Need Help with Cinnamon Roll Filling
I am working really hard at making the absolute BEST cinnamon rolls. I have an amazing recipe that a lot of people have claimed is the best cinnamon roll they have ever had...but...I can't stand how they look. It seems like after baking, they're nice and puffy and the coils are tightly stuck together, however, when they start to cool they shrink and the coils separate. I've tried adding Guar gum which helped but made the filling too gooey (if you can imagine) and is honestly just too expensive. I've also tried cornstarch which helped a little bit but not enough. Lastly I tried just brushing egg white on the dough before adding the filling and completely omitting the butter, This technique helped the most but compromised the taste of my rolls. Do you think I could brush the dough with the egg whites and then add my filling but still include the butter and get a yummy roll where the coils stay together after cooling?
I can't offer any thoughts as I've never had a problem like you describe, but in general, you'll get better suggestions if you provide complete info on what you're doing that leads to your issue.
I have had good luck with using whole eggs wipped and no butter. (Lots of butter in the dough.) My cinnamon mix is sugar, cinnamon and a little salt.
deblacksmith
I used to use plenty of butter in my filling spread as well, and had the same issue you describe. I have increased the butter content in my base dough, and only used a small amount of butter in my filling mix, using a buttercream frosting for the tops. This helped me the most in keeping them together. Another possibility is to bake the rolls in large "texas style" muffin pans, so they don't bunch up together.
1. Over kneading--if you over knead and develop too much gluten, the strong dough will cause pull back (shrinking) after the steam dissipates.
2. Over rising results in too weak a dough...the result is collapse of the structure after it cools.
3. Butter in the filling. Are you spreading soft butter directly on the dough before adding cinnamon sugar? Try spreading cinnamon sugar mixture first, then just adding dots of a butter cinnamon sugar cumb over it.