Cinnamon and Cardamom Morning Buns

DANISH DOUGH

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, whisk together milk, egg, egg yolk, and yeast. Add the flour, sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla bean paste, and mix at low speed until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and mix until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes.
2. Shape the dough into a ball and place into a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place, about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
3. Punch down the dough and shape into a 8”x10” (20x25cm) rectangle. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and dusted with a little flour (a quarter sheet pan is perfect for this), and wrap tightly in plastic wrap (I wrapped the whole pan in plastic and then placed it inside a large plastic bag just for some insurance). Refrigerate overnight.

BUTTER BLOCK

1. In a small bowl, combine the butter and bread flour. Place onto a large piece of parchment, and shape into a 6”x9” rectangle on the bottom half of the parchment. Fold down the parchment to wrap up the butter block, and use a bench scraper to square it off. Refrigerate overnight.

LAMINATIONS

There are a few steps to this - I am going to list them first so you have a reference and then I will explain in depth. These are the steps that I did it it - IMPORTANT NOTE: If you feel like your dough is getting too soft and is feeling squishy after your first turn (after step 2), wrap it and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to let it firm up a little before doing step 3, which is your second Letter fold. Feel it out and do what feels like it will make the dough easy to handle. If you are worried your dough is too hard and the butter is too firm, leave it to stand at room temperature for 5 minutes or so before rolling it out. It is ok to go between the freezer and counter to keep your dough at a workable temperature.

1. Lock in the butter block

2. Roll to 12”x 18” (30x45cm), Letter fold 1

3. Roll to 12”x18” (30x45cm), Letter fold 2

4. Chill Dough 15 minutes

5. Roll to 12”x18” (30x45cm), Letter fold 3

6. Chill for 90 minutes.

Prepare your dough and butter block: Transfer your dough from the fridge into the freezer for 15 minutes. 10 minutes before you start rolling out your dough (so 5 min after you put your dough in the freezer), place your butter block on the counter to allow it to become pliable.

Lock in your butter block: Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 10”x12” rectangle (25x30cm) and turn it so one of the short ends is facing you.

Unwrap the butter block by lifting up one side of the parchment, and use the other piece to guide it onto the bottom half of the dough, making sure there is about ½” gap around three sides (the fourth side will be the rest of the dough). Fold the dough down over the butter block and using your fingers, seal it into the dough, making sure that you don’t have any air bubbles.

Turn the dough 90 degrees, and immediately roll into a 12”x18” (30x45cm) rectangle. With the short side facing you, fold into thirds like a letter - bring the bottom half ⅔ of the way up and the top half down to cover it. Turn 90 degrees and roll out again to 12”x18” (30x45cm), then perform another fold.

Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and place on a sheet pan and freeze for 15 minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer and roll out a final time to 12”x18” (30x45cm). Perform one final letter fold. Cut the dough into two equal pieces and wrap one up tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for another time (thaw in the fridge overnight). Wrap the second piece tightly in plastic wrap and rest in the fridge for 90 minutes.

MORNING BUN ASSEMBLY

1. Transfer the danish dough to the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up slightly. In a medium bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients and mix together until smooth.
2. Brush the cups of a 12 tray muffin pan with melted butter and dust with granulated sugar, tapping out the excess.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into a rectangle about 8”x12”, 20x30cm. (the measurement you need to strictly stick to here is the width, otherwise the roll will be too fat to fit into the muffin tins).
4. Spread the surface of the dough evenly with the filling, leaving a ½” border on a long edge. Then, starting on the opposite long side, roll up the dough into a tight spiral. Trim the ends if needed. Measure your log of dough and cut into 1” rolls. Place rolls, cut side up, into prepared muffin cups, pressing gently to help the dough fill the cups.
5. Cover the pan lightly (I put it inside a big clear bag), and leave to rise in a warm, draft free place for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the rolls are puffy and when lightly poked with a finger, a small indentation is left.
6. When there is 15 minutes to go on your rise, preheat your oven to 375°f / 190°c.
7. Bake the buns until golden brown and a thermometer inserted in the centre registers 200°f /95°f, 20 to 25 minutes. Begin checking for doneness at 18 minutes and watch them carefully. Add foil half way through if needed to prevent excess browning (I did not need to). While the buns are baking, combine all the ingredients for the finishing sugar in a shallow bowl.
8. Let the buns cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle. Remove from the pans and toss in the finishing sugar. Let cool completely.
9. Store leftovers lightly covered at room temperature. Refresh in the microwave if needed.