Ingredients
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
2-3 Cups White Flour
3 Tsp Quick Rise Yeast
¼ Cup Sugar (honey or maple syrup)
1 Egg
1 Cup Warm Water (just above room temperature)
¼ Cup Oil or Butter
1 Tsp Salt
¾ Cup - 1 Cup Brown Sugar (depending on how sugary you like them)
3 Tsp Cinnamon
½ Cup Melted Butter
Caramel Sauce
1 Cup Brown Sugar (packed)
½ Cup Butter
¼ Cup Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Makes appx: 12 Buns
Total Rising and Cooking Time: Appx 3 Hours
Take out a large mixing bowl and add: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3 tsp of yeast, and 1 tsp salt and combine.
Add 1 cup of slightly warmer than room temperature liquid to the mixing bowl. You can use water (or milk or orange juice). Use a wooden spoon to combine the liquid into the dry mixture.
Add ¼ cup of desired sugar (I used melted honey), ¼ cup of melted butter (or oil) and 1 egg. Mix thoroughly into the existing bread base.
Next add white flour in ½ cup increments to the mixing bowl, combining each half cup fully before adding the next. Adding the flour in increments ensures that you don’t “over flour” the dough which will result in a denser dough.
Once you have slowly added appx 2 cups of whole purpose flour, your dough should have formed a small ball in the bowl. Use remaining flour to dust your counter for kneading out the dough.
Lightly flour a flat surface on your counter and drop the ball of dough onto it. Gently knead your soft dough, 8-10 times, using the heel of the hand to push into the centre of the ball and then folding the dough back over towards yourself (video reference will be helpful here).
Clean out your large mixing bowl and lightly grease the bottom and edges. Place the kneaded dough ball into the large bowl and cover with either a lid or a dish towel.
Place the covered bowl in a warm place, or in a proofing oven, and allow it to rise for approximately 1 hour or until the dough ball doubles in bulk.
Once risen, lay the dough back on a floured surface and roll into a large rectangle (appx 12x18 inches).
Spread melted butter across the entire surface of the rectangle, and then sprinkle about a cup of brown sugar and 3 tsp of cinnamon across the flattened dough, leaving about ½ inch of dough around the edges uncovered.
Roll the dough (starting from the long edge of the dough) into one long cinnamon log. You may need to use a knife or pastry cutter to help roll the dough if it has stuck to the counter.
Use a knife or pastry cutter to slice the log into 1 inch rolls.
Grease a baking dish or cookie sheet (the larger the pan the bigger the cinnamon buns will be as they will have more space to grow). Place the 1 inch rolls in the baking dish. Cover the dish with a dish towel and place in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
After cinnamon buns are done rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the dish in the oven and allow them to bake for 25-30 minutes. Tops should be lightly browned when you remove them from the oven.
If you want caramel sauce (which let’s be real - YOU DO), place a small saucepan on the stove about 5 minutes before the cinnamon buns are ready to come out of the oven.
Add ½ cup of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, and ¼ cup of milk to the saucepan and bring the mixture to a low boil for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from heat once thickened and add 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
Remove cinnamon buns from the oven, allow to cool for several minutes, and immediately top with caramel sauce.