I have found cinnamon rolls to be one of the most difficult (and satisfying) recipes to develop gluten-free. For me, a good cinnamon roll is supposed to have a fluffy, doughy, soft feel to it. And let me tell you, that's a challenge to replicate gluten-free, especially without the use of psyllium husks, which I choose not to use because I dislike the smell, and it's not allowed per cottage food laws in CA. And so here we are, I have spent over a year developing and perfecting my gluten-free cinnamon rolls recipe for the bakery, and I'm ready to share it with you!
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Ingredients
The most important ingredient here is the gluten-free bread flour. The recipe was formulated specifically using the DIY blend I use in my bakery, and makes use of gluten-free flours that absorb a lot of water. This is important to promote a strong oven spring, while creating a dough that can be rolled and cut without breaking.
In the frosting, I use a horchata emulsion. It pairs SO well with the cinnamon in the roll! I use this one from LorAnn.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
I have created a video with step-by-step instructions for making the dough and shaping the gluten-free cinnamon rolls. If you've never made cinnamon rolls before, this will be a helpful resource, so you can see the texture of the dough (it's sticky!) and get a feel for shaping.
Hint: you MUST let the dough absorb water in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or it will not be workable.
Substitutions
The allergens in this recipe are: milk, eggs. It's possible to make these dairy-free, but egg-free may be tricky. I'll report back when I try it!
- Dairy-free - milk is in 2 places in this recipe
- butter: replace with a vegan alternative, I like coconut based
- buttermilk powder: omit, and replace the water with a homemade vegan buttermilk (vegan milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice to curdle)
Variations
You should be able to use this dough to make all kinds of rolls! Sticky rolls, lemon rolls, raspberry-cream cheese rolls, pumpkin rolls!
I will post those recipes when I get to try them, as adding fruits will require slight adjustments to the hydration ratio.
You can also of course change my horchata frosting to a simple glaze, or a cream cheese frosting.
Equipment
You'll need:
- a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
- a rolling mat and pin
- a pizza cutter
- an 8 or 9 inch round pan
Storage
If you make the gluten-free cinnamon rolls as written (with horchata buttercream), the result is shelf-stable. These can be stored at room temperature for 3 days. They are definitely much more delicious when still slightly warm out of the oven, and I found that microwaving the rolls for ~5-10 seconds will soften/freshen up the dough.
You can freeze cinnamon rolls, wrapped in plastic and stored in an airtight container. Thaw to room temperature, microwave a few seconds, and enjoy!
Top tip
Don't use too much gluten-free flour when you are shaping the rolls. Yes, they're a little sticky, messy and wet (that's due to no psyllium husks). But you can use a bench scraper if needed to roll the dough. Using too much gluten-free flour in the shaping step will make for a cinnamon roll that is dry.
FAQ
This is a bread recipe, and no bread recipes on my blog have volume measurements, sorry. It requires very precise measurements, and I just want to set you up for success. Please take a look at my post on the advantages of weighing gluten-free ingredients. The smaller measurements like salt and yeast have their volume equivalents in the recipe card.
Yes and no! This recipe was designed specifically for an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. The rolls fit and rise perfectly, touching slightly, when baked. You can absolutely adjust the ratio to make any number of rolls you would like, but I think most household have a cake pan this size.
Related
Looking for other recipes with gluten-free bread flour?
Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer with paddle attachment
- 1 rolling pin & mat
- 1 pizza wheel cutter
- 1 round pan 8 or 9 inch
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 350 grams Naëlle's gluten-free bread flour please click through, you must use this blend
- 32 grams buttermilk powder you may omit, and replace the water with buttermilk
- 6 grams yeast 2 teaspoon
- 5 grams baking powder 1 teaspoon
- 30 grams brown sugar
- 6 grams salt 1 teaspoon
- 26 grams butter room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 240 grams water
For the Filling
- 20 grams GF flour any 1:1 mix for shaping
- 42 grams butter soft
- 125 grams brown sugar
- 6 grams cinnamon 2 teaspoon
- 10 grams milk to soften dough right before baking, ~ 1 tablespoon
For the Frosting
- 60 grams butter salted, soft
- 120 grams powdered sugar
- 2 grams horchata emulsion ½ teaspoon
Instructions
Making the Dough
- In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add all the dry ingredients, and combine.
- Add the butter, eggs and water, and mix on medium speed for 6 minutes.
- When the dough is like a thick batter, transfer it to a container. Cover and refrigerate 4-24 hours.
Shaping the Dough
- Please note there is a video in the instruction portion of this post that I recommend watching, especially if this is your first time baking cinnamon rolls.
- On a rolling mat lightly floured with any 1:1 GF blend, turn out the cold dough.
- Using as little GF flour as possible (just enough to not stick), roll out roughly a 10x12 inch rectangle.
- Spread room temperature butter onto the dough.
- Add the brown sugar mixed with cinnamon on top of the butter.
- Using a pizza wheel cutter, cut seven strips of ~1.5 inch width. These strips are 10 inch long.
- Roll each individual strips into a tight cylinder. This step is sticky, you may need to lightly GF-flour your fingers to roll the cylinder.
- Place each of the seven cinnamon rolls into a greased cake pan (8 or 9 inch). There should be one roll in the middle, with six surrounding it.
- Cover the dough with plastic and let rise ~50%. It took an hour in my home kept at 70 °F (21 °C)
Baking the Rolls
- Towards the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- Add ice to a glass tray and set it to the lowest rack of the oven. This will create rising steam.
- Add milk drop-wise to each of the roll, to moisten the dough.
- Put the cinnamon rolls into the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake 15 minutes, then cover the rolls with foil.
- Bake an additional 10 minutes, for a total baking time of 25 minutes.
- Take the rolls out of the oven and let cool. The cinnamon rolls are done when the dough is set, yet still slightly bouncy.
Making the Frosting
- Using an electric mixer, cream the butter for 2-3 minutes, until light, white and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar and horchata emulsion (Note that you can use cream cheese frosting too)
- Continue mixing the frosting for 3-4 minutes, until all the powdered sugar has been incorporated, and the frosting is airy, light and white.
- Once the cinnamon rolls have cooled so they are not hot to the touch but still warm, frost them.
- Enjoy best slightly warm!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
This recipe has been one year in the making! I hope you like it!