Last week I took a walk between classes and found myself at Sugar, a wonderful bakery/cafe up on Capitol Hill. I was in the mood for something sweet, so I bought a cinnamon brioche and took it back to school to nibble on while I studied. Yes, it's a glorified cinnamon roll. But at the same time, it's so much more. The pastry is richer and denser (hooray for butter and eggs), but at the same time is less sweet and somehow more grown up. The intense flavor comes from the molten cinnamon-sugar in between the layers. And it's finished with a simple glaze on top, not an inch thick layer of frosting. I was hooked.
I decided that I simply must figure out how to make them myself. A few years ago I learned that most of the ground cinnamon sold in the US is not actually cinnamon, but is instead ground cassia (for more info see the wiki). Since then I've been itching to try the real stuff and see what's actually better. What better excuse to go down to the spice market and get some real cinnamon than cinnamon brioch? As I mentioned in my previous post, I went down to World Spice and got some true cinnamon sticks and a spice grinder. True cinnamon is much lighter in color than cassia and smells oddly like red hots. True cinnamon in hand, it was time to look up brioche recipes.
After an exhaustive five minute google search I realized that all the recipes just call for inserting a brioche dough into a cinnamon roll recipe. Now, I've made brioche and I've made cinnamon rolls - how difficult could combining the two be? I went to my favorite book for all things bready, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and looked up both brioche and cinnamon buns. Rather handily, the section on cinnamon buns actually gave a suggested brioche recipe for making cinnamon brioche.
Start by making a sponge of 2.25oz of bread flour, 2 tsp of instant yeast, and 4oz of warm milk. Stir it until the flour has absorbed all the milk and then let it ferment for about 40 minutes (a little less if your kitchen is warm). Then put the sponge into the bowl of a standing mixer. With the paddle attatchment, add in five eggs.
In a separate bowl, mix together 13.75oz of bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1 heaping tsp of salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the eggy sponge until all the flour is incorporated. Once mixed, let the dough sit for five-ish minutes to rest. Then slowly add 1 c. of unsalted butter (roughly a quarter stick at a time), while mixing on med-low. Your life will be easier if the butter is nice and soft, but not liquidy. Continue mixing until everything is nice and homogenous.
Now the dough needs to be refridgerated overnight (or at least 12 hours). To make your life easier, before you refridgerate, shape the dough into a rough rectangle and put it on a piece of partchment on a sheet pan. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap. Then refridgerate.
The next day mix up some cinnamon-sugar, about 6 tbs sugar and 1 tbs cinnamon. Get out your dough. Flour a work surface, then flour the top of the dough, then flour your rolling pin, then flour your hands (noticing a trend yet? The dough is STICKY). Roll out the dough until it's a rectangle about 1/2 thick. Brush of an excess flour and then spread the cinnamon sugar in an even layer to cover the surface of the dough. Leave about half an inch at the top of the dough uncovered. This strip will help seal things when you roll the dough. Carefully roll the dough into a log, making sure the finished seam ends up on the bottom.
Cut the dough into 9-12 rolls. The easiest way to cut such tender dough without smooshing it is to use floss. Yes, unflavored waxed dental floss. Slip the floss under the log, cross the ends and pull. It slices perfectly through the log without smooshing the finished roll. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet (either on a silpat or a piece of partchement), leaving about an inch betweent the rolls and let them proof for about 90 minutes.
As the buns proof, preheat your oven to 350. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes, or until they're just golden. While the buns are still warm (but not blazing hot) top them with a simple glaze. I mixed about 6 tbs of powdered sugar, 1-2 tbs of milk, and a pinch of meringue powder into a loose paste and drizzled it on top of the buns.
I decided that I simply must figure out how to make them myself. A few years ago I learned that most of the ground cinnamon sold in the US is not actually cinnamon, but is instead ground cassia (for more info see the wiki). Since then I've been itching to try the real stuff and see what's actually better. What better excuse to go down to the spice market and get some real cinnamon than cinnamon brioch? As I mentioned in my previous post, I went down to World Spice and got some true cinnamon sticks and a spice grinder. True cinnamon is much lighter in color than cassia and smells oddly like red hots. True cinnamon in hand, it was time to look up brioche recipes.After an exhaustive five minute google search I realized that all the recipes just call for inserting a brioche dough into a cinnamon roll recipe. Now, I've made brioche and I've made cinnamon rolls - how difficult could combining the two be? I went to my favorite book for all things bready, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and looked up both brioche and cinnamon buns. Rather handily, the section on cinnamon buns actually gave a suggested brioche recipe for making cinnamon brioche.
Start by making a sponge of 2.25oz of bread flour, 2 tsp of instant yeast, and 4oz of warm milk. Stir it until the flour has absorbed all the milk and then let it ferment for about 40 minutes (a little less if your kitchen is warm). Then put the sponge into the bowl of a standing mixer. With the paddle attatchment, add in five eggs.
In a separate bowl, mix together 13.75oz of bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1 heaping tsp of salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the eggy sponge until all the flour is incorporated. Once mixed, let the dough sit for five-ish minutes to rest. Then slowly add 1 c. of unsalted butter (roughly a quarter stick at a time), while mixing on med-low. Your life will be easier if the butter is nice and soft, but not liquidy. Continue mixing until everything is nice and homogenous.
Now the dough needs to be refridgerated overnight (or at least 12 hours). To make your life easier, before you refridgerate, shape the dough into a rough rectangle and put it on a piece of partchment on a sheet pan. Mist the top of the dough with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap. Then refridgerate.
The next day mix up some cinnamon-sugar, about 6 tbs sugar and 1 tbs cinnamon. Get out your dough. Flour a work surface, then flour the top of the dough, then flour your rolling pin, then flour your hands (noticing a trend yet? The dough is STICKY). Roll out the dough until it's a rectangle about 1/2 thick. Brush of an excess flour and then spread the cinnamon sugar in an even layer to cover the surface of the dough. Leave about half an inch at the top of the dough uncovered. This strip will help seal things when you roll the dough. Carefully roll the dough into a log, making sure the finished seam ends up on the bottom.
Cut the dough into 9-12 rolls. The easiest way to cut such tender dough without smooshing it is to use floss. Yes, unflavored waxed dental floss. Slip the floss under the log, cross the ends and pull. It slices perfectly through the log without smooshing the finished roll. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet (either on a silpat or a piece of partchement), leaving about an inch betweent the rolls and let them proof for about 90 minutes.
As the buns proof, preheat your oven to 350. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes, or until they're just golden. While the buns are still warm (but not blazing hot) top them with a simple glaze. I mixed about 6 tbs of powdered sugar, 1-2 tbs of milk, and a pinch of meringue powder into a loose paste and drizzled it on top of the buns.
The cinnamon brioche were absolutely delicious...thank you again, Emily!
ReplyDeleteMmm... That looks amazing. *Drools on keyboard*
ReplyDelete