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My step daughter has returned for her summer holidays; whenever she is here I try to bake things for her that she will enjoy. She was so delighted when she came across the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls in my baking book, “Low Sugar Bakes and Cakes,” and told me that cinnamon rolls are her favourite.

Recently, I have been baking lots of bread using the ‘Yudane’ method and so I thought it would be interesting to try making the cinnamon rolls using this method as well. Yes, the result was indeed very pleasing – the bread itself came out very moist and soft, yet was not too sweet. It complemented the cinnamon mixture and cream cheese frosting very well!

Both Yudane and Tangzhong uses a method of scalding a small portion of the dough either by cooking or scalding. Cooking the flour causes the starch to gelatinize. This make the texture of bread soft and fluffy. Please click here to see the differences between Yudane vs Tangzhong Method.

I have other Yudane Method recipes that you may like to try too. Yudane Method Bread recipes.

If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible. Do tag me on Instagram @Bakewithpaws if you attempt on this recipe.

How To Make Cinnamon Rolls

Yields: 12 rolls

INGREDIENTS:

Yudane Dough:

90g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

90g boiling water

Main Dough:

360g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

All the Yudane dough above

1 1/2 tsp (4.5g) instant yeast

18g brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp (6.5g) salt

260 milk (start with 220g of milk and reserve the rest to add in slowly if the dough too dry)

45g butter, room temperature

For Filling:

2 tsp cinnamon powder

30g brown sugar (please add more if you prefer sweeter)

30g butter, soften

80g raisins

Utensil:

Ikea Ceramic Baking pan (12 ½ “ X 7 ¾” or 32cm X 20cm) OR

Chefmade 11" Oblong Non-stick Pan (11" X 9" X 2" or 28.1 X 23.1 X 5.1 cm)

For Low Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:

150g cream cheese, room temperature

50g butter, room temperature

55g icing sugar

1/8 tsp salt

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Sea salt (optional)

METHOD:

For Yudane Dough:

Add bread flour in a bowl, pour the boiling water and mix well with spatula or spoon until no dry flour.
Cling film and leave on the counter for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. I prepared the night before.
Use directly from the fridge.

Kneading Main Dough:

Put all ingredients (except butter) and including yudane dough (tear into pieces) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with paddle attachment for 2 minutes or until all incorporated.
Change to hook attachment and knead for another 3 minutes or until the dough comes together. Add in butter and continue kneading for another 10 - 13 minutes or until the dough comes together, become elastic, smooth and reaches window pane stage. I noticed that it is harder to achieve a very thin window pane with Yudane method dough. It could be due to the gelatinization of its starch. It is fine if your window pane is not very thin as long as you have kneaded the dough long enough. During the whole kneading process, I stopped few times to scrape down the dough from the hook to be sure it is evenly kneaded and also to prevent the motor from overheating.

1st Proofing:

Let the dough rise in a warm place for 60 minutes or until double in size in a large greased bowl, covered with cling film or lid.

For The Filling:

Cut the butter into cubes. Leave it out on the counter for 1 hour or until the butter soften and spreadable. Set aside.
Combine cinnamon powder and brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

Shaping:

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface.
Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle (21” X 10.5”).
Spread melted butter all over dough. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture over buttered dough then sprinkle some sea salt.
Starting with the widest end, roll the dough into a log like swiss roll. Pinch to seal seams. Trim both ends with a string floss or thread. Divide dough into 12 equal sections and cut the dough with a string floss or thread.
Place the rolls in a prepared baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Final Proofing:

Let it rise until nearly doubled, about 45 - 60 minutes.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

While waiting for the cinnamon rolls to proof, cut the butter and cream cheese into cubes. Set aside.
In a bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract until smooth with the paddle attachment.
Transfer the frosting into a piping bag fitted with Wilton 8 round tip.

Baking:

Preheat oven at 190C (top & bottom heat) 170C (fan-forced) for 10 - 15 minutes.
Bake at preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove rolls from oven and immediately pipe the cream cheese frosting over warm rolls.

Note: The balance of the cream cheese frosting can be stored in the freezer for up to couple of months.

Shaping

GENERAL NOTES:

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT & WINDOWPANE TEST

Gluten forms when flour comes in contact with water. Hydration of the flour causes the sticky and stretchy protein to form, giving structure to the bread. This makes your bread trap air and rise.

Gluten in dough can be developed by autolyse, resting, kneading or folding.

The windowpane test is used to determine whether the dough has been sufficiently kneaded. By gently pulling the dough (or you may pinch off some dough) and trying to stretch it into a thin membrane. If you are able to stretch the dough paper thin and translucent without tearing, then the gluten is fully developed. However, if you can stretch it without tearing but the membrane is not transparent, then the gluten is not yet fully developed.

However, from my experience not all the recipe can achieve a thin and translucent window pane stage easily. For example low hydration and low fat dough. For such recipes, a reasonable window pane is good enough and it can be left to rest. Gluten will continue to develop while resting. Exercising restraint to not over-knead the dough prevents the gluten from being overworked and broken. Some of you may have experienced the dough breaking during the second proofing. It is because the dough is over kneaded.

The total kneading time for me is usually 15 minutes at low speeds except brioche dough with high fat percentage or dough using liquid fat which usually takes a little longer (maybe 18-20 mins).

From my experience, I found that high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.

KNEADING TIME

For kneading, please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Timing may differ depending on the brand of flour and electric mixer used. The protein content may vary from one brand of flour to another.

FLOUR
The right flour plays a very important role in bread making. To achieve fluffy, soft and light bread, I used Japan High Gluten Flour in most of my bread baking. The protein content is around 12 - 13%.

HYDRATION

The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

PROOFING

Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on your climate and environment. The humidity and temperature at your place will influence how dough rises.

If you are unable to judge by just looking at the dough, you can do the finger poke test:

First Proofing:

Lightly flour or oil your finger or knuckle, gently poke in the centre of the dough then remove your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation then it needs more time.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back or if the dough collapses, then the it is over proved.
If it bounces back just a little, then the dough is ready to be punched down and shaping.

Second Proofing:

Lightly press the side of the proved dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation, it means the dough is under proved and needs more time before baking.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back, it means it has been over proved.
If the indentation slowly bounces back and leave a small indentation, it is ready to bake.
There will be a final burst of rising once the bread is placed to bake in the oven and it is called oven spring.

WRINKLE TOP OR SHRINKING

If your bread collapses or gets wrinkled on top after removing from oven, it could be because your dough over proved during the second proofing. Please proof until it rises 80 - 90% in size or is slightly below the rim of the pan.

BAKING TEMPERATURE & TIME

Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.

Comments

Unknown4 August 2018 at 00:06
Hi,
for step 2, when u said put all ingredients into the stand mixer’s bowl, it means to add Yudane dough in as well? Thks
Anonymous11 February 2020 at 23:09
Hi, can you share your opinion based on your experiences on the different method of bread making, comparing Yudane,Tanzhong, Straight-dough Method etc.
Thank you so much
Bake With Paws12 February 2020 at 05:32
Hi there,

Thank you for your question.

Yudane method is quite similar to Tangzhong (water-roux) method. Both methods are scalding method.

For the Yudane method, boiling water is used to scald the flour instead of cooking over the fire. The ratio of the flour and water is almost 1 to 1. The scalded dough may only be used 4 hours later (at least) or overnight in the fridge.

For Tangzhong method, the flour cook in water with the ratio of the flour and water is around 1:5. Can be used once cool down or overnight in the fridge.

All the three method (Yudane, Tangzhong and straight) will yield very soft bread when once out from oven or first several hours. But, the straight dough method bread will become dry and slightly hard on the 2nd day. Bread made from Yudane method will stay fresh for several days. I tried eating the bread on the 3rd day and still soft and moist. I tried Tangzhong method before and the bread will not stay as soft as Yudane method. Maybe because I used the wrong recipe and I have not tried other recipe yet.

I personally like Yudane method the most as I never one time failed in my baking so far using this method. However, this is just only my own opinion and experience. Maybe other people found Tangzhong method is better than Yudane.

Please try both methods and stick to the one that you think work for you.

Cheers and happy baking :)
d3imos19 September 2020 at 14:16
Hi there!
Awesome blog and IG!
I have my own rolls recipe so I want to try yudane on it. Do I have to count yudane's water as part of the total liquids in my recipe?
Thanks a lot.
Joyce Seah25 April 2022 at 03:32
Hi Hi. Thanks for sharing. I love your recipe and have been baking them. May I know how can I change this recipe to using Sourdough starter ?
Anonymous23 November 2024 at 18:13
I have been looking for a soft, feathery cinnamon roll recipe. Im not the best baker either, so I had sort of given up. I saw this recipe after reading about the yudane method. It
was easy, amazing and delicious. Thank you!

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