The Great Australian Bake Off Technical Challenge – Week 5 Coffee Scrolls (Cinnamon Scrolls)

Week 5 of The Great Australian Bake Off (GABO) was bread week, and the technical challenge saw the bakers making Coffee Scrolls.

Now I have to admit, I am not a coffee person. I absolutely love the smell of coffee, but I just can’t bring myself to like the flavour of it. I don’t drink it and I don’t like it in desserts. However, I really like cinnamon scrolls, which is what these really are if you take the coffee out of the icing. So although I am supposed to be replicating the technical challenges, the reality is that I am cooking at home and I am the one who will be trying the finished product, so I decided to omit the coffee. Isn’t that part of the point of cooking/baking things yourself? You can make them the way that you like them.

With the omission of the coffee, these have to be my favourite of all the technical challenges so far. Although a little time consuming with the resting time (which really lets you go off and do other things which is why the weekend is perfect for baking), I found this recipe quite easy.  Plus the house smelt amazing while they were cooking and the finished product was delicious. I was actually jumping up and down when these came out and I tore them apart and saw the texture of the bread. I got impatient and didn’t wait for them to cool down enough before I iced them, hence my already thin icing got even thinner, but I didn’t mind. Any more icing and I think they would have been too sweet. I have to confess that I may have eaten a few too many scrolls over the weekend. I’d better get myself to the gym tomorrow!

Next up, Layered Pavlova Torte with fondant strawberries.

GABO Cinnamon Scrolls (aka Coffee Scrolls)

Ingredients

You will need a baking tray, lined with baking paper (mine was 21cm x 31cm x 5cm deep – the width and depth were okay but it was a bit too long)

Dough

• 1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
• 275ml warm milk (not too hot or it will kill the yeast, you are aiming for body temperature, if you put your finger in and it doesn’t feel hot or cold, it is perfect)
• 1 egg
• 450g white bread flour (plus extra for rolling)
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 50g unsalted butter, melted (and cooled slightly)
• 1 cup of sultanas

Filling

• 50g butter
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar

Icing

• 2 cups of icing sugar (sifted to remove any lumps)
• 20 – 30ml water (or for coffee icing strong espresso coffee)
• If you aren’t using coffee you could add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the icing (optional)

Sugar syrup

• ¼ cup of caster sugar dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water

Method

1. To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl and then beat in the egg. Once combined, add the flour, sugar and salt, and then the melted butter and mix until it is all combined. You may need to use your hands to bring it together. Leave for 10 minutes and then knead in the sultanas.
2. On a clean work surface, lightly oil an area of approximately 20cm x 20cm (you want to use a neutral vegetable oil). Place the dough on the oiled work surface and gently knead it (I only kneaded it for 1 – 2 minutes). Return to the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes and then repeat the kneading. If it sticks to the work surface just add a tiny bit more oil. Rest for a further 10 minutes and then knead lightly a final time (so three quick kneads in total).
3. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to rise by at least half for about an hour in a warm part of the kitchen.
4. To make the filling, melt the butter and add the cinnamon and brown sugar and mix until dissolved. Set aside to cool until needed.
5. After the dough has risen by at least half, place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into a large rectangle about 1cm thick. Brush the cinnamon filling evenly over the dough, making sure that every bit of the top is covered.
6. Working from the longer side, roll the dough tightly into a long log. Cut into 3cm “wheels” and place these in the baking tray (with the inside of the log facing up so you see the filling/scroll pattern). Each scroll should be almost touching the next. Tip – if like mine your baking tray is a bit long, fill the end with some aluminium foil. 
7. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise until they have almost doubled (about 30 minutes).
8. Preheat the oven to 200C fan forced (220C). Once the scrolls have risen, bake for about 15 minutes until they are golden.
9. While the scrolls are still warm, brush them with the sugar syrup and then set aside to cool. While they are cooling, make the icing by combining the icing sugar with the water (or coffee). Add a little of the liquid at a time until you get the consistency you want (thick if you want it thick, runnier if you want a thin icing like I did). I felt that the scroll would have been too sweet with too much icing, so I made mine quite thin.
10. Once the scrolls have cooled, spread, drizzle or pipe the icing on top. Enjoy!

Adapted from The Great Australian Bake Off Coffee Scrolls