No Knead Cinnamon Rolls

By popular demand, it had to be done – the magic Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls have now been transformed into these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls!!! Soft and fluffy with a cream cheese glaze, these will change your life. No kneading, no stand mixer, no overnight rise. You’re welcome / I’m sorry….

I’m apologising for sharing these for a number of reasons. I’m sorry to all those trying to be healthy. (Me, me!) I’m sorry to everyone trying to cut down of their carb intake. (Me, me!)

I’m sorry to everyone who makes these once and are harassed to make them again and again…..

I actually wasn’t sure if I would ever share this. I had quite an astonishing number of messages here and on Facebook asking if the No Knead Dinner Rolls could be used to make cinnamon rolls. The concept sounded quite easy – just use the same dough but add a bit more flour so it was rollable into a large rectangle that could be slathered with butter and cinnamon sugar, then rolled up and cut.

The problem I kept running into – the 2 rolls in the middle of the tray just wouldn’t cook through properly. They looked cooked, but as soon as I bit into it, it was undeniably doughy.

Batches later… the answer was so simple. I ran out of bread flour and used normal flour.

Boom. It worked. Duh! Head smack! No-knead dough is more fragile than kneaded dough and bread flour makes buns slightly lighter and more tender. When you add that heavy butter / sugar slather, it weighs down the dough and adds too much moisture for the dough to rise and cook through properly.

Switch to plain / all purpose flour = slightly sturdier dough = sturdier (but still soft!) buns = fully cooked through.

Phew!

This No Knead Cinnamon Rolls recipe is also surprisingly forgiving. I’ve been amazed – you’ll see in the video that the dough looks even looser than the photos above. I’ve added flour and water right at the end to adjust the dough when it looked too thin / thick, I forgot sugar once and added that in after the 1st rise. Same result every time – couldn’t tell the difference.

As for kneaded vs no knead dough – here’s the truth. Kneaded dough makes a better bread. If that weren’t a fact, millions of bakeries around the world would be ditching their mixers. The bread is slightly more tender and keeps slightly better.

But the operative word here is slightly. The sheer convenience of this no knead recipe outweighs the small difference, and opens up a new world of possibilities for people who don’t have a stand mixer nor are inclined to knead dough by hand.

And the clincher is that when these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls are warmed slightly – just 15 seconds in the microwave – it makes them so uber soft and fluffy, you’d swear they were from a posh bakery.

Well – your family and friends will think that. You can just sit back and lap up the compliments! – Nagi x

PS You know full well these are not my Baby Hands.↓↓↓ These are my mother’s hands. She came round to be the hand model for the video. And she made these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls for the first time and specifically said that she was surprised how easy it was, even with “all that log rolling and cutting business”. 😉

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No Knead Cinnamon Rolls

Author: Nagi

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 40 minutes mins

Sweet Baking

4.97 from 120 votes

Servings12

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Soft, fluffy cinnamon rolls made from scratch with a dump-and-mix dough that requires no kneading! Frosted with a sticky cream cheese glaze, these are sweet but nowhere near as sickly sweet as store bought ones. This recipe is quite forgiving – see notes. Instructions are long because I’m providing helpful hints but this recipe is actually quite straight forward! Recipe video below.

Ingredients

Buns:

• ▢ 1 tbsp dry yeast (Note 1)
• ▢ 70 g / 1/3 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), or sub with normal white sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup / 125 ml warm water (Note 2)
• ▢ 600 g / 20 oz plain flour / all purpose flour (4 1/2 US Cups, 4 Cups everywhere else exc Japan) (Note 3)
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 cup / 250 ml milk , lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
• ▢ 50 g / 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter , melted and slightly cooled
• ▢ 2 large eggs , beaten with fork

EXTRA FLOUR:

• ▢ 1/4 cup / 35g plain flour (all purpose flour), plus more as required

For Rolls:

• ▢ 90 g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
• ▢ 1 cup / 220 g brown sugar , packed
• ▢ 2 tbsp cinnamon powder

Cream Cheese Glaze:

• ▢ 90 g / 3 oz cream cheese , softened
• ▢ 50 / 3 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups / 150g soft icing sugar / powdered sugar
• ▢ 2 – 3 tbsp milk , any (or water)

Cook ModePrevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

Buns:

• Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.
• Place 600g/20oz flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine.
• Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter, eggs and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.
• Mix until combined with wooden spoon – it will be like a sticky muffin batter, not kneadable.
• Rise # 1: Cover with cling wrap and place in a warm place (25C/77F+) to rise for around 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hrs or until almost tripled in volume. (Note 4) Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).

Making Rolls & Rise #2 (video is helpful):

• Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.
• Mix cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.
• Uncover dough, mix with spoon to deflate.
• Sprinkle half Extra Flour on work surface, pour dough on, sprinkle over remaining Extra Flour. Use hands to incorporate the flour into the dough – it may not absorb it all (or need more), the dough will stop absorbing flour when it’s no longer sticky, should be soft, pliable.
• If work surface is now flour free, sprinkle with more flour.
• Shape dough into log, then roll out into 28 x 48 cm / 11 x 19″ rectangle.
• Pour over butter, then brush all over, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
• Roll up firmly, then shape into an even log.
• Cut into 12 pieces (4cm / 1.6″), then place on tray (3 x 4).
• Cover with tea towel then place in warm place for 40 minutes or until almost doubled.

Baking / Frosting:

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan / convection). Place shelf in the middle of the oven.
• Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the tray at 16 minutes.
• Buns are ready when the middle rolls are golden and the outer ones are deep golden on the edges. Tap the middle ones – they should sound hollow.
• Optional: Brush with 1 tbsp / 15g melted butter to remove any residual flour spots.
• Use paper overhang to lift rolls onto cooling rack (key step – Note 5). Cool for 1 hour (will still be warm).
• Use a spoon to frost with glaze. Best served warm!

Glaze:

• Place butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth (10 – 15 seconds).
• Add icing sugar, beat to incorporate. Add enough milk to make it a consistency that can be spooned over the buns and it drips slightly (see video).

Recipe Notes:

1. 1 tbsp dry yeast = 9 grams. I use Lowan Dried Instant Yeast (red tube, sold at Woolies/Coles baking aisle) which technically doesn’t need to be frothed before using but there’s no harm in doing it, and I do it out of habit + also because then the same steps apply to any dried yeast.

If your yeast doesn’t go frothy, sorry to say it’s not active so your buns won’t rise. To use fresh yeast (comes in a block that crumbles, not powder like dry yeast), use 27g/ 0.9 oz. You don’t actually need to dissolve it in liquid like I do with the dry, but there’s no harm in doing it and so for the sake of consistency, crumble it in and let stand until it foams up, same as using dry yeast.

2. Scalding hot milk and hot water kills the yeast. I heat milk for 45 seconds on high in the microwave, and use warm tap water. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be pleasant? Good. It’s not too hot or too cold!

3. FLOUR: Do NOT use bread flour! Bread flour makes buns slightly more fluffier and tender, but the addition of the butter slather weighs down the dough (which is more delicate than kneaded dough) and causes the rolls in the centre not to cook through. So this recipe requires a sturdier dough, meaning normal plain / all purpose flour. Bread flour and cake flour do not work – I tried many times!

Measurement: Cups around the world differ in size. If you don’t have scales to weight the flour, please use the relevant cup size. For US/Canada, use 4 1/2 cups (they are slightly different, but close enough). For rest of world other than Japan, use 4 cups of flour. For Japan, please weigh the flour.

4. WARM PLACE for dough: This is what I do all year round – use my dryer. Laugh – but try it! Run the (empty) dryer for 1 – 2 minutes, then place the bowl inside. If you do that, the dough will rise in 1.5 hours. Even if it’s snowing outside!

5. COOLING: Hot fresh bread needs to be cooled otherwise it can seem a bit “doughy”. This is even more important for this no knead dough, especially with the addition of the cinnamon butter glaze. I found that when glazed hot, and if not cooled on a rack, there were patches in the centre that were doughy.

6. MAKE AHEAD: Follow recipe up to rolling balls and cover with cling wrap. Then refrigerate for 4 hours – 24 hours (this is the 2nd rise), take them out 30 minutes before then bake!

7. STORING: All homemade bread – even kneaded – is best served on the day. Things made using this No-Knead version doesn’t keep as well as the kneaded version – dries out a bit faster. For these buns, reheating is key! 12 seconds in the microwave is all you need!

8. DOUBLING: Make double the batter in one large bowl, then divide the batter into 2 bowls for the first rise (if double the dough is in one giant bowl, may struggle to rise). Proceed with recipe and place rolls on a large tray or 2 trays, and bake them all on the same shelf in the oven.

9. HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING: I am fortunate to have some fabulous readers at high altitude who often try my baking recipes quite soon after publishing and leave helpful information for others. Hopefully I will hear from someone soon so I can update this note! For the first tester – the dough is surprisingly forgiving. I have added flour and water/milk by eye at the end to get the consistency per the video/photos, it has been sloppier and firmer, as long as enough flour is added when rolling out the dough so it can be rolled up into a log, it has always worked out. 🙂

UPDATE: A reader at 4000 ft in AZ reported that it worked great with no amendments to the recipe! WHOOT!

10. MORE STUFFING! Try adding 3/4 cup of nuts (chopped pecans, walnuts are especially great), raisins and/or crumbled bacon!

11. This recipe is adapted from these Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls I published a couple of months ago.

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

No Knead Cinnamon Rolls recipe video! Starring my mother – I’m the director/producer/cameraman/editor/screenwriter/runner/recipe developer.

Have you tried the Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls yet? 🙂

LIFE OF DOZER

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