Cinnamon Roll
 
Ingredients
Dough:
  • 3 cups (380g) all-purpose flour, divided plus more for kneading
  • 3 Tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 packet or 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast (not active dry yeast)
  • ½ cup (118g) water
  • ¼ cup (56g) milk
  • 3 Tablespoons salted butter
  • 1 large egg
Filling:
  • 3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • ⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Icing:
  • 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1-2 Tablespoons water or milk
Instructions
For Dough:
  1. In a large bowl, mix 2¼ cups (285g) flour(reserve the rest), sugar, salt, and yeast. Set aside.
  2. Heat the water, milk, and butter in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is about 115ºF. If it's too hot, let it sit for a few minutes. If it is too cool, zap it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time.
  3. Mix the butter mixture into the flour mixture.
  4. Add the egg and mix until it's almost completely combined.
  5. Add the reserved flour a little at a time until the dough is elastic enough for you to work with it with your hands. I needed the ¾ cup but you may need less or a bit more.
  6. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 4 minutes adding flour as needed so that it doesn't stick to your hands too much. I ended up adding in about ¼ cup more flour.
  7. Place in a bowl greased with non-stick spray, cover the bowl with a towel, and let sit for 10 minutes in a draft-free spot (like the microwave or oven ... turned off).
For the Filling:
  1. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon.
For Assembly:
  1. On the floured surface, roll the dough out into a 14 x 8 inch rectangle.
  2. Spread the melted butter over the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter.
  3. Roll the dough up tightly so that you have a 14 inch long log.
  4. Cut the log into 10-12 pieces.
  5. Place the rolls in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan and cover the rolls with aluminum foil shiny side down.
  6. Place the pan in a draft-free spot (like the microwave or oven ... turned off) and let the rolls rise for 1 - 1.5 hours. The rolls should puff up and double in size.*
  7. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  8. Take the aluminum foil off the pan and bake the rolls for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cover the rolls after 15 minutes with the aluminum foil so that the rolls don't brown too quickly.
For Icing:
  1. Mix the icing ingredients together until smooth. Add the extra 1 Tablespoon of water/milk if the icing is too thick.
  2. Drizzle the icing over the slightly cooled rolls. This icing recipe makes enough so that you can completely cover the tops with icing ... I tend to be a bit lighter on the icing so I don't use all of it.
Notes
* If they do not double, don't fret too much ... it probably means that you don't bake with yeast much in your kitchen. Yeast tends to rise better if you bake a lot with it because you build up the yeast spores in your kitchen. I have made these in a couple of kitchens... one with frequent yeast baking and another without much yeast activity. They rose beautifully in the yeast kitchen and just sort of ehh in the non-yeast kitchen. BUT they baked up well in both kitchens. The more important part is that you don't kill the yeast in step 2 of making the dough.
Recipe by Birch Tree Baking at https://www.birchtreebaking.com/cinnamon-rolls/