A Homemade Cinnamon Roll is not as difficult as it sounds. This recipe is easy, and it produces a soft and fluffy Cinnamon Roll filled with cinnamon sugar and raisins and infused with orange zest for additional flavor.

I used to have a love hate relationship to anything Cinnamon Bread. Often times the bread turned out dense and hard, almost not edible. But those bad experiences and memories are all in the past. Now, all I can remember are good memories with this bread, all happy delicious fluffy memories. Thanks to my All-Around Bread Dough, my Cinnamon Roll always comes out delicious and something I was proud of sharing. I used my All Around Bread Dough to make this Cinnamon Roll, the same bread dough I used to make my Apple Cinnamon Roll. That proves how my All Around Bread dough is really all around. It has a small and big batch measurement which makes it very flexible. When I’m making for a large group, I used my big batch and when it’s just for me, I used my small batch that yields either 4 or 6 pieces. For this recipe, since I took this to work, I made a big batch which appears to be not big all because it was gone too fast.

Sometimes homemade break can get intimidating, trust me I’ve been there. I even bought a ready to use Cinnamon Bread Dough in a can just because I’m not confident in making my own dough. Bad decision or maybe I did something wrong because the Cinnamon did not turn out to be as soft and fluffy like what I have in mind. So I gave a try, failed few times until I finally got it right. All it takes it a simple bread dough like this. This All-Around Bread Dough is so far the most tested recipe in my website. I’ve re-tested and Re-tested so that you don’t have to go through the bad experience I had.

What is a yeast bread?

This is a yeast bread dough, but don’t worry it’s not as scary as it sounds. Yeast doesn’t bite 🙂 You just have to spoil it with warm water and a little sugar and it will be alive in 5 minutes, bubbly and alive ready to use. Yeast bread relies on the yeast to give the bread the rise, to give it structure, to make the bread puff. This is why it is very important to make sure the yeast you are using is not expired, double check on that. If during the process of proofing the yeast you did not see any foam forming on top of the water, then there’s something wrong. Either with the yeast, or the temperature of the water, or you forgot the sugar which is essential as yeast feed on sugar. The water should be lukewarm but not hot (about 110F). Too hot water could kill the yeast, and a cold water will not help the yeast grow. The success of a yeast bread depends on the yeast, and few other factors.

• Make sure the yeast is not expired
• Water temperature should be 110F (cold water from the fridge microwave for about 39 seconds. Tap water requires less microwave time.
• Sugar: don’t forget the sugar, yeast feed sugar to make it alive. This can be substituted with any sweetener like honey or maple syrup.

Featured Video: How To Make Cinnamon Apple Filling

• Texture– the bread texture is super soft and fluff, but not too airy.
• Taste – the bread itself have a nice sweetness in it, that I made sure by adding 2 tbsp more of sugar to make it a sweet bread.
• The Dough – So soft and very manageable. It’s so easy to roll and cut. Is slightly sticky but soft, it’s just so beautiful to work on.
• Small Batch – it’s a small batch recipe, and for me that’s a plus especially for me who leaves alone. It small batch of 4, but it’s till good for sharing between 2-4 people.
• Ease to Make – the dough only needs 1 hour and 10 minutes total rest period. First 30 minutes and second 40 minutes, and that’s short for a yeast bread. Plus 30 minutes baking time.

I am at lost for worst when I started pulling it apart to taste it. Can I use “ultra soft” to describe a bread texture? Because it’s really so soft, I’m so in love with Cinnamon Apple Roll. The apple filling was so good with the bread and the cream cheese frosting, it’s so creamy. I would say the BEST Cinnamon Roll ever. Make,  it to believe because these gorgeous roll is more than just beauty, super delicious too.

Important Reminder for The Filling

I used my Homemade Cinnamon Apple Filling for this bread. The most important thing to remember about the filling is that it should be completely cold and excess syrup removed. It is advisable to make the filling ahead of time even up to 1 week ahead or at least 1 day before. Store it in the refrigerator to allow the sauce to thicken. Using a warm or just cooled apple filing will make the rolling a challenge and will make the dough wet and sticky. Remove all the syrup (if any) and use only the pieces of diced apples.

The Frosting

I used cream cheese frosting for this one. Do not add any liquid (water or milk), the consistency will loosen as soon as you stir in the confectioners sugar. You can increase or decrease the sugar depending on how sweet you like it. When spreading it, make sure the bread has cooled down so as not to melt the frosting.

3 Methods in Making The Dough

There are 3 ways that you can choose from in how you make this bread. Choose whichever works for you. 

1. Stand Mixer – This is what I always use when I make this dough. It’s the fastest and easiest method and less manual handling. This is the step outlined below in the instruction. 
   
2. Hand Mixer – Use dough attachment as regular hook attachment will not work. The thick and heavy dough will jam a regular hook attachment. Also, it’s going to be too heavy for the hook attachment to mix the dough. 
3. Manually – If you don’t have any electronic baking equipment for making the dough, you can do it manually. Simply follow the same instructions, do the mixing in a large bowl and transfer in counter top and knead manually. It will take a lot of arm exercise, but I’m telling you, it’s worth it.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Full Fat Milk (warm 110F)
• 1 1/4  teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 3 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon granulated Sugar (Divided: 1/2 tsp for yeast, and 3 tbsp for the dry ingredients mixture)
• 2 tablespoon flavorless Oil
• 1/3 cup of Full Fat Milk (warm 80F))
• 1 large Egg – room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup  Bread Flour + 1/4 cup ONLY as needed
• 2/3 teaspoon table Salt

Filling:

•  3 tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped Raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder

Frosting:

• 3 tablespoon softened Cream Cheese
• 7 tablespoon Confectioners Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder

Instructions:

1. Make the Cinnamon Raisin Sugar Filling: In a bowl, mix chopped raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon powder.
2. Activate Yeast: Microwave milk for 20- 25 seconds until lukewarm but NOT hot. Feel the milk to make sure it is not too hot as hot milk will kill the yeast and the bread will not rise properly.  Transfer milk in bowl of stand mixer (Refer to discussion above for other Methods of making this) and add 1/2 tsp of the granulated sugar and stir. Add the yeast and let rest for 10 minutes until mixture is foamy. If the mixture did not become foamy, either the yeast is old or the milk is too hot or cold. Redo it again as this is a very important step.
3. Add Wet Ingredients: Set mixer with paddle attachment and mix in remaining sugar (3 tbsp), beaten egg, and oil on low-speed, just to mix every thing together.
4. Add Dry Ingredients: Add salt and flour and mix on low-speed until combined, then switch to a dough hook attachment. Allow mixture to knead on medium-low speed until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add 1 tbsp of flour at a time until the dough starts to form, dough should be slightly sticky, soft but not too dry. If too much flour is added, the roll will be dense and heavy. A good measure of correct texture is a clean mixing bowl.
5. First Rest Period: Remove the dough and form into a ball. Transfer into a greased bowl (I used oil spray) and cover bowl with plastic wrap or warm towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.
   • TIP: To help the dough rise faster, leave the covered dough OUTSIDE the pre-heated 350F oven. The top of the oven hot surface will give the dough the heat it needed to rise properly. Alternatively, you can also pre-heat the oven to 110F then turn it off and put the covered dough inside.
6. Shape and Fill: Generously sprinkle flour on the counter where you are going to work on your dough. Sprinkle some flour on your hands too for easy handling of dough. Take the dough out from the bowl and lightly push the dough down with the heel of the palm of your hands. Knead and flatten the dough into 8-inch x 19-inch size (it doesn’t have to be exact). The goal is to have an 8-inch log when you roll it, the longer you can make it the more layer you will have. Sprinkle the mixture of brown sugar, raisins and cinnamon powder.
7. Roll and Cut: Roll starting from the short side (8-inch side) then shape into log about 8-inch long. Use your palm to press the ends of the dough towards the center until you get the 8-inch log size. Cut into 8 (2-inch each piece).
8. Arrange in Baking Pan: Line a rectangualr pan with parchment paper. Leave an overhang on the side to allow easy removal later. Arrange each piece in the pan leaving allowances on all sides.

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