The smell of cinnamon is the one that comes into my nose and goes straight into my heart. My grandma has always been using a lot of cinnamon in anything baked and I remember her kitchen often smelling like cinnamon roll when I was little. Especially on cold winter days she still bakes about five or six large strudels at one time (which makes the whole neighborhood smell like a french bakery) and feeds our whole family until everyone's full up. That's why I'm going to adore this strudel forever.
So here comes the recipe for you to try ...
Cinnamon Roll or Cinnamon Strudel
makes about 2 large rolls
dough
42gm fresh yeast
1.5 c warm milk
about 3/4 c sugar (it depends on how sweet you want your strudel to be)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
about 800gm white flour (or a bit more if needed)
cinnamon filling
1 Tabsp ground cinnamon
1 Tabsp sugar
Combine fresh yeast and the sugar with about 5 tablespoons of the warm milk. Let sit for a few minutes until bubbly.
Add remaining milk, eggs and salt. Whisk until well incorporated.
Sieve over flour and whisk, then knead in. Continue kneading for about 3 - 4 minutes. Add a bit more flour if needed. The dough should be smooth and elastic but still slightly stick to your fingers.
Place into a bowl (make sure that you use a glass bowl otherwise the yeast might not incorporate that well). Let rise at a very warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
Remove dough from glass bowl.
Combine ground cinnamon and sugar.
Knead the dough again, for about 2 minutes until it is very soft and elastic.
Use a roller to roll it out into a thin sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture and roll up again.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place strudel onto the baking sheet and let rise at a warm place as well, for about 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 175C. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool.
(I have to admit that I can never wait until the strudel has cooled completely, I just have to eat one or two slices when it's still hot. Despite of knowing that eating hot yeasted cakes is not good for the stomach it's so delicious that I can't keep my hands off.)
