Fluffy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

The softest, fluffiest homemade cinnamon roll recipe made with an easy enriched dough recipe. If you’re struggling with making homemade recipes, this recipe is fool-proof, with loads of tips and tricks to help you make the best cinnamon rolls you have tasted.

Cinnamon rolls are probably the most universally-loved dessert in the entire world. What’s not to love? They’re soft fluffy, cinnamon-y, and basically perfect.

Like everyone else, I have also been the biggest fan of the coveted Cinnabon rolls, and I have been trying to recreate them and make them better at home for months now.

Believe me, I have tried countless recipes and probably every cinnamon roll technique out there in the last few months, but nothing was cutting it for me. Most of the time, the cinnamon rolls turned out too dry, too bready, and not soft enough.

But finally, the day has come. I have nailed homemade cinnamon rolls, and dare I say it; I think they are better than the sacred Cinnabon! They’re so soft and gooey. I still cannot stop thinking about that center nugget of the roll; it literally melts in your mouth!

I am very excited to share this recipe with everyone cause the whole world deserves to try these epic cinnamon rolls.

Now if you think that making cinnamon rolls at home is an “expert baker job,” it’s really not. Quite honestly, there isn’t much technicality in making these rolls. Sure, there are a few important points, but as long as you take care of those few things, the recipe is very easy to follow.

To make your cinnamon roll-making experience smooth and simple, I am sharing all the tips and tricks I have learned from months of testing to help you make the best cinnamon rolls.

Let’s begin with the dough

The Dough

While most cinnamon rolls use a standard bread-making technique where all the ingredients are mixed and kneaded together, this recipe follows a slightly different method.

These cinnamon rolls are made with an enriched dough, which is a dough that has less than 20% fat content and uses other additional ingredients like milk and sugar to add to the richness.

The recipe uses 7 basic ingredients – butter, sugar, salt, eggs, flour, milk, and instant yeast, and it can be made with an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. If you have a stand mixer with a dough attachment, I highly recommend using it in the kneading step, as the dough takes some time to come together.

How to make the cinnamon roll dough

• First, cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Make sure the mixture is properly creamed together.
• Add the egg and mix for a minute until fully combined.
• Next, add the flour, warm milk, and instant yeast*, and mix gently with a wooden spoon or spatula. At this step, the dough will start to come together.
  *because this recipe uses instant yeast, there is no need to ferment it beforehand in sugar and milk. Instant yeast absorbs enough moisture during the mixing and kneading process to activate properly and does not require pre-fermentation.
• Now start kneading the dough by hand (or use the dough attachment if using a stand mixer). The dough will be very wet in the beginning, but as you knead it, it will come together and form a soft and smooth dough ball. Keep an extra 15-20 grams of flour handy in case your dough is still wet after kneading for 5-10 minutes.
• The final dough should be smooth and soft and not sticky at all. The entire kneading process will take up to 20 minutes by hand and 10 minutes with a machine.
• Test if the dough is ready by doing the windowpane test . Once it passes the window pane test, it’s time for the first rise.
• First rise: Oil a glass or metal bowl lightly, then place the dough ball in it and turn it around so that all sides are lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and rest it for 1.5 to 2 hours until it doubles in size. You can create an at-home-proofing box in your microwave by heating it empty for one minute and placing the dough for fermentation in it after it has been heated.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it out. Then lightly flour the kitchen surface (or roll out a baking paper) and transfer the dough to it. Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll out a rectangle roughly 14×12 inches in size. Make sure that the dough isn’t too thin; you want to keep it on the thicker side, approximately 2/3rd of an inch. The thickness will result in soft, fluffy buns.
• Spread a thin layer of room-temperature, soft butter on the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling on top.
• Rolling the dough: Start to roll the dough horizontally (breadth-wise) from the side facing towards you. Roll it slowly while tucking it in as you go. Make sure to keep the roll as tight as possible. Don’t worry if you did not get it right on the first try; you can open it and roll it again. Once rolled, make sure that the seam (where the two ends of the dough meet is at the bottom. If using baking paper underneath the dough, you can roll it around the dough to tighten it properly.

• Cutting the dough: Do not use a knife to cut the roll; the metal will squish and flatten the rolls. Instead, use a floss string to cut the rolls perfectly. First, mark the dough with roughly equal size, then place the floss string underneath the roll, making sure there is enough overhang on both sides. Bring the overhang up using both hands, then cross it across the dough roll the way you do while trying a string. This will cut the dough perfectly.

• Place the rolls in the baking tray you will be using to bake them, cover lightly with cling film, then let them ferment and rise for another 1.5 to 2 hours until doubled in size. At this step, you can also place the prepared rolls in the fridge instead of fermenting them and bake them one or two days later. Follow the make-ahead instructions in the recipe to prepare
• Once the rolls have risen and doubled in size, preheat the oven to 160-170 degrees Celsius and bake the cinnamon rolls for 15-20 mins until they are cooked. Do not let them brown, as that will toughen them.

• Take the rolls out of the oven, let them cool down for 10 minutes, then top with the cream cheese glaze while they are still warm. Let them cool down another 10 minutes before serving.

What Is The Windowpane Test?

The windowpane test, also known as the membrane test, is commonly used to test if a bread dough has been kneaded sufficiently. When kneading any bread dough, you are facilitating gluten formation and strengthening the gluten strands within the dough by mixing together the proteins found in flour and eggs with the hydration of milk. The strength of the gluten strands helps the bread dough rise and hold its shape.

An under-kneaded dough will have low gluten strength, which will result in a chewy, tough bread rather than a soft, fluffy one. To windowpane test indicates whether the gluten strands in the dough are strong enough or need to be kneaded and strengthened further.

Here is how to do the windowpane test on your cinnamon roll dough: Once you think the dough is ready, cut out a small piece of it and slowly start to stretch it with your fingers. Stretch the dough until it becomes paper thin and almost see-through.

• If the dough is able to stretch to a paper-thin level without breaking, it means that the gluten strands are strong enough and the dough is ready.
• If the dough breaks during the windowpane test, it means that the dough needs to be mixed further.

It’s difficult to overwork bread dough with regular home mixers, so if you have doubts, it’s always better to mix the dough a little further.

Make-Ahead Instructions

These cinnamon rolls can easily be made up to two days in advance and baked fresh just before serving. Basically, you can have fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast by doing zero work in the morning. Win-win!

Here’s how to make ahead these cinnamon rolls.

• Once the rolls have been cut, place them in the baking tray, and instead of fermenting them, cover and place them in the fridge.
• Take them out 3-4 hours before baking to help them ferment and rise until they double in size. Then bake as usual.

The Cream Cheese Glaze

No cinnamon roll is complete with that delicious sweet and salty cream cheese glaze, right? These buns are topped with a copycat Cinnabon glaze recipe that’s super simple to make.

All you need is – butter, cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla.

Here’s how to make the glaze.

• Whip together room-temperature butter and cream cheese until they are smooth, and the mixture has no lumps.
• Add the icing sugar and vanilla and whip until fully combined.
• Top the buns with the cream cheese glaze while the buns are still warm.

Tips For Making The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Here are a few tips that I have learned from months of testing that will help you make the best cinnamon rolls.

• Use instant yeast: This recipe uses instant yeast instead of active dry yeast. This is because active dry yeast has to be pre-fermented in water (this recipe does not use water). Instant yeast is easier to use and does not require pre-fermentation as it absorbs moisture quickly during the kneading process.
• Use warm milk: Make sure that the milk is warm (around 36 to 40 degrees Celsius). If it’s not warm, the yeast will not activate properly. If it’s too hot, the yeast will die and not activate at all.
• Kneading the dough: As this is an enriched dough, it requires quite a lot of kneading. The end result should be a smooth and soft dough ball. Make sure to do the windowpane test, and if you have any doubt, knead a little more because it’s very hard to over-knead a bread dough by hand. If you have a mixer with a dough attachment, use it!
• Use extra flour if needed: If the dough remains very wet even after 5-10 minutes while kneading, add extra flour, a little at a time. Make sure not to add more than 20-30 grams of extra flour. The dough starts out as very wet but comes together as you keep kneading it, so make sure to knead it for 5-10 minutes before adding the extra flour. The end result should not be sticky.
• Fermenting the dough: Make sure to ferment the dough in a relatively warm place. If your house always has air conditioning switched on, I would recommend placing it inside a warm place like a cupboard or the microwave. The fermentation time will vary depending on where you live, so keep an eye on the dough between the one to two-hour mark and let it rise until it doubles in size.
• Rolling the dough: When rolling the dough into a rectangle, use baking paper underneath to avoid the dough sticking to the surface. Lightly flour the rolling pin to avoid sticking to the dough. Make sure not to add too much flour during the rolling process, as the dough will not be sticky. Don’t roll the dough out too thin; keep the thickness to around 2/3rd inch. The thickness will make the cinnamon rolls fluffy and soft. If you roll out the dough too thin, the rolls will be hard and chewy instead.
• Forming the cinnamon roll: When rolling the dough into a cigar shape, make sure to keep the roll tight. If the roll does not seem tight, unravel it and roll it again.
• Cutting the cinnamon roll: Do not use a knife to cut the cinnamon rolls, as the metal will squish the dough. Instead, use an unflavored string of floss to cut it through swiftly. Alternatively, you can cut strips of the rectangle dough instead of rolling it into a cigar shape and roll each strip individually to form the cinnamon buns.
• Placing the cinnamon roll: When placing the cinnamon rolls in the baking tray before the second rise, make sure to leave some space between each roll, giving them space to rise as much as possible.
• Baking the cinnamon rolls: Bake the cinnamon rolls at 160 to 170 degrees Celsius and no higher. If your oven gets very hot, keep the temperature in the lower range. Bake the buns for 15 to 20 minutes only; no longer. The buns will look blonde, but that’s what we want. If they start to brown, the dough will toughen. You want them to be JUST cooked to get that soft, fluffy texture.

I know that’s a lot of information, but once you’ve understood how the dough works, you will be making cinnamon rolls every day. It’s really that simple!

Now that you’re equipped with all the necessary details let’s get started with the recipe.

PS: I always measure ingredients in grams, never in cups. Using a measuring scale is the only way to bake accurately. Cups are unreliable and can give different measurements, so I suggest you buy a measuring scale before you start baking! If you can’t get your hands on one, you can use the online tools for converting grams into cups; however, I do not guarantee their accuracy.

If you love cinnamon rolls, you must try this truly life-changing cinnamon recipe. You will not be able to stop making them!

If you give this recipe a try, let me know how you liked it in the comments. And, of course, share it with me on Instagram!

Until next time!