Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!
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These homemade cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy, and loaded with a sweet cinnamon-sugar swirl. Made with an enriched yeast dough, they require 15 minutes of hands-on prep, 20 to 25 minutes to bake, and a total of 3 hours of proving time.
Mastering enriched dough
The foundation of a spectacular cinnamon roll is an enriched yeast dough. Unlike regular bread dough, an enriched dough contains butter, milk, sugar, and an egg. This combination weakens the gluten strands slightly, resulting in a beautifully soft, tender, and cake-like crumb rather than a chewy texture.
The absolute golden rule when working with yeast is managing your liquid temperature. When you warm your full-fat milk, it must be lukewarm, roughly 38°c. If the milk is too cold, the yeast will stay dormant and your dough won’t rise. If it is piping hot, it will instantly kill the yeast, leaving you with flat, heavy bricks. Aim for a comfortable warm bath temperature before pouring it into your dry ingredients.
- Flour – I use strong white bread flour to provide the high levels of gluten required for this dough
- Yeast – I use dried active yeast – but you can use quick yeast (same amount) or fresh yeast (use 28g). Some yeasts need activating before use so check package instructions.
- Sugar – caster sugar provides the right texture and flavour profile for the dough, brown sugar is used later for the filling
- Butter – I always use unsalted block butter as you don’t want want to be salting this dough as it could react with the yeast, stunting it’s rising potential
- Milk – this must be full-fat milk as the high fat content is essential to provide the rise and texture we are looking for
- Vanilla – this will provide the sharpness and sweetness throughout the dough
- Egg – I use one large egg
The ultimate gooey cinnamon filling
To achieve that iconic molten, caramelized center, the balance of the filling is critical. I use a generous combination of softened or melted unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and a full two tablespoons of ground cinnamon.
Using light brown sugar instead of white caster sugar is essential here. The natural molasses content in brown sugar melts down beautifully into the butter during the bake, creating a dark, sticky, and deeply flavourful syrup that wraps around every single layer of the dough swirl.
Perfecting the topping and glaze
A traditional cinnamon roll is simply incomplete without a sweet finish. This recipe features a classic, thick vanilla icing sugar glaze that sinks into the warm crevices of the rolls right out of the oven.
However, if you want to elevate them to standard bakery style, you can easily transform this into a decadent cream cheese frosting. Simply beat 50g to 100g of full-fat block cream cheese into the icing sugar and butter mixture for a beautifully tangy contrast to the sweet cinnamon interior.
FAQs
Yes, this is a brilliant time-saver for a fresh morning breakfast. Follow the instructions right up until you place the cut rolls into your baking dish for their second prove. Instead of leaving them at room temperature, cover the dish tightly with cling film and pop it into the fridge overnight. The cold environment slows down the yeast. In the morning, bring the rolls back out to room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes to finish puffing up before baking as normal.
This usually happens if your milk was hot enough to kill the yeast, or if the room they were left to prove in was far too cold. Ensure your proving bowl is placed in a warm, draft-free spot, such as an airing cupboard or an oven that is turned off but has a bowl of boiling water placed at the bottom.
While a very sharp serrated knife works well, the ultimate baker’s trick is to use a piece of unscented dental floss or clean sewing thread. Slide the thread underneath the rolled dough log, cross the two ends over the top, and pull them tightly in opposite directions. It slices clean through the dough effortlessly without flattening the round shape of your rolls.
Yes, you can swap the full-fat milk for unsweetened almond, soy, or oat milk at a 1:1 ratio. Keep in mind that because alternative milks have a lower fat content, the dough may turn out slightly less rich, but it will still rise and bake beautifully.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!
Ingredients
The Dough
- 600 g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 14 g dried active yeast
- 75 g caster sugar
- 90 g unsalted butter
- 275 ml full fat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
The Filling
- 45 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 175 g light brown sugar
- 1-2 tbsps ground cinnamon
The Topping
- 300 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp water
Instructions
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, and add the caster sugar and yeast. Mix these together so its all evenly distributed.
- Rub the butter into the mixture so it resembles bread crumbs, like you would when making scones.
- Gently heat the milk until warm – but not piping hot. If heating in a pan, you want it to just about start having steam come out of the pan.
- Add the milk, vanilla, and egg to the dry ingredients.
- Knead the dough together for 7-10 minutes. It will be sticky at first, but it will soon come together. I use my KitchenAid with the dough hook to make this easier.
- Once kneaded, it will be springy to touch, and not sticky.
- Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the top of the bowl with cling film. Let it rise for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Whilst the bread is proving, whisk together the light brown sugar, and ground cinnamon for the filling. Leave to the side for now.
- Once the dough has risen, transfer to a lightly floured work surface, and roll out to a large rectangle. Mine ends up being about 50cmx30cm.
- You want it to be as even a rectangle as possible so its easier to roll up, and the dough can be thin here.
- Gently brush the surface with the 45g of melted butter, and then sprinkle over the sugar/cinnamon mix.
- Roll the dough from long side to long side, so that a ~long sausage~ is formed. Cut this evenly into 12 pieces.
- I cut the middle, and then the two halves into two more, and then each into three pieces to get my 12.
- Using a large rectangular baking dish, mine was 30cmx24cm roughly, put them in. They won’t touch yet, but you want four rows of three basically.
- Cover the dish with clingfilm, and let them rise for another hour or so. By the end, they should all touch.
- Towards the end of the dough rising, preheat the oven to 180ºc / 160ºc fan so that when its finished rising, you can put it straight in the oven.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.
- Leave to cool, and then make the icing. Simply whisk together the icing sugar, vanilla and water until a thick icing paste is formed, and then spread over the rolls.
- Enjoy by breaking apart and eating all the gooey cinnamon goodness.
Notes
- These are best on the day of eating, but will last covered for a couple of days.
- I use this KitcheAid Mixer
Storage and freezing
These homemade cinnamon rolls are undoubtedly at their absolute best when eaten warm on the day of baking, but they will keep incredibly well for up to two days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. To restore that fresh-from-the-oven texture on days two and three, simply pop an individual roll onto a plate and microwave it for 10 to 15 seconds to soften the dough and melt the cinnamon filling back down.
If you want to freeze your bakes, you can freeze the fully baked rolls (ideally un-iced) for up to three months by wrapping them tightly in cling film and foil; simply thaw them at room temperature and warm them in the oven for 5 minutes before glazing. Alternatively, you can freeze the raw dough rolls directly in their baking dish after cutting them; when you are ready to bake, let them defrost and complete their second rise overnight in the fridge before putting them straight into a hot oven the following morning.
Related recipes
This recipe is based quite a lot on my lemon & blueberry sweet rolls recipe, because I just love it so much. I’ve never had an issue when baking them, and I just adore the lemon and blueberry flavours… but the classic is cinnamon really.
I adore my baked cinnamon doughnuts recipe, because its warm and cinnamon-y, and these are just as good. A bit heavier admittedly because they are an actual dough, but still so cosy and warm. I realise it is now coming into spring and then summer, but I love cinnamon year round.
Hi,
I am looking forward to trying this recipe- can I substitute semi skimmed milk for full fat?
Thank you
Generally, I do only recommend full-fat for baking (in basically all recipes) but you can use it – sometimes semi-skimmed can split mixtures though x
Hello there! I was thinking of baking these but making
24 portions and making knots and then putting them in 2 x 12 cup muffin trays. Unfortunately they won’t both
fit in the oven on the same rack at the same time and I
Have ready that baking 2 trays on top of each other
may Result in the bread not rising properly as the air is not circulating as well as if there was one train the
Middle. Can I bake them at the same time? Or is best
To keep one in the fridge while the other is baking? I’m just getting confused as to the order on proving etc. any advise would be great thanks! Thinking of baking them today in case you get a chance to read this 🙂
I never ever baked cinamonrolls,i tryed this recipe,and it is unbeliveable good!!!!easy to make!i had just 1 pack of yeast but worked well. I am sure i will gain at least 2 kilograms,it is so deliciouse :)))Thanks and hugs from Hungary,Europe!❤
Would I be able to substitute the dry yeast for fresh yeast? If so what amount would you use x
Yes! You use double the weight for fresh yeast! x
as i can’t get hold of any dried yeast at the moment would fresh yeast be okay to use instead? if so, what quantity would i need to use? thanks x
Yes definitely!! I love baking with fresh yeast! You typically use double the weight when using fresh instead of dried! x
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, Jane!
My kids love cinnamon rolls but the recipe I had for them was a lot more work and a little bit erratic of outcome. This was a doddle – the house smells divine and the tray of rolls is absolutely scrumptious.
I only had semi skimmed milk but it worked just fine.
I think I’ll mix it up a little next time and add cardamon to the dough, like the cinnamon rolls I had in Norway.
THanks so much for sharing!
Ahh yay!! Cardamon rolls sounds SO tasty! I will 100% be trying that!! x
Hi Jane
My rolls are currently on their second prove but I don’t want to bake them right away. Will it affect the bake if I leave them on the counter for 2 hours (after they are done proving) before baking?
Thank you!
It can do – over proving can ruin a bread style bake! The two hours extra will be two hours more proving time. Once proved, I would put them in the fridge as this very much slows it down (such as the second prove can easily be done in the fridge overnight as it’s much slower!)
Hi Jane,
I just made these and they proved well both times, however when I baked they didn’t rise any more and have ended up quite stodgy. Any times on how to improve for next time?
Thank you!!
Hiya! Due to shortages in ingredients recently – did you substitute anything or make any changes? – otherwise, if they proved well it may just be your oven being on the wrong setting, or the ingredient problem!
Hi Jane,
I’m a huge fan of your recipes, you’re always my go to when hunting for something new to try!
Going to give these a go this weekend – just a few questions though..I was going to use my kitchen aid to knead the dough as well – which speed do you use? And will ‘easy bake’ yeast by Allinson work as well as the ‘dried active’ yeast?
Thank you 🙂 x
I replied to your other comment from three days ago!
I halved the recipe and still worked fantastically. Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi, just prepped these and now having the first rest. I’m wondering if I can add some sultanas sprinkled on with the sugar an cinnamon?
Yes definitely!
Made these yesterday and they are fantastic! The kitchen still smells incredible today! Took some over to our neighbours and they gave them 5-star reviews!!
Hi Jane,
Huge fan of your recipes, I love them! Your website is always my go to to find something yummy to make!
Going to give these a go at the weekend.
Just a few questions – when you knead your dough with your kitchen aid, what speed do you use? As I was going to use mine 🙂 And I’ve managed to get Allison- Easy bake yeast, will this work as well as the dried active yeast?
Thank you 🙂 x
Off the top of my head it’s about a medium speed?! And yes that yeast should work well!