cinnamon buns – fresh from the oven

Recently I came across some delicious looking saffron buns, baked as part of the Fresh from the Oven Challenge! Now I knew the only way I was going to have one of these buns was to bake them myself and with some home-made Doughnut Peach Conserve in the fridge… how could I resist! When it comes to bread making there is no greater pleasure than the smell and taste of bread fresh from the oven… Irish soda bread is baked quite often in our house!

Sally from My Custard Pie had set the challenge and the full recipe and instructions for saffron buns will be found on her blog!  As cinnamon is a favourite with everyone in our family I decided to forgo the saffron for another time! I did follow Sally’s recipe and method and the only changes I made were as follows:

• Omitted the saffron and replaced with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon which was sieved in with the flour and salt
• Used light brown muscovado sugar instead of golden caster sugar
• Used salted butter instead of unsalted
• Used 1/4 teaspoon of salt instead of 1/2 teaspoon

When it came to adding the water to the dry ingredients I needed a little more than the 100ml of water suggested… depends on the brand and type of flour used, so maybe keep this in mind!

The kitchen was a bit on the warm side so when it came to rubbing the butter into the flour I opted to use a pastry blender which is a handy kitchen tool to have, especially if you have warm hands.

Kneading bread dough is a very therapeutic process (one that I love), but this time I decided to use the dough hook on a stand mixer, making the process of kneading the dough a breeze!

Rather than placing all the pieces of dough on a baking tray to prove, I placed them into small lightly oiled baking tins… giving them a different shape when baked, which of course is completely optional.

The dough took longer than one hour to prove and I did find by moving the dough to a much warmer area of the house gave the dough a better rise! The cinnamon buns were baked in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Serve warm with butter and preserves.

You could also try to make a really easy Uncooked Raspberry Jam which would be very delicious with these cinnamon buns or other home-made breads!