cinnamon buns and sticky buns - bread baker's apprentice challenge #8

Really..cinnamon buns a challenge. Far from it my friendly readers. Who in their right mind would turn down a chance to make this recipe. With so many other more challenging breads ahead, it was a tough job to snack away on these delicious and sweet treats in the name of the bread baker's apprentice challenge.

Peter is kind enough to suggest three options. Divide everything up into pieces for standard cinnamon buns and/or sticky buns, or leave it rolled up and make a cinnamon log.

Round one went to cinnamon buns. Another straight rise, and relatively quick recipe, the dough was ready to rock in no time. Once stretch out, I sprinkled on a solid layer of cinnamon sugar before rolling it all back up back up.

I cut 4 cm sections, and ended up with 10 buns. 9 proper sized buns and one little baby off cut bun. After an hour of proofing, they crept closer to each other so I heated up the oven. They came out looking absolutely amazing. So good in fact that I couldn't stop myself from eating the off cut bun right away.

Letting things cool down for a few minutes, I prepped the white fondant glaze, which Peter is kind enough to include. I drizzled the icing on with my whisk, a first for me, and couldn't sotp myself from eating another cinnamon bun. So good I tell you.

I realized I may end up eating way more than I should, so I put the word on Twitter and received a few requests. A friend, who works at a local radio station, made mention her co-workers could use a boost so I dropped off the remaining 8. Frowns turned to smiles I tell you!!

Round 2 was the log. This time I loaded it up with raisins and crushed walnuts, as well as the cinnamon sugar. And seriously, I loaded this bad boy up. After 80 minutes, it was looking quite chubby.

Into the oven for 30 minutes, with a rotate after 20, left me once again embracing that lovely fresh cinnamon bun scent. Seriously the smell from freshly baked cinnamon buns is heaven, and it took everything in me not to dive in like I did with the buns.

The log was wonderful, like the cinnamon buns, with the additional goodness of those walnuts and raisins. I did notice some sag, but I have no doubt the weight of all those goodies took it's toll on the dough while it cooled down. I actually thinking icing this would have just been excess. Maybe I'll have to have one more go, just to try..

* check out the BBA Challenge FAQ if you want to know more, or follow along.