Woodfired Cinnamon Buns
Woodfired cinnamon buns – just so soft and puffy that you want to rip into them as soon as they come out of the oven. The spicy aroma, the buttery dough and the sticky fingers – heaven on a plate!!
Here’s how we made ours –
Woodfired cinnamon buns – ingredients for dough
330g strong white flour
170g plain flour
75g caster sugar
10g quick acting yeast
10g fine seasalt
60g unsalted butter at room temperature
250ml milk
4 green cardamom pods
1 large egg
Woodfired cinnamon buns – ingredients for filling and topping
75g butter
50g caster sugar
3tsp ground cinnamon
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with a good pinch of salt)
Sugar nibs or granulated sugar to sprinkle over the top
Woodfired cinnamon buns – oven state
Baking dish buttered and lined on the base with baking parchment
Woodfired cinnamon buns – method
- Put the milk in a pan with the cardamom pods and bring to boiling point. Turn the heat off the milk, add the butter and let that melt. Let the milky liquid cool to blood temperature.
- In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
- Now add the egg and strain the buttery milk on top through a sieve to get rid of the cardamom pods.
- Mix everything together to form a soft, sticky dough. Tip the mixture onto the table and knead until smooth and springy. This mixture will definitely be sticky to start with but resist the temptation to add more flour. It will be smooth and just dry enough to handle easily by the end of the kneading.
The dough will be soft & sticky!
- Place into a bowl and leave to rise in a warm place covered with a plastic bag or tea towel or another smaller bowl until doubled in size. This may take up to two hours so be patient.
- Use a rolling pin to shape the dough into a rectangle 45x30cm on a floured surface.
- Warm the butter, caster sugar and the cinnamon for the filling in the oven. Mix it together and if it is runny let it thicken up slightly before using otherwise it will pour off the top of the dough.
- Brush the cinnamony butter over the surface of the doughy rectangle, leaving a margin at one of the long edges.
- Roll the dough up towards the uncovered edge of the dough and sit the seam at the bottom.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and put them in the prepared baking dish with the swirl of cinnamon butter showing upwards. Cover the dish and leave to rise for another 30-40 minutes until puffy.
Sprinkling the sugar nibs over the top
- Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle over some sugar.
- Bake in the oven until the buns are risen, a good golden brown and firming up – about 15-20 minutes.
- Eat warm with a good cup of coffee.
The finished buns straight from the oven!
Woodfired cinnamon buns – alternatives
Mix in some poppy seeds with the cinnamon butter
Finely grate the zest of a lemon into the dough at stage 2.
Leave out the cardamom pods if you don’t like the taste of cardamom