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Fluffy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Fluffy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch with a super fluffy crumb that pulls apart in strands, thanks to adding the butter after the dough rests. Works with instant, active dry or fresh yeast.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Rising Time 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes
Servings: 6 large rolls
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 500 g bread flour (4 cups + 3 tbsp), or all-purpose flour; the rolls will rise a little less
  • 235 g milk (scant 1 cup), room temperature
  • 1 large egg about 50 g without the shell, room temperature
  • 75 g granulated sugar (⅓ cup + 2 tsp)
  • 7 g fine salt (1¼ tsp)
  • 70 g unsalted butter (5 tbsp), softened
  • 5.5 g instant yeast (1¾ tsp), or 7 g (1 packet, 2¼ tsp) active dry yeast, or 16 g fresh (cake) yeast
  • 5 g vanilla extract (1 tsp), optional
  • 100 g heavy cream (⅓ cup + 1½ tbsp), optional: for an extra soft dough, swap 90 g (⅓ cup + 2 tsp) of the milk for this cream
Filling
  • 90 g unsalted butter (6½ tbsp), softened
  • 130 g brown sugar (½ cup + 2 tbsp, packed), light or dark, or panela
  • 12 g ground cinnamon (1½ tbsp)
  • 1 pinch salt
For baking
  • 30 g heavy cream (2 tbsp), optional, to drizzle over the rolls before baking. Whipping cream in the UK; light cream works too
Frosting
  • 20 g cream cheese (1½ tbsp), room temperature
  • 40 g unsalted butter (3 tbsp), room temperature
  • 60 g powdered sugar (½ cup)
  • 30 g heavy cream (2 tbsp), optional but highly recommended; milk works too
  • 5 g vanilla extract (1 tsp), optional

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale Weighing gives the most reliable results
  • Stand mixer with dough hook Optional, it works by hand too
  • Rolling Pin
  • 8×12-inch (20×30 cm) pan or 9-inch (22 cm) round pan
  • Parchment paper
  • Pizza cutter or sharp knife
  • Instant-read thermometer Optional

Method
 

Make the dough
  1. Sort out your yeast first. If it's instant yeast, the easiest to use, you'll add it straight to the flour. If it's fresh yeast, crumble it into the room-temperature milk, stir well and use it right away, no resting needed. If it's active dry yeast (not instant), dissolve it in the milk too, but here's one VERY important detail: the milk has to be warm, around 35 to 40 °C (95 to 104 °F), not just room temperature. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, until foamy. Not sure which dry yeast you have? The package will tell you whether to proof it in liquid or mix it straight into the flour.
  2. In a bowl, combine the milk, egg and sugar. If you're using fresh or active dry yeast, it's already dissolved in the milk (see step 1). Whisk with a fork or whisk until evenly mixed. No need to overdo it.
  3. Add the flour and salt. By hand, add the flour gradually as you mix: start with a spatula and switch to your hands early. With a stand mixer, add it all at once and use the dough hook on low speed. If you're using instant yeast, add it now. You're not after a pretty dough here, just no dry flour left. As soon as there isn't any, stop.
    Mixing flour into the cinnamon roll dough until no dry flour is left
  4. Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes. During that time the flour hydrates and gluten starts forming on its own, without any kneading, and the dough becomes much easier to handle. If you're in a hurry you can skip it, it's not critical. But the next step will be harder.
  5. Now the butter, the fun part. You need the 70 g (5 tbsp), and it's key that it's soft but not melted: it should give when you press it with a finger. If it's hard, microwave it for 30 seconds on low power. If it melts, put it in the fridge for a few minutes until it's soft again.It goes in in thirds, and you don't add the next third until the previous one has completely disappeared into the dough.
    With a stand mixer: dough hook, low speed. Each third takes about 3 minutes to work in. Once it's all in, knead for 3 more minutes.
    By hand: put the first third on the dough and, with the heel of your hand, push the dough away from you, pressing it against the counter. Gather it, fold it over itself, turn it a little and repeat.At first it'll look like a disaster. The dough tears, slides and sticks everywhere. That's completely normal. Keep pushing and folding, and in a couple of minutes the butter disappears and the dough comes back together. Then add the second third, and then the last one. About 15 minutes in total.Two tips. If your hands are warm and the dough turns very greasy, run them under cold water and dry them before continuing. And if it's not coming together, put the dough in the fridge for a few minutes and try again.You'll know you're done when the dough is smooth, shiny and stretchy, and comes away from the counter almost on its own.
First rise
  1. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with a towel or plastic wrap.
    Cinnamon roll dough resting in a covered bowl
  2. Now let it grow by about 80%. At 25 °C (77 °F) that can take an hour and a half; at 18 °C (64 °F) it can take three hours. Go by volume, not by the clock: when it comes to fermentation, your kitchen temperature matters more than any time we give you.You can also let it rise in the fridge for up to 12 hours. In that case, when you take it out, still wait until it has grown by that 80% before moving on.
    Cinnamon roll dough after the first rise
Shape the rolls
  1. If you want shaping to be as easy as possible, chill the dough in the fridge for an hour. It's optional, but if you're not used to handling dough, it makes a big difference: cold dough rolls out without fighting back and doesn't stick.
  2. Make the filling. In a bowl, mix the 130 g (½ cup + 2 tbsp) of brown sugar, the 12 g (1½ tbsp) of cinnamon and the pinch of salt. Have the 90 g (6½ tbsp) of soft butter ready separately.
    Brown sugar, cinnamon and salt mixed for the cinnamon roll filling
  3. Prepare the pan. Any pan around 20×30 cm (8×12 inches), or a 22 cm (9-inch) round pan, works. Metal browns the bottom more; ceramic and glass give you softer edges. Line it with parchment paper and grease it, or just grease the pan. Parchment guarantees nothing sticks. Only have a 9×13-inch pan? It works too; the rolls will have a bit more room to spread and may bake slightly faster, so start checking at 30 minutes.
  4. Grease the counter with a very thin layer of neutral oil or butter. Just a little.
  5. Place the dough on it and stretch it with your hands and a rolling pin into a rectangle about ½ cm (¼ inch) thick, roughly 30×50 cm (12×20 inches).
  6. Spread the soft butter over the entire surface.
  7. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling on top, all the way to the edges.
    Cinnamon sugar filling sprinkled over buttered dough
  8. Cut into strips. We like long strips, because each roll gets more turns and the swirl is much more defined. Cut strips 4 to 5 cm (1½ to 2 inches) wide: a rectangular pan usually fits 6 large rolls; in a round pan we make 7, one in the center and 6 around it.Mark the strips first so they all come out the same, then cut them with a knife or a pizza cutter.
    Cutting the filled dough into long strips
  9. Roll each strip up into a spiral and place them in the pan, about 1 cm (⅜ inch) apart. They need that gap to grow and then join up in the oven.
    Rolling a strip of dough into a cinnamon roll spiral
Second rise
  1. Now the rolls need to rise again. At room temperature this takes 1 to 2 hours. They're ready when you press one with a finger and it leaves a light dent that doesn't fully spring back. Don't obsess over the exact point: if a couple of hours have passed and they're clearly puffy, you're good.You can also refrigerate them overnight, or freeze them. We explain both in detail below the recipe.
  2. When they're almost ready, preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F), conventional heat (top and bottom, no fan).
Bake
  1. Before they go in, brush or drizzle the rolls with the 30 g (2 tbsp) of cream. It's optional, but it makes them noticeably more tender: the cream soaks into the tops and the gaps between the rolls and acts as a barrier against dryness.
    Drizzling heavy cream over cinnamon rolls before baking
  2. Bake on the lower-middle rack, with no fan, at 180 °C (350 °F), for about 35 minutes, until lightly golden. If you have a thermometer, the center should read about 92 °C (198 °F).If your oven browns a lot on top, the rolls may brown outside before they're done inside. In that case, put an empty tray on the top rack, or cover them with foil halfway through.If your oven only has a fan setting, lower it to 160 °C (325 °F) and start checking at 30 minutes. We haven't tested it that way, so trust the thermometer.
Cream cheese frosting
  1. Technically you can eat them as they are. But the frosting brings them to life, and we tried quite a few formulas before settling on this one.Beat the cream cheese and butter, both at room temperature, by hand or with an electric mixer, until smooth and completely combined. Optional: add 5 g (1 tsp) of vanilla extract.
  2. Add the powdered sugar and keep beating until you have a smooth cream.
  3. Optional, but for us it's half the magic: add the cream (or milk, if that's what you have) and beat until smooth and slightly runny.Spread it over the rolls straight out of the oven, while they're hot. That way part of it melts and seeps into the cracks, and the rest stays on top. If you wait until they cool, it all sits on the surface, and it's not the same.

Notes

  • Cup measurements are approximate. For the most reliable results, use a kitchen scale.
  • If you use kosher salt, weigh it: brands vary a lot by volume.
  • Vanilla is optional. If you'd like to use it, here's our homemade vanilla extract with 2 ingredients.