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Kanelbullar Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Kanelbullar are Swedish cinnamon buns made with a cardamom-spiced dough and twisted into knots rather than rolls. The cardamom and cinnamon combination is absolutely delicious and they tend to be a bit less sweet than American cinnamon buns even before icing is factored in. We experimented with making these buns using sourdough versus instant yeast, as well as 100% whole grain flours versus 25% whole grain flour and 75% all purpose flour. The results were delicious across the board but indeed quite different.
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Sourdough leavening, even with a sweet stiff starter build, gave the kanelbullar a slight twang. This was delicious in the opinion of our taste testers, but if you’re aiming for no sourness, using instant yeast is a simple alternative.
Red fife on left; White sonora on right
In the whole grain bakes, red fife wheat added more baking spice aromas and a mild wheaty flavor to the kanelbullar, while white sonora wheat added a light nuttiness to the flavor. The whole grain bakes came out less poofy, and a gentle touch was needed when twisting and knotting the dough to avoid tearing it.
There is a kanelbullar shaping video on YouTube we found particularly helpful, but you can also try other shaping methods and bun sizes with this dough. Make sure you check out the Photo Gallery after the recipe for process pics.
Surprisingly we didn’t find it necessary to change the hydration of the various doughs. The mostly all purpose flour dough felt a bit wetter with the same amount of liquid, but it was also stronger having less bran and germ therefore more manageable.
Over the course of test baking, we shifted the filling recipe to have more brown sugar at the urging of the taste testers, and less butter because of how much was oozing out in early batches. With a tip from a Breadtopia community member on Instagram, we also added cornstarch to the filling (flour would be fine too) to help keep it in the buns as they bake.
Kanelbullar Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Swedish Cinnamon Buns or "Kanelbullar" are quite the sensory treat with their cardamom infused dough and sweet cinnamon filling. Try these with all whole grain flour or for a fluffier result, a mix of all purpose flour and aromatic red fife whole grain flour. You can explore both yeast and sourdough options as well.
Ingredients
Dough (See Notes for flour variations)
Filling
Topping
Instructions
Mixing and First Rise
Filling Prep
Assembly and Second Rise
Baking
Notes
You can try this recipe with different flours and wheat varieties. With a very strong whole grain flour e.g. yecora rojo, you will probably want to up the dough hydration. In contrast, a less thirsty wheat like spelt may need less water, and a low gluten flour like einkorn could be quite challenging to twist without tearing the dough.
To build the sweet stiff sourdough starter for the sourdough version, feed as follows and let ripen for 8-12 hours or until at least double in size:
Photo Gallery (mix of batches)
Shopping List
Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls — Set of 3
$39.99Stainless Steel Measuring Cup Set (4 pc)
$22.00Original price was: $22.00.$14.95Current price is: $14.95.Magnetic Measuring Spoons
$17.00Dough and Storage Bucket w/Lid – 2 qt. Square
All Purpose Flour
Heirloom Red Fife Wheat Berries
Red Fife Whole Grain Flour
White Sonora Wheat Berries
White Sonora Whole Grain Flour
$11.75 – $102.70JK Adams Wooden Patisserie Rolling Pin
$42.00Bench Knife by Lamson — Walnut Handle
USA Pan Half Sheet Pan
$23.00Parchment Paper Sheets — 200 Sheets
$19.00Kanelbullar Swedish Cinnamon Buns