Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns
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Did you know that the first weekend in October is Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden? They celebrate by eating cinnamon buns and often those cute little Swedish dough twists are brought into workplaces and given to friends all over the country. This sounds like the most wonderful holiday and I’m ready to move to Sweden where I can live among my kind of people.
I discovered this because one of Martin’s players is from Sweden and this kind man brought IKEA cinnamon buns to work for everyone to celebrate. It was a Sunday afternoon and I got a text from Martin that said “Did you know it’s Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden?! We should make some tonight!” Side note: When Martin says “we” should make something, he mostly means I should make something so that he can eat something, but in all fairness, he washes dishes for me so I can’t complain. Anyway, it was already 4 pm and I am not a night baker, but I felt moved by the holiday and decided to go for it. I adapted one of my brioche recipes and made these sweet little buns. We baked off a few that night (for testing purposes, of course) and I let the rest do a little overnight proof in the fridge. Friends, they were beautiful. Their little Circus-bakery-esque twists were filled with cinnamon and tahini and cardamom. They were fluffy and pillowy and I brushed them with a honey cinnamon syrup and all was right with the world.
We may not have a National Cinnamon Bun Day (or maybe we do, there are so many food holidays, I can’t keep it straight), but December feels like unofficial Cinnamon Bun season which gives us permission to eat cinnamon-swirled dough of all shapes and sizes well into January.
In practical information, I have lots of notes on this recipe regarding proofing, chilling, and shaping. There are many options to help you work this recipe into your schedule, so be sure to read the notes at the bottom. There are also step-by-step shaping instructions down there, too! And as always, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. I love talking baking with friends. :)
Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns
makes 12 rolls
Ingredients
for the brioche
100 g (about 1/2 cup) milk
100 g (about 1/2 cup) buttermilk
14 g (3 tsp) active dry yeast
400 g all purpose flour
130 g spelt flour
60 g granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
113 g (1/2 cup) butter
for the filling
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
10 g tahini, well-stirred
135 g (2/3 cup) brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of salt
for the honey syrup
1/2 cup water
170 g (1/2 cup) honey
3 cinnamon sticks
egg wash
demerara sugar
Procedure
to make the honey syrup:
In a small saucepan, stir together water and honey. Add cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil. When the mixture is boiling, remove from heat and let cool completely. Strain out cinnamon sticks and set aside.
You will have a decent amount of syrup leftover- we love to use this in coffee in the mornings.
to make the filling:
Combine butter and tahini in a medium bowl and stir together until smooth. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt and mix well until a paste forms. Set aside.
to make the brioche
Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, for 6-7 minutes until butter is fragrant and foamy and small brown bits are beginning to appear at the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately transfer butter to a clean bowl to stop cooking. Set aside and let cool completely.
Combine milk and buttermilk in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 30-45 seconds, until just warm to the touch. Add yeast to the warm milk and stir gently. Let rest for about 5 minutes, until yeast is foamy and dissolved.
While the yeast is proofing, combine all purpose flour, spelt flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Mix briefly, about 20 seconds, just to combine.
In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs. Create a small well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in milk/yeast mixture, along with the beaten eggs and the cooled browned butter.. Knead, beginning on low speed and gradually increasing to medium for 2-3 minutes until everything is combined and hydrated and no flour bits remain. Once a dough begins to form, increase your mixer speed to medium-high and knead for 6–8 minutes more, until a smooth, elastic dough has formed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gently press dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1 hour in a warm space, until dough is doubled in size.
When the dough has completed it’s first proof, gently punch it down, re-cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour, or up to 12 (see notes below for more instruction on overnight proofing).
When the dough has finished chilling, turn it out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 13x16” in size and about 1/4” thick.
Filling and shaping: Use a small offset spatula to smear the filling mixture in an even layer over the surface of the dough, reaching all the way to the edges. Fold the dough into thirds, as if you were folding a letter (see pictures below) and then cut the dough into 1” strips. Twist each strip into a knot and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 2” in between each bun. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and let proof again for 45 minutes, until buns are puffy.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375° F. Brush each bun with egg wash and then sprinkle with a bit of Demerara sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes until buns are deeply golden brown. Immediately brush hot buns with honey syrup and enjoy!
Notes:
Options for chilling/proofing
As with any yeasted dough, refrigeration helps to slow down fermentation and allows for more flavor development. With enriched doughs, it also helps to make the dough easier to handle because it gives the butter a chance to cool down and return to a more solid state.
-For the quickest buns, follow the instructions exactly as they are written in the recipe above by proofing the dough for an hour at room temperature, then transferring it to the refrigerator to proof for another hour before rolling, shaping, final proofing (shaped), and baking.
-You can also proof the dough for an hour on the countertop and then transfer the the dough to the refrigerator overnight (or 12-18 hours). After a long chill, let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes-1 hour (just to take the chill off) before rolling, filling and shaping, following steps 8 and 9 in the recipe as written above. This method gives the dough the longest bulk fermentation and will allow for the most flavor development.
-Finally, a third option is to follow the above recipe through the shaping and filling. After creating your buns, you can cover the sheet tray well with plastic wrap and refrigerate them shaped overnight. Allow the dough to proof at room temperature for closer to 2 hours before baking (so that dough can come to room temperature and then complete that 45 minute proof), before brushing and baking.
Shaping
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