There are few things that are more delicious than warm, braided salted cinnamon buns straight out of the oven. Fluffy, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth yumminess. It’s hard to describe just how irresistible they are – they could just be the best thing you’ll ever bake!!!
You know when you order a warm cinnamon scroll at a cafe, and you can’t wait to get to the centre because that’s the soft fluffy bit? AKA, the best part of the scroll? Eating one of these braided salted cinnamon buns is like eating that soft fluffy bit – except it’s like that the whole way through.
These braided cinnamon buns are inspired by and adapted from the legendary French pastry chef Richard Bertinet’s recipe for cinnamon knots/buns. It’s incredible what a few basic ingredients, a bit of technique and patience can create. They really are something special!
Ingredients for these Braided Salted Cinnamon Buns
There are two main components to this recipe. There’s the dough and the salted cinnamon filling. There’s also a basic egg wash. All of these are made with a couple of basic pantry staples!
The Dough for the Cinnamon Buns
The dough itself requires plain flour, unsalted butter, yeast, eggs, milk, sugar, and some salt.
My recipe calls for active dry yeast. I just find it more convenient to use (and find) than fresh yeast. The milk is full-cream milk – with all that butter there is no point going skim! Plus you get the best flavour using full-cream.
The Salted Cinnamon Filling
The filling is a decadent mixture of unsalted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
The original Bertinet recipe doesn’t use salt, but I think the salt is what makes these cinnamon buns pop! Salt is a flavour enhancer, and so it brings out the flavour of the butter, sugar and cinnamon. I rarely make desserts without a pinch of salt for this very reason. Why do you think salted caramel tastes so good?!
Getting a good quality butter is my only word of advice. The taste and creaminess of the butter is going to affect the soft, flakey dough, as well as the the flavour of the filling. My favourite is Westgold grass-fed butter which you can easily find in Coles or Woolies.
In my opinion, grass-fed butter has a richer, creamier taste than regular butter. Plus, butter is a healthy saturated fat filled with fatty acids like stearic acid (it doesn’t raise total blood cholesterol!), conjugated linoleic acid (which may help protect against cancer), palmitic acid and more! It’s also full of vitamins and minerals like A, D, E and K (the fat-soluble vitamins), B12, and much more!
So don’t be alarmed by the huge amounts of butter in this recipe. If you have read about my food philosophy, I look at it as a health food! Dare I say it, the butter might just be the healthiest thing about these gorgeous cinnamon buns!
How to Make these Braided Salted Cinnamon Buns
Like I said before, besides basic pantry ingredients, all you need is patience and a tiny bit of technique. And by technique I mean you need to know how to do a basic plait or braid. That’s all!
Patience comes in while you let your buttery dough rise in a warm spot. Plus, there’s the patience it takes to not eat one of these straight out of a 200°C oven!
Make the Cinnamon Bun Dough
To start the dough, you just mix warm milk with sugar and yeast. This helps activate the yeast – which means the yeast cells are no longer dormant. When they’re active, they’re bubbly and foamy, and therefore ready to use!
The sugar helps to activate the yeast, and so does the warmth of the milk. That’s why many recipes add some sugar when activating yeast in a recipe! Yeast basically just needs a carbohydrate as its food source to activate or ‘wake up’.
So although you could use honey or just mix it with the flour and other ingredients, sugar just speeds up the process. And it’s a sure-fire way to make sure the yeast is still viable.
Once the yeast eats up the sugar, it produces carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is what makes dough rise! The warmth also helps activate it. Yeast needs a warm environment to become active, which is why we heat the milk slightly.
Once the yeast is active and bubbly, you make the dough by adding the yeast mixture to flour, eggs, salt, and butter. Knead with a stand-mixer for about 10 minutes, with the dough hook attachment.
Then you shape it into a ball, and let it rest in a warm spot until it doubles in size. That’s the activated yeast working it’s magic!
Make the Salted Cinnamon Filling
Meanwhile you make the salted cinnamon filling, which is just a beaten mixture of butter, cinnamon, sugar and salt. I just use the whisk attachment on my stand-mixer for this. But you could hand-whisk it too!
Roll out the Dough, Spread the Salted Cinnamon Filling, Cut into Strips
Then roll out the dough, spread the filling, and fold into thirds along the long edge. You will end up with a thin rectangle that has three layers. Then cut into individual strips – each strip is one cinnamon bun!
This recipe will make about 12, although the Bertinet version of the recipe says 24! If you decide to make 24, you’ll have to cut very thin strips and it all becomes a bit too finicky to work with in my experience. Cutting them thicker means you get larger buns at the end, and more fluffy goodness. That’s reason enough for me!
Make the Braided Shape of the Cinnamon Buns
You then cut each strip into three (leaving the top connected), make a braid/plait, and roll them up, like so!
Final Rise, then Bake!
Then leave them to rise again, and brush with a basic egg wash of egg and milk. Then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Voilà!
Finishing Touches
I’ve dusted these braided salted cinnamon buns with icing sugar, to make them extra beautiful!
But you could also brush them with a basic sugar glaze (made by simmering equal parts sugar and water). If you choose to brush them with the sugar glaze, make sure to do this while the buns are still hot! I don’t often brush them with a sugar glaze – I think they are sweet enough!
I just love eating them as they are. They’re utterly perfect as is, with a hot cup of tea or coffee for a little afternoon treat!
My favourite way to eat them is to rip them apart and tear off little strands while they’re warm – they will melt in your mouth.
I truly hope you enjoy this recipe! xxx
Braided Salted Cinnamon Buns
Description
These braided salted cinnamon buns are made from basic pantry ingredients, and are utterly irresistible! With a salted cinnamon and butter filling, they're soft, fluffy, and melt in your mouth - absolutely perfect.
Ingredients
For the Dough
For the Salted Cinnamon Filling
For the Egg Wash
Method
Make the Dough
-
Combine the warm milk, caster sugar, and yeast in a bowl, and mix. Set aside for 4-5 minutes until the yeast activates and becomes bubbly and foamy (see Note 1).
-
When the yeast is active, grab a large mixing bowl and combine the flour, eggs, salt, butter, and yeast mixture. With the dough hook attachment of your stand-mixer, knead for 2-3 minutes on a low speed, then for 8-10 minutes on a high speed. The dough is ready once it's smooth and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl (see Note 2).
-
Roll the dough into a ball and place into a floured bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 40-60 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen (see Note 3).
Make the Salted Cinnamon Filling
-
Make the salted cinnamon filling by beating brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt together. You can either do this in a stand-mixer with the whisk attachment, on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes, or whisk it by hand.
Make the Braided Shape, Final Rise, and Bake
-
-
Once the dough has doubled, roll it out on a floured surface into a large rectangular shape (roughly 50cm x 40cm). Spread the salted cinnamon filling over it, making sure to spread all the way to the edges. Fold into thirds, along the long side. With a sharp knife, cut into 12 individual long strips.
-
Cut each strip into three strands (but leave the top in tact), and form a braid. Roll up and place into a muffin tray. Repeat for all the strips. Cover, then leave to rise again in a warm spot for 45-60 minutes (see Note 4).
-
Preheat your oven to 200°C fan. Once the buns have risen, make the egg wash by beating the egg with milk, and then brush over each bun.
-
Place into the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cinnamon buns are a lovely golden brown. Allow to cool if dusting with icing sugar, otherwise, enjoy while warm!
Note
- Make sure your milk is not too hot - if it's too hot it can kill the yeast. You just want it to be slightly warmed. If the yeast does not become bubbly and foamy after 15 minutes or so, it might not be viable anymore and your dough won't rise. Make sure it's not past its expiry date when using!
- The dough should come away clean from the bowl. If you find it's still very soft and shaggy, you can knead it by hand a few times to help it come together. Be sure not to over-work the dough. Shape into a ball by using your hands to cup the bottom of the dough ball, and pulling it toward you.
- A warmer kitchen will make your dough rise quicker. A cooler kitchen will make it rise slower. I sometimes leave my dough by a sunny windowsill, on the balcony in the sun, or on top of my stove-top while the oven is running. This just helps speed up the process, especially on a cold day!
- The dough will not necessarily double at this stage, like it did the first time. I'm happy once they reach an extra 40-50% of their size when I pop them in the muffin tin! But even less than this is fine. It just depends on your patience, and the temperature of your kitchen. To speed up the process, place them in a warm spot.
