The kids and I tried the King Arthur Flour 2021 Recipe of the Year Cinnamon Rolls last weekend. I’d long been hankering to use the tangzhong method but had never found the right recipe or the right time to do it, so this was perfect. We did use half whole grain flour in the recipe because I just couldn’t bear to use all white flour, but the results were delicious and they did seem very good the second day, especially if heated in the microwave.
I started to wonder about the use of tangzhong in 100% whole grain recipes and was delighted that KAF had already done my research for me: Tangzhong Beyond White Bread. I knew there must be some recipe of mine that I could think about converting and I landed on my whole grain hot cross buns. I’ve never found them to be less than delicious but the idea that they be just as good on day 3 as day 1 was super appealing.
I admit that it took me at least three or four tries to get the hydration properly worked out so that I could begin converting the recipe as documented in KAF’s other super helpful post How to Convert a Bread Recipe to Tangzhong. I kept forgetting that my wet ingredients were not 100% hydration and at first I even included the melted coconut oil, which definitely should be left out.
Finally I came up with a working recipe and today I tried it. I don’t know yet how the HCBs will fare tomorrow, but I will say that they were super pillowy on day 1 and as the recipe isn’t really any harder to make it seems obvious that using the tangzhong method should be my future plan.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 c. flour (I'd just use white all-purpose)
2 TBSP water (start there and add more as needed)
GLAZE
1/3 c. powdered/icing sugar
1-2 tsp lemon juice
A few gratings of lemon zest
Pinch of salt
Water or milk
- To make the tangzhong, combine the flour and the soured dairy in a small saucepan and stir to combine
- Heat over medium, stirring frequently, until you have a gelatinous paste that leaves trails on the bottom of the pan
- Transfer the finished tangzhong to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, then add the remaining soured dairy and mix a bit. You don’t have to worry about cooling the tangzhong to room temperature if your dairy is cold, which is a genius innovation from KAF. Stir together a bit
- Add the flour, yeast, salt and cinnamon and mix well using the lowest setting
- Add the eggs a bit at a time, mixing well in between, then the honey and coconut oil
- Turn the mixer up to medium or medium high and work the dough for a good 8-10 minutes, scraping as seems helpful
- Add the cherries and mix an additional few minutes
- Turn the dough out into a clean bowl and let rise, covered, until doubled in size, 2-2.5 hours
- Punch down the dough and divide into 12 roughly-equal pieces that you then roll into balls. Mine were about 90g each
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and space the dough balls evenly, leaving a bit of room for them to expand
- Let rise an hour or two until it has doubled and the balls are touching each other
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- When you're ready to bake the buns, make the paste, mixing the flour and enough water to get a pipeable consistency
- Put the paste into a pastry bag or plastic bag and snip of the tip. Pipe a cross on each bun (I did all one direction first then all the other)
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden. Expect the buns to be smooshed together in the pan. If you get an interior temperature of the centermost bun between 190 and 200 degrees F you are in the clear
- While the buns are baking, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest and water until you have quite a thin glaze
- As soon as the buns come out, brush the tops all over generously with the glaze, which will make them super glossy and lovely
- Cool on a rack and serve warm or store in an air-tight container and warm or toast to serve
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