Cinnamon Rolls

Method

1. mix5 min
   milk at 100–110°F
   warm milk + yeast + sugar + egg + flour + salt to a shaggy mass. The milk must feel barely warm on the wrist: above about 130°F it kills the yeast outright, and cold milk stalls the first rise into hours.
2. knead10 min
   by hand or dough hook, medium
   knead the shaggy dough smooth first, then work in the softened dough butter a spoonful at a time. Butter added at the start coats the flour and blocks gluten from linking, which is why an enriched dough kneaded all at once tears instead of stretching — the finished dough should pull into a translucent window.
3. proof90 min
   covered, 75–80°F
   until doubled and a poked dent fills back slowly. This dough is heavy with fat and egg, so it rises roughly half again as slowly as a lean bread dough; judge it by volume, never by the clock.
4. mix3 min
   room temperature
   softened filling butter + brown sugar + cinnamon creamed to a spreadable paste. Paste stays where you put it; melted butter runs down the spiral during the second proof, leaks into the pan, and fries the bottoms into a hard caramel sheet.
5. fold12 min
   lightly floured surface
   roll the dough to a rectangle about 9 by 12 inches, spread the paste to the edges but leave a bare half-inch on the far long side to seal, then roll up snugly from the near side. Roll tight and the coil has nowhere to expand and pushes its center up into a cone; roll loose and the layers separate into a hollow spiral. Cut four rolls with unwaxed floss or a very sharp serrated knife — pressing down with a chef's knife crushes the coil shut.
6. proof45 min
   covered, in a buttered 6-inch pan, sides touching
   until puffed and pressing against each other. Contact is the point: touching rolls can only rise upward, so their seams stay pale and soft while only the tops brown.
7. bake24 min
   350°F
   until the tops are deep gold and the center of the middle roll reads 190°F. Pulling them early leaves the coiled center gummy — the interior of a roll insulated on all sides is the last thing to set, and color on the top tells you nothing about it.
8. mix3 min
   room temperature
   cream cheese + powdered sugar + vanilla whisked smooth, then spread over the rolls when the pan is warm but no longer hot. On hot rolls the cream cheese breaks and slides off as a thin sugary liquid; on cold rolls the frosting sits on top instead of sinking a little into the crumb.