Interpreting a recipe

My sister has been waxing lyrical about the cinnamon buns from the Da Bara bakery in Cornwall (SW England). She dug around and found a recipe for them and gave it to me to try. She tried it herself too, Somewhat mixed results.

Here is the recipe copied from her note to me.

Makes 8

For the Buns

300 ml Whole Milk

50 gm Butter 

225 gm Plain Flour

200 gm Bread Flour

7 gm Fast Acting Yeast

60 gm Caster Sugar

1/2 t table salt

1 Egg, Beaten

For the Filling

75 gm Softened Butter

50 gm Light Brown Sugar

2 t Cinnamon

1/2 t salt 

2t Cinnamon

100 gm Caster Sugar

The first thing to notice is that the dough is going to be very sticky. Just the milk alone gives a ~72% hydration. Then add in the egg and the butter and we are up at almost 80%. That is going to be very hard to work by hand.

Method

Bring the milk to room temperature before mixing with the rest of the bun ingredients to form a strong, stretchy dough. Place in a bowl , cover with cling film and leave to prove for an hour

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured board and roll out to a rectangle of 35x25 cm

Beat the filling ingredients together and spread over the dough.

Preheat the oven to 190C (375 F) and line a muffin tin with baking parchment. Roll the dough tightly into a 35 cm cylinder and cut into 8 pieces. Place the buns into the lined tin and leave to rise for 45 minutes.

Bake the buns in the oven for 20-25 minutes until dark golden. Remove to a cooling rack.

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Toss each bun into the cinnamon/sugar mixture until coated.

There are so many issues here:

1. How will mixing develop enough gluten for the buns to gold together. Rich, we doughs typically need quite a long kneading time
2. An hour may not be enough rising time
3. Which oven shelf?
4. Lining a muffin tin? Not sure what this means at all. Could be individual muffins (a pain to line) or a larger baking pan lined with parchment
5. How might one do these for breakfast?
6. Are the buns tossed in the cinnamon/sugar while still hot?

So, I revised the method - keeping the ingredients the same.

Revised Method

Bring the milk and egg to room temperature (assuming the eggs have been in the fridge). Add the egg, sugar and yeast to the milk. Whisk gently until the egg is incorporated. Leave to stand for a few minutes while the yeast starts to become active. Note the fast acting yeasts can be added directly to the flour, but I prefer to hydrate them.

1. Place the flour and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and, use the paddle. Stirring slowly, add the milk/egg/sugar/yeast mixture until just incorporated. Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 15 minutes.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and add them one at a time while the dough hook is kneading the dough. A further 10 or so minutes.
3. Cover the dough with cling wrap and leave in a room temperature place, undisturbed for 1 couple of hours. Then transfer the dough to the fridge. Note it is much easier to roll out cold dough.
4. Line a baking tin with parchment paper
5. Tip the dough onto a floured board and roll out as specified above. 25x35 cm (10x14 inches). Cover with the cinnamon/sugar mixture and roll it up tightly.
6. Cut the roll across wise into 8 pieces.
7. Place the pieces into the pan so they are not touching
8. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight,
9. When ready to bake, turn the oven on to 375F.
10. Remove the buns from the fridge and allow to sit uncovered on the counter while the oven hears up (at least 25 minutes)
11. Bake the nuns on the middle rack until the internal temperature reaches 202F
12. Remove, toss in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and allow to cool.  

They came out well for a first effort. Maybe a bit lighter/airier than the real thing. But definitely good enough to build on from