of space between rolls. Cover in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
- NEXT MORNING: Allow to sit in a turned off often for at least an hour so they can warm and bench proof
- Remove from oven and preheat to 350. Bake for roughly 30 minutes or until puffy and set, but not overly brown
- Remove from oven and cover with tin foil. Allow to sit until cool.
Icing
- Beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar in four batches until fluffy and soft.
- Add heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until icing reaches desired consistency (more for drizzling, less for more of a spreadable frosting).
- Cover cinnamon rolls in icing and serve!
I havent tried this recipe yet but am excited to try it!!
I hope you give it a try soon, and let us know how it goes! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Yum wanna try this one!
I hope you’ll let us know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Ooh.. i think this is next on my list once im bake to cooking again!
Thanks for stopping by, we hope you enjoy them!