Healthier Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls

In this recipe I combined the flavor of cinnamon rolls and cardamom buns with soft and fluffy sweet buns using Asian bread dough as a base.  The result is so delicious -- great for breakfast/brunch or a snack to go with your tea or coffee.  What's best is that it uses a lot less butter and sugar than regular cinnamon rolls or cardamom buns.  Plus, your entire house will smell amazing until the next day! 

I remember my first time trying Swedish cardamom buns was when I attended a baking class at Zingerman's bakehouse.  We made chocolate Babka, Povitica and Swedish cardamom buns that afternoon, and all three of them were super delicious.  Since that baking class ended, I've found that, out of the three dessert breads, the cardamom bun is the only one that I continue to make regularly after I came home.  I think this is because, not only are those buns super yummy, they're also easy and fun to make!  

Since I make it quite often, I felt that I need to come up with a healthier version of it.  After several tweaking and testing the recipe several times, I found that the best result came from using my basic Asian bread dough with a bit of modification. 

Here are some tips for this recipe:

Start with cold liquid

I know many of you may be skeptical with this one — aren’t we supposed to use warm water to activate the yeast?  Will the dough rise if I use cold liquid?  Let me explain.  When you are making bread, instant (rapid-rise) yeast is your best friend.  It doesn’t need to be pre-activated with warm water, just adding it directly into the mixture with other ingredients will do.  I highly recommend using Saf instant yeast, as I was surprised by how much better my bread tasted after I began using it.  

In order to achieve a dreamy bun texture, a lot of kneading is required.  We need to knead the dough until the surface of the dough is smooth and the can pass the windowpane test (meaning that you should be able to stretch the dough into a smooth and nearly see-though membrane).  Kneading generates heat, and we don’t want our dough to become too warm (ideally never going above 82°F) during the kneading process. 

If the dough ever gets too warm, then (1) the flavor of the resulting bread will suffer, the bread itself will (2) have a rougher texture and will (3) be prone to getting stale quickly. That’s why we want to start with using a cold liquid.  I learned this technique relatively recently from some professional bakers in Taiwan, and it really leveled up the texture of the Asian breads that I make. 

Try the Autolyse method

I highly recommend trying the Autolyse method.  This method simply consists of allowing the dough to rest for 30 minutes for the gluten to develop right after forming the dough and before adding salt and butter.  Using the Autolyse method is almost like cheating on your (windowpane) test, as it really makes developing the proper dough for this recipe nearly fool-proof.  This is why the instructions in the recipe box includes this resting step.

Use a scale 

It’s important to weigh your ingredients with a scale instead of using a measuring cup, since the cup of flour I measure will easily be different than the cup of flour you measure due to differences in how we handle the measurement.  Making Asian buns/breads requires a higher accuracy than normal bread, and it is how I developed this recipe.  I used this OXO kitchen scale that’s recommended by Cook’s Illustrated, but any cheaper one will work just fine! 

Variation 

In Zingerman's baking class, they add chopped candied ginger in the cardamom buns and I absolutely love this combination!  You should definitely give it a try.  However, if you are not a fan of ginger, you can also try raisins, dried cranberries, or even some nuts like pecan or walnut, which will all work beautifully.       

Storing and reheating 

 If you are not eating these on the first day, I would recommend storing them in the freezer once they’re cool in order to maintain the best texture.  When you want to eat them, just bake in the oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 6 minutes and it will be as good as when it's fresh.  Don’t store these in the fridge, or else they will become dry and stale.  

Please give it a try and tell me how you like these buns! 

I would like to hear from you! If you make this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and comment in the section further down the page. Stay in touch by following my Instagram and Pinterest!