Cinnamon Roll Dough

Cinnamon Roll Dough - Jan/Feb Bake from Scratch 2017

If there were one go-with-the-flow dough, this would be it. Customize this adaptable dough to your personal preference. Simple yet forgiving, this one will become a staple in your recipe box.

 

Cinnamon Roll Dough
 
Makes dough for 10 to 12 rolls, 12 jumbo individual rolls, or 1 (9-inch) twist
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (240 grams) warm whole milk (105°F/40°C to 110°F /43°C), divided
  • 1 (0.25-ounce) package active dry yeast
  • ⅓ cup (76 grams) unsalted butter, melted
  • ⅓ cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (60 grams) sour cream
  • 1 large egg (50 grams)
  • 4 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour, divided
  • 1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, combine ¾ cup (180 grams) warm milk and yeast. Let stand until mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together melted butter, sugar, sour cream, egg, and remaining ¼ cup (60 grams) milk.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together 3⅔ cups (459 grams) flour and salt. Stir half of flour mixture into butter mixture. With mixer on low speed, add yeast mixture, beating just until combined. Beat in remaining flour mixture. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Beat at medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Add remaining ⅓ cup (42 grams) flour, if needed (dough should not be sticky).
  4. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Loosely cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (75°F/24°C) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

 

 

 

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16 COMMENTS

    • Hi! Although the cinnamon buns will be best made day of, the dough can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Follow as directed up until step 4, slice and place into prepared pan. Instead of rising a second time, cover and refrigerate overnight or until ready to use. An hour and a half before you are ready to bake the rolls, remove them from the refrigerator and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (75°F/24°C) until puffed and rolls are touching. Continue as directed.

  1. This recipe did not include enough information to ensure the yeast activated. I used this as my first EVER recipe using Yeast and didn’t realize you had to agitate the milk/yeast mixture AND cover it to ensure the temperature of the milk did not drop too much.
    I had to scrap my first batch, watch youtube, and start over. My second batch turned out better. Cook times definitely vary, mine needed almost 30 minutes at 350. Added Vanilla to the frosting, but otherwise fairly easy to make for bread novice.

    • Hi Melissa, we’re sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you the first time. We’d love to help figure out what went wrong. It shouldn’t be necessary to cover your milk and yeast for it to activate (our recipe developers tested this recipe without covering at this stage). We do recommend that you make sure that your milk is at the appropriate temperature (105°F to 110°F) when you combine it with the yeast, and that your kitchen is not too cold (75°F is our recommendation for optimum rising). If the milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast, and if it is too cold, the activation and rising of your dough takes much longer. As for agitating the mixture, you should only need to stir the milk and yeast to combine.

      We’re glad your second batch turned out better and that you’re jumping into using yeast! We have plenty of yeast bread recipes to help you continue to familiarize yourself with using it. Let us know if you have any questions!

    • Hey Elisa,

      Thanks for reaching out. After talking with our test kitchen, they have a few notes for you. While using instant dry yeast would reduce the rise time by about half, the dough will be slightly different. It will be more tacky due to the nature of the yeast. With this slight change in chemistry, we can’t promise that the cinnamon buns will come out the way they look in the photos. We would suggest you err on the side of caution and stick with active dry yeast. We hope this has been helpful. Happy baking!

  2. Hi just wanted to thank you for the recipes. I have never made cinnamon rolls before or any yeast breads before I made these cinnamon rolls and they came out perfect my family loved them.

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