Franzbrötchen (German cinnamon pastry)
from https://mygerman.recipes/

Franzbrötchen are a beloved traditional specialty from Hamburg and the original is only available in Hamburg. You will not find this in bakeries in other parts of Germany though a few cities are recently trying to copy them. The dough makes all the difference. Franzbrötchen requires a sweet puff pastry dough with vanilla in it.

[Note, although the author of the recipe calls this a puff pastry dough, it is technically a Danish pastry dough. Puff pastry is not made with yeast, is not sweeten nor flavored with vanilla, and this dough has a total of 6 layers of butter while puff pastry has hundreds. Some Danish pastry doughs have up to 20 layers. Wisconsin Kringles have 24 layers.]

You can’t bake these rolls in a day or two hours. They are a piece of art and need a lot of resting time and two pre-doughs to develop flavor. Plan two days to make this recipe. Day one makes the pre-doughs. Day two make the main dough using the pre-doughs and the remaining ingredients, make the puff pastry, roll, shape and bake.

Puff Pastry is made from layers of dough and butter. The way it is made is wrapping a large, thin slice of butter into a dough that contains a little yeast. Then you fold this wrapped butter several times, creating more layers the more you fold it. In this recipe, you want to have 6 layers of butter in the dough, so you first fold it in halves, which creates 2 layers of butter and then fold it in thirds which then results in 6 layers.

Franzbrötchen Freeze Very Well

Since making them is a little time consuming, it makes sense to make a lot of Franzbrötchen at once and then freeze most of them. After thawing, they will taste just the same if they were fresh. Warming them up in the pre-heated oven for a few minutes, even gives them the “freshly from the oven” vibe and nobody would ever guess that they have ever been in the freezer!

If you still want your Franzbrötchen fresh from the oven but want to be able to prepare them ahead: Prepare the puff pastry as described in this recipe to where the puff pastry has to rest and instead freeze it. Thaw the pastry dough when you want to make them, and continue from the step with the filling.

Tip

You want to keep your ingredients and dough cold until before baking: The yeast in the main dough should not become active before the rolls are shaped!

Franzbrötchen Recipe

The recipe calls for about 4 cups of flour.

Pre-Dough 1
100 g All Purpose Flour (regular flour)
100 ml Milk
2 g dry Yeast or 13 g / 1 tbsp of sourdough starter

Pre-Dough 2
25 g All Purpose Flour (regular flour)
125 ml Milk
3 g Salt

To make the Main Dough
Pre-Dough 1
Pre-Dough 2
375 g All Purpose Flour (regular flour)
30 ml Whole Milk, cold
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 ct. Eggs, cold
60 g Sugar
4 g dry yeast
60 g unsalted Butter,

To make the dough into Puff Pastry
Main Dough
250 g unsalted Butter, cold but soft enough to cut into slices

Filling
200 g sugar
3 tsp. ground Cinnamon prefer Ceylon-Cinnamon over Cassia Cinnamon
4-6 tbsp. unsalted Butter softened

Day 1, making the Pre-Doughs

In a small bowl, mix the 100g flour, 100 ml milk and 2 g yeast. Cover and set aside for 20 hours. If you are living in a warm area: Keep it in the fridge.

In a saucepan, mix the 25 g of flour, 125 ml milk, and 3 g salt and bring to a boil while constantly stirring. Turn off the heat when it is thickening and continue to stir for one minute. Then put the pre-dough aside for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Making the Main Dough

Put all ingredients, except the butter and sugar (!) into a mixer bowl. Add both of the pre-doughs.

Start mixing with the kneading attachment of your mixer. Mix on slow for 5 minutes, then add the soft butter and the sugar. Knead for another 5 minutes on high.

Put the dough onto a cold surface and give it a quick knead. Add flour if it's too sticky to work with it. Then shape into a sphere, but back into the bowl, cover, and let rest in the fridge for 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, on a large sheet of parchment paper, draw a rectangle of 25 x 20 cm (9¾ x 7½ inches). Turn the side with the drawing to the bottom, so you can see it through the paper.

Cut the butter into slices and place the slices into the rectangle to cover most of the space. Use a second sheet of parchment paper and put on top. With a rolling pin, roll & spread the butter to an even layer, covering the entire rectangle.

Put into the fridge to become hard again.

Making the Puff-Pastry

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out so it is larger than the rectangle of the butter.

Take the butter from the fridge and place it in the center of the dough. Next, take the sides of the dough and flip them on top of the butter, so the butter is completely wrapped in dough.

Use the rolling pin to close the seams.

Now fold the dough in halves, creating two layers with butter. Roll out with the rolling pin, make sure the butter stays inside.

Next, fold the upper end to a third and the lower end to a third, creating an overall of 6 layers with butter. Wrap it into the parchment paper and put into the fridge until the butter is hard again (about 60 minutes).

Make the Filling & Shape

For the filling, mix the 200g sugar and 3 tsp. cinnamon. Then mix this with the soft butter.

Get the dough out of the fridge and roll it out as large as you can.

Spread the filling onto the entire top of the dough.

Starting from the longer side, roll the dough tight to a large role.

Take a knife and cut the roll into slices 4 cm /1½'' wide. The best way to do this is cutting trapezoids that are almost rectangles (see photo).

Turn the short side of the trapezoid to the top, then press the handle of a wooden spoon into this end, pressing down almost all the way. This creates some sort of butterfly shape.

Place the shaped slices on a baking sheet.

Cover and let rest in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until the rolls have visibly increased in their size.

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F.

Either place a bowl with hot water into the oven or spray the oven walls with water when you place the baking sheets into the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the Franzbrötchen are golden brown.

Remove and let cool. Enjoy either slightly warm or cold.

Servings 12 ct