Kanelbulle (Cinnamon Bun)

This Swedish sweet bun has streaks of butter and cinnamon running through a soft bread dough. A kanelbulle is made by layering a sweet filling with a yeasted wheat dough. The plural is kanelbullar. Cardamom is mixed throughout the dough, while cinnamon goes into the filling, so the aroma is not uniform. The swirl and the knot are two forms made from the same ingredients, differing only in how they are arranged.

Rolling a cinnamon filling into a yeasted dough

In the basic method, a starter dough of milk, yeast, flour and other ingredients is fermented first; then butter, eggs, the remaining flour and cardamom are added and the dough is kneaded thoroughly. The filling, meanwhile, is a mixture of soft butter, sugar and cinnamon. Because the spices go in different places, dense lines of fat and sugar run through the fluffy dough, and the cardamom and cinnamon perfume separate layers.

The dough needs stretch and cohesion so that it can be rolled out thin, folded, cut into thin strips and twisted. Unlike sablé dough, which is mixed as little as possible, this dough is kneaded to form a gluten network that holds the gas produced during fermentation. Dough that has been kneaded well enough to stretch is less likely to tear when cut into strips and knotted.

When the dough is spread with the filling, rolled into a long log and sliced into rounds, a swirl appears on the cut face. When folded dough is cut into strips and knotted, on the other hand, streaks of spice also show on the surface. Which surfaces brown and how the aroma is distributed differ, but in both cases the filling stays inside a soft bread; the structure is not one in which thin layers of dough flake apart, as in puff pastry.

A cinnamon bun photographed in Stockholm. The twisted strands of dough and the sugar grains on the surface are visible. Photo: Kritzolina, 2019-08-13, Stockholm, Sweden. Original image / CC BY-SA 4.0. Reduced-size version from the source, with no further processing.

Letting the dough rise fully after shaping as well

In the recipe (ingredient proportions and method) by cook Lisa Lemke, the shaped dough is left for several hours in a cool place such as a cellar and then moved to room temperature until it becomes puffy. This method uses both a cool place and room temperature. Making the first dough, kneading after the fat and other ingredients are added, and the rise after shaping all create the softness inside the twisted buns.

The surface is brushed with egg and sprinkled with sugar grains or cardamom sugar so that it browns during baking. This finish differs from that of the cinnamon rolls commonly seen in the United States, which are topped with a thick layer of white frosting. Each shop also has its own approach, so even among sweets rolled with cinnamon, the use of a glaze and the way they are finished vary.

The spread of rolling and slicing

The form made by spreading butter, sugar and cinnamon on the dough, rolling it up and slicing it into rounds in one go is also called kanelsnäcka, meaning “cinnamon snail.” Sweden’s Institute for Language and Folklore explains that this method spread in the 1960s as a way to speed up production. Slicing is faster than knotting each bun by hand, and the difference in shape reflects the amount of work in bread baking.

Early uses of the name and the spread of today’s method

Kanel came into Swedish through German and French and is linked to the Latin canna, “tube.” The shape of the rolled bark survives in the name of this spice. Bulle is an old Swedish word for something swollen or round, and it has referred to bread since at least the 17th century. Old words for a spice and for a round bread came together in the later name of the sweet.

An example of the name in early use appears on page 4 of Åmåls Weckoblad of December 15, 1857, where kanelbullar are listed alongside malt bread and saffron bread.

Visit Sweden dates the emergence of the method that led to today’s buns to after World War I, and dates the period when ingredients became easier to obtain and the buns spread widely to the 1950s. Even though the name appeared as an item in newspapers, it still took time for the form made at home to become widely established.

October 4, a day for bringing buns to others

Cinnamon Bun Day began in 1999. Its originator, Kaeth Gardestedt, told public television that for the 40th anniversary of the Home Baking Council, the cinnamon bun was chosen as a bread that is easy to make and liked by everyone. At first she reached out to acquaintances by phone and fax, and the day spread slowly.

What mattered to her was showing kindness to neighbors and friends. She also described people putting buns they had baked in a bag and hanging it on the handle of someone’s front door. Cinnamon Bun Day is not only a day for buying buns at shops but also a day for baking them at home and handing them out. The signature bun of fika, a time for sharing coffee and a break together, has taken on the added role of being brought to someone.

Glossary