[Chinese Recipes] Cinnamon Raisin Buns

Cinnamon Raisin Buns join the pantheon of awesome bakery bun recipes that we’ve built off of what I now consider to be one of the most useful recipes on our blog––our easy.

If you love more Buns recipes, you can taste:

1. Kimchi Pork Steamed Buns

2. Steamed Bun Dough (Man Tou)

3. BBQ Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bao)

4. Chinese Hot Dog Buns 

  

These cinnamon raisin buns aren’t really Asian, but they had them at many of the bakeries I’d go to in China. If you’re a fan of cinnamon raisin bread (toasted with a little butter…perfection), you will LOVE these.

And their fancy schmancy swirly look? Way easier to accomplish than you think. Scroll down to see how we did it.

For the bread dough:
2/3 cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon milk (at room temperature)
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cake flour
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
To finish the buns:

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2-2/3 cup raisins
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to form an egg wash
simple syrup: 1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

Start by making the bread dough. In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.

After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.

After the bread dough has proofed for an hour, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces.

Roll out each piece into a rough 8×4 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dot with a few raisins.

Roll into a cigar, and cut the cigar in half lengthwise, leaving one end attached (it’ll look like a pair of pants).

Twist the two pieces together, and then roll the whole thing into a snail shape, tucking the ends underneath the bun.

Lay on a baking sheet, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the risen buns with egg wash and bake for 13-15 minutes. Right after they’re baked, brush with simple syrup.

Cinnamon Raisin Buns

Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Yield: 1 dozen buns

Ingredients

For the bread dough:
2/3 cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon milk (at room temperature)
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cake flour
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

To finish the buns:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2-2/3 cup raisins
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to form an egg wash
simple syrup: 1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

Instruction

Start by making the bread dough. In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.

After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.

After the bread dough has proofed for an hour, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces.

Roll out each piece into a rough 8x4 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dot with a few raisins. Roll into a cigar, and cut the cigar in half lengthwise, leaving one end attached (it'll look like a pair of pants). Twist the two pieces together, and then roll the whole thing into a snail shape, tucking the ends underneath the bun. Lay on a baking sheet, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the risen buns with egg wash and bake for 13-15 minutes. Right after they're baked, brush with simple syrup.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Thewoksoflife.com. Thanks so much!