An Iced honey bun is the last thing that I’ve baked since my previous post of blueberry eclairs. I’ve been doing other baking since then, just haven’t had a chance to sit down and do the writeups. Never mind the pressure to do videos of everything now. But I do enjoy writing these when I get the chance. Like a live journal hidden in plain site. I find it more appealing to just focus on the baking aspect of it and not worry about getting the right shot for each step of the process. Clearly, I mean my prep photos aren’t staged like the final photos are. I find a calmness in being able to focus on doing just one thing. Like meditation, but with snacks at the end. Here we go!
Honey Bun Dough
Combine 40 grams of the bread flour with 177ml of water in a small saucepan and whisk until combined. Place the pan over medium heat and stir constantly. Once thickened to a runny paste consistency after 1-2 minutes, remove from heat and transfer to bowl. Chill, uncovered, until cold, roughly 2 hours.
Make the dough by combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, adding butter and tangzhong. There isn’t a whole lot to this. I mean, the recipe is straightforward and there isn’t anything special I’m telling you here. I mean, make sure your butter is at room temp at least. The softer the butter is the easier it will be to incorporate and the less time you’ll have to knead the dough. I’ve got no idea why the tangzhong has to cool. If I had to guess, it’s because the flour holds onto more liquid when it’s cool so it helps with improved rise, dough being easier to work with and quicker to prove.
Dough Filling
While the dough is proofing, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, add the sugars, butter, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Mix until light and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag or sealable plastic bag and leave at room temp until ready to use. The filling can be made ahead of time, just let it come to room temperature before using.
Anyway, once the dough is proofed, turn out onto a floured work surface and knock back the dough, adding flour as necessary. Weigh out nine equal pieces of dough. Roll each piece into a rope roughly 30″ long. Press the roll down with your palm so that the rope is a rectangle roughly 3/4″ wide. Add the filling down the center of each rectangle. Roll the dough strip up, tucking the end underneath the bottom.
Place on a lined baking sheet 2 inches apart to allow space for the buns to proof. Note how some of the buns look weird when proofed. That’s because I didn’t press the center of the roll down. The buns should have a rounded top, not a point.
Once the buns have doubled in size, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and bake at 450 for ten minutes. Rotate the tray and bake until golden brown, another 6 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and let cool for ten minutes while you make the icing.
Icing Instructions
One piece of advice is to make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature and give it plenty of time to warm up. This will make whipping the icing up by hand super easy. Mix the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, and salt. Once the ingredients are combined, whisk in the powdered sugar.
Brush the rolls generously with the icing. Let the iced honey bun cool for a few minutes and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat the buns in the oven at 250 for a few minutes.
Iced Honey Buns Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Sauce Pan
- baking tray w/ parchment paper
Ingredients
Dough
- 570 grams Bread Flour (4¾ + ⅓ cup)
- 177 grams water, room temp (¾ cup)
- 2 tbsp milk powder
- 2¼ tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 tsp Dry Yeast
- 1 Large Egg (room temperature)
- 237 grams whole milk (1 cup)(room temperature)
- 42 grams Honey (2 tbsp)
- 56 grams unsalted butter, room temp (4 tbsp)(cut into pieces)
Filling
- 100 grams granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 100 grams Brown sugar (½ cup)
- 113 grams unsalted butter, room temp (1 stick)
- 42 grams Honey (2 tbsp)
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- pinch of kosher salt
Honey Bun Icing
- 57 grams Cream cheese (2 oz)
- 56 grams unsalted butter, room temp (4 tbsp)
- 85 grams Honey (¼ cup)
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 28 grams Powdered Sugar (¼ cup)
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Dough Instructions
- Make tangzhong by whisking 40g (⅓ cup) bread flour and 177g (¾ cup) water in a small saucepan until combined. Set over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened to a runny paste, 1–2 minutes. Transfer tangzhong to a small bowl and chill, uncovered, until cold, at least 2 hours
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk milk powder, salt, yeast, and the rest of the bread flour until combined. In a separate bowl, add one egg, the milk and honey and mix until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer along with the tangzhong and butter.
- Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until a shaggy dough comes together, around 14 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and once the dough springs back when you poke it, around 9 minutes, turn mixer off.
- Lightly coat a large bowl with butter or cooking spray. Transfer dough to bowl and lightly coat top of dough with nonstick spray. Cover with cling film and chill dough at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
- Prepare the filling and icing while the dough is proofing
Dough Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the granulated and brown sugar along with the butter, honey, cinnamon, vanilla paste, and salt. Mix using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, around 2 minutes.
- Transfer filling into a pastry bag and set aside at room temperature. Filling can be made a day in advance and stored in fridge, just bring to room temperature before using.
Icing Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the cream cheese, butter, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until combined. Once the ingredients are fully incorporated, add the powdered sugar and whisk to incorporate.
- Set the bowl of icing aside until ready to use. Icing can be stored in the fridge. Place a layer of cling film over the icing to prevent a skin from forming.
Honey Bun Assembly
- Once dough has doubled in size, urn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; dust top with flour. Knock back dough and then weigh out nine equal pieces. Using moderate pressure, roll each piece into a 30" rope, dusting surface with just enough flour to prevent sticking. Let dough ropes rest for 5 minutes.
- Take one rope of dough and flatten to a rectangle roughly ¾" wide. Make sure the filling is pliable but firm. Pipe a thin strip of filling down the center of each flattened dough rope. Repeat with the other 8 ropes. Working one at a time, roll each rope up to create a spiral. Lay down on parchment lined baking tray and tuck end underneath to prevent unraveling. The buns should be slightly domed, not pointed. Push centers in if needed. Repeat with the other 8 rolls. Arrange on baking tray with ½" between rolls.
- Cover honey buns with a tea towel or piece of cling film and let proof until doubled in size, around 75 minutes.
- Preheat to 450°F and place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Bake buns 10 minutes. Rotate baking sheet and continue to bake until buns are golden brown on top, 6–8 minutes.
- Let cool 5 minutes. Take icing and generously brush buns with icing. Serve while still warm.
- Store any leftovers in airtight container in the fridge. Reheat in the oven at 250°F for 3-5 minutes
