Mini Orange Cinnamon Buns

When we lived in San Francisco there was a famous bakery called Tartine. They were especially known for their morning buns. We went there once and waited about an hour to get in the door. I didn't get to try the morning buns that time and have always wondered what was so good about them. Their recipe was made from croissant dough. Though upon reading reviews of bloggers making them with croissant dough, I decided to make them from a buttery brioche-like dough. Bloggers said the croissant dough made their buns greasy, soggy, or that the butter leaked out of the muffin tins and burned in the bottom of the oven. These came out soft and sweet with a hint of citrus.

Mini Orange Cinnamon Buns

Inspired by The Baking Barrister's Tartine's Morning Buns

Makes 4 dozen mini buns

Starter:

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup whole milk, warm

2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted

Bread Dough:

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. milk, warm

2 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

6 oz. (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Cinnamon Sugar:

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

zest of 2 oranges

2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

pinch salt

1/2 stick butter (56. 5g), melted

1. First, make the starter. Dissolve sugar in warm milk in a stand mixer bowl. Stir in yeast and flour. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about an hour or until starter has doubled.

2. In a small bowl, stir salt and sugar into warm milk until dissolved. Add eggs to the starter and mix with hook attachment. Slowly add in flour and mix until dough forms.

3. Add half of the butter and mix until dough is smooth and elastic. Add the other half of the butter and mix for 1 minute.

4. Grease a large clean bowl. Put dough in the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 3 hours until doubled in size. You can also place the dough in the fridge to rise overnight.

5. Grease 2 mini muffin tins with butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

6. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, orange zest, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. Roll the dough out to a 12 x 15" rectangle. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with  3/4 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll each piece of dough into a tight coil and use a knife or bench cutter to cut 1 inch slices. Place into mini muffin tins. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cover a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place beneath muffin tins to catch any butter drips. Bake for 10 minutes until light brown on edges. Cool slightly in tins. Remove and roll in remaining cinnamon sugar.