RECIPE: Cinnamon bread or rolls

The warm cinnamon spice in our cinnamon bread always reminds us of wintertime and Christmas. They are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee on a cold day.

This recipe is a yeast bread recipe. These yeast bread tips will ensure your cinnamon rolls are the prefect texture, lightness and a delicious flavour.

1. Always use a ‘strong’ flour or bread flour which is high in gluten. This gives the dough it’s chewy, bread-like texture
2. The temperature of the water used in bread making is very important – too cold and it will inhibit the yeast from working properly; too hot and it will kill the yeast. The best guide is that the water should be ‘body’ temperature
3. If you want a richer bread, the water can be replaced with other liquids such as milk or milk and eggs. Oils can also be added to improve texture and add flavour.
4. Most breads have two ‘rising’ periods. After mixing and kneading, the dough is left to rest in a warm place. This allows the yeats to give off carbon dioxide and the dough rises, usually doubling in size. After the dough has been shaped and is ready to go into the oven, it is given one more rise – this ensures a really good-textured, light bread.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups strong flour
¾ teaspoons salt
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons dried yeast or instant yeast
1 well beaten egg
1 cup lukewarm milk – a little extra may be needed
¼ cup rapeseed oil
2 tablespoons warm water
cinnamon and sugar for filling

METHOD

1. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons water (or if using instant yeast, omit this stage and mix directly into the flour and omit stage 6)
3. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm milk.
4. Add the oil to the milk mixture.
5. Add the lukewarm milk mixture slowly to the beaten eggs.
6. Add the egg and milk mixture to the dissolved yeast.
7. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and mix in well.
8. Then knead the mixture until it is smooth. If it is too sticky, add a little flour (only a small amount at a time), until the dough is easy to handle and is more pliable. If it is too dry, add a little more milk.
9. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk.
10. When the dough has doubled, knock back and shape as desired into a loaf or rolls.

For rolls use about half of batch and roll out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle generously with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Then roll the rectangle up tightly like a swiss roll. Using a very sharp knife, cut the roll into slices that will fit easily into a muffin tin. Place the slices in a clean, dry, greased muffin tin. This quantity should make about eight rolls.

For a loaf, roll the dough out into a rectangle that is about the same length as that of the tin. Again sprinkle with cinnamon and then roll up tightly and place in the greased loaf tin. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk before baking.

11. Allow the shaped bread to rise again until doubled in volume and then bake in oven at 400F or 200C for approximately 20 minutes for rolls and approximately 45 minutes for loaf or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
12. Remove rolls and bread from tin whilst warm and allow to cool on cooling rack.
13. If you wish to ice the rolls/bread, make a dropping consistency icing with a mixture of icing sugar and a small amount of boiled water. Spread on thinly.

You can learn to make our cinnamon bread rolls in our Bread Making class, our Level 2 Intermediate course and our Ultimate Baking course.

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Recipes