This was a little project I undertook, with the intention to come up with an enriched sourdough that was light and soft, and could be adapted to make different recipes. This version for the most incredible cinnamon rolls. It's really not hard, just takes a bit of patience!
Dough:
Bakers Percentages (weight for 12 rolls as per tutorial)
100% (400g) strong plain flour
2% (8g) fine sea salt
15% (60g) golden caster sugar
45% (180g) active 100% hydration white starter
35% (140g) whole eggs
25% (100g) buttermilk
35% (140g) unsalted butter
Filling:
80-100g very soft unsalted butter
30g golden caster sugar
45g light muscovado sugar
6g ground cinnamon (approx. 2.5 tsp)
3-4g cornflour (approx. 1 heaped tsp)
Day 1:
Make the dough
Place all the dough ingredients except the butter into the bowl of your stand mixer, and briefly mix with the paddle attachment on a low speed to a shaggy mess, making sure all the flour is hydrated and there are no dry patches. A bit lumpy and spotty is fine.
Rest for 5-10 minutes whilst you get the butter out of the fridge, cube it and bring it to a cool but pliable consistency.
Mix the dough on a medium speed for a few minutes until it starts to look more elastic and come together more, working out the lumps and messy looking patches (4-5 minutes).
Now add the butter a few cubes at a time, waiting for each batch to get emulsified into the dough before adding more. Once all the butter is added and incorporated, mix the dough for a few more minutes, until it looks smooth, a little shiny and is starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl. It won’t be fully developed at this point so don’t worry if it’s not super stretchy.
Perform 1 stretch and fold, cover and leave at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. Repeat this until you have done a total of 4 stretches and folds.
Now leave the dough at room temperature for another 1-2 hours, to make a total of 3-4 hours at room temperature from the moment you mixed it (time depending on the ambient temperature).
Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Day 2:
Roll, fill and shape
Next morning, take your butter out well in advance (several hours) to soften for the filling. Mix the dry bits of the filling together too and set aside.
Once the butter is super soft, take the dough out of the fridge and, on a well floured surface, roll it out to a 40cm square. Now roll it along one edge to form a rectangle 40cm wide, however long as long as the dough is 4-5mm thick and no less. It should end up being about 40x50cm.
Spread the butter in a thin even layer across the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top. Roll the dough up along the longer edge, so that the 40cm edge defines the length of the roll you end up with.
Wrap in clingfilm and use the wrapping and rolling process to get your roll to the right length and thickness (42-45cm long and nice and tightly wrapped, see video for detailed instructions).
Refrigerate for 4-6 hours until nice and firm.
Now cut the roll into 12 even slices (approx. 3.5cm each) either with a super sharp knife or some sewing thread (see video). Set the rolls onto paper lines trays to prove.
3 options now:
Wrap and freeze for another time (in which case you will prove them at room temperature from frozen for 8-10 hours then bake)
Cover with oiled cling film, refrigerate overnight, then finish proving at room temperature in the morning for 2-3 hours before baking.
Cover with oiled cling film and prove at room temperature for 2.5-4 hours before baking (today).
In all the above cases you will be looking for visible growth and spongy/pillowy-ness of the dough, and you can do the finger indentation test to see the spring back (you want slow, minimal spring back, if it bounces back or feels very firm and cold, they need longer). Sticky caramelly liquid may seep out the bottom whilst they prove, this is totally normal.
Day 3:
Bake
Whilst the doughs are finishing their final proof at room temperature, preheat the oven to 200C for about 45 minutes so it’s nice and hot. When the buns are ready to bake, remove the cover and bake them at 200C for 18-20 minutes, you may need to turn the oven down to 180C halfway through if they are getting too dark in colour.
Once deep golden brown, nicely risen and baked through, remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack until they are just warm and cool enough to either eat, or ice.
If you wish to ice, just make a thicker than you think it needs to be mixture of water and icing sugar and drizzle over the buns (they can be a little warm when you do this, but not hot by any means).
