The best cinnamon rolls, in my humble opinion, are ultra-soft, fluffy, and pull-apart tender. The foolproof way to get that texture (and have it last for days) is to use a tangzhong—a hydrated flour slurry not unlike a roux. Bread made with tangzhong is more tender because the starches in the flour are pre-gelatinzed with hot water and milk, allowing your dough to absorb and preserve more liquid during kneading and baking. Adding a tangzhong could not be simpler: it takes about three minutes and only dirties one extra dish—and the results are well worth the trouble. Once you’re sold, try it in other breads that are best when extra-soft, like dinner rolls, Portuguese sweet bread, and Japanese milk bread.
Time: 3 hrs
Active Time: 1 hr
Makes: 12 rolls
Drink: Sparkling rosé
FOR THE ROLLS
FOR THE FILLING
FOR THE FROSTING
Make your dough
Make tangzhong
In a small pot, add ingredients for the tangzhong. Whisk until no lumps remain.
Place pot over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pot. This takes about two minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Mix dough; let rest for 20 minutes
Add all your dough ingredients, including the cooled tangzhong, to a large bowl. Mix with a dough hook or a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together. It will be sticky.
Let dough rest for 20 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate. This will make the dough easier to work with in the next step.
Knead; let rest 60–90 minutes
After it has rested for 20 minutes, knead the dough for about 5 minutes, either by hand or with a dough hook. If you knead it by hand, coat your hands and work surface with a bit of olive oil (instead of flour) to prevent sticking.
Shape your dough into a smooth ball and place in a large, lightly oiled boil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 60–90 minutes somewhere warm and dark.
Make coulis
Combine rhubarb, sugar, water, and vanilla bean in a small pot; cook on medium heat until the rhubarb starts to soften, about five minutes.
Remove the chunks of rhubarb with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl. Continue cooking the syrup for another 5 minutes to thicken and concentrate the rhubarb flavor.
Add the syrup back to the chunks of rhubarb in a bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Purée
Blend until smooth in a food processor or blender, or using an immersion blender. Set aside or reserve in the fridge.
Make rolls
Lightly grease a 9”x13” baking pan
Use butter, cooking spray, or a neutral oil to lightly grease your baking pan. Set it next to your work surface.
Deflate dough; shape into a rectangle
Gently deflate your dough and shape it into an 18" x 8" rectangle. (Use a ruler or a yardstick if you’re bad at eyeballing, like I am. The dimensions matter if you want to make 12 rolls of relatively uniform size.)
Combine cinnamon and cardamom; sprinkle over the dough
In a small bowl, combine your cinnamon and cardamom until evenly dispersed. Sprinkle the mixture as evenly as you can over the dough. (You can also just mix the cinnamon and cardamom into your coulis and spread it all on at once in step 8. The only reason we keep them separate here is because the cinnamon turns your pink coulis brown.)
Spoon all of the coulis over the dough
Leave a 1/2-inch border with no coulis—when you roll them the coulis will smoosh up; this prevents overflowing.
Roll ’er up
Starting with the long end, gently roll as tightly as you can, working with your fingertips to lift the dough up and over the coulis with each layer, so you don’t squish it all out to the perimeter. When you get to the last roll, gently pick up the far end and bring it toward you to seal up the rolls. Press gently with your fingertips to close the seam.
Use a pastry cutter or a big knife to slice off the uneven ends, just at the very tip so you don’t lose too much dough. (And eat the raw dough, duh.)
Cut into 12 rolls and place into the baking pan
Tuck the seam side down, and use a bench scraper or a big knife to cut into 12 rolls, about 1.5” each. The dough is super tender and this step is messy—use the edge of your bench scraper or knife to move the rolls from your work surface to the baking pan.
Space them our evenly. There will be a couple inches of space between your rolls—don’t worry, they’ll rise.
At this point you can wrap the pan in plastic wrap and reserve in the fridge or freezer until later, or forge ahead.
Let rise 60 minutes
Let your rolls rise at room temperature, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for 60 minutes, or until they’re puffed up and crowding each other. If your room is cold, turn the oven on low heat and place the pan on top of the oven—they’ll rise best when warm and cozy.
NOTE: If you reserved them in the fridge or freezer, this will take longer. Allow up to 90 minutes for fridge-temp buns, or a few hours for frozen buns. (If you’re freezing them it is best to move them to the fridge the night before you want to eat them, then take them out and let rise at room temp before baking.)
Bake 25–30 minutes in 350-degree oven
Place a rack in the bottom third. It’s better to undercook these babies than to overcook them, so pull them out when they’re just starting to brown—it’s fine if they’re a bit pale. The internal temp should be around 190 F.
Make frosting
Combine ingredients, mix
While your buns cook, add cream cheese, butter, and confectioner‘s sugar to a large bowl. Beat using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, a hand beater, or a stiff wire whisk.
Add milk one teaspoon at a time to reach desired consistency. It should be pretty stiff—I only add one teaspoon. It’ll melt when added to the warm buns.
Set the frosting aside. You won’t need all of it—reserve any extra in a plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
The grand finale
Remove the pan from the oven; let cool for 5–10 minutes. Turn your pan upside down with your hand below it—the rolls should come right out as one big sheet. Turn right-side-up and place the whole thing on a wire rack.
NOTE: If you prefer, you can serve them directly in the pan. Just be sure to remove any leftover buns and reserve them in a bag or Tupperware, instead of in the pan. This prevents them from getting soggy.
Slather with frosting
Frost those bun babies to your liking—some of the frosting will melt into the nooks and crannies. This is a very good thing.
Serve warm
Reserve any extra buns in a large plastic bag or tupperware at room temp for up to three days. They’ll stay super soft.
