Recipe: Richard Hart’s Cult-Favourite, Queue-Creating Cinnamon Buns

In Copenhagen, a city famous for its food, standards are high. While visitors might flock to neo-Nordic Michelin darlings like Noma and Geranium, locals are joining queues in an attempt to reach the pinnacle of pastry. And many have found it at Hart Bageri, a cluster of bakeries from British baker Richard Hart that is backed by Noma’s Rene Redzepi.

Hart started his bread journey in California, before returning to Europe to join Noma as head baker. It wasn’t long before he struck out and opened Hart Bageri, where the sourdough has gained a cult status and its cinnamon buns – a golden edged on the outside and a pillowy woven middle – have legions of fans.

Even beyond Scandi shores, Hart has been recognised for his prowess: he worked with Lionel Boyce, who plays pastry chef Marcus in The Bear, to show him the ropes in the lead-up to filming season one. And recently he’s been appointed executive baker and creative director at the soon-to-launch bakery at London’s Claridge’s hotel. His notoriety is such that on his recent visit to Australia for Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, patrons flocked to join the queue at his pop-up bakery.

But you don’t need to board a flight to the northern hemisphere or wait for his next fleeting appearance Down Under to get your Hart fix. In late 2024 he released Bread, a cookbook that’s a manual for mastering baking. Alongside recipes for marbled rye, baguettes and bagels, he shares how to develop an intuition for great baking using your senses.

It also contains the recipe for Hart’s sticky-spicy-sweet cinnamon buns. They’ll take a little longer than an intercontinental flight; but once mastered will yield a lifetime supply of these burnished golden-brown buns.

“In searching for the best recipe for cinnamon buns, I’ve learned that the quality of the cinnamon is super important,” Hart writes in Bread. “The difference between freshly ground cinnamon and the dusty stuff you might have had lying in your cupboard for years is huge. Use the best and freshest you can get your hands on.”

Hart says these buns benefit from a little underproofing. You’ll need to devote two mornings to making the buns themselves, as well as five days to develop the rye starter. It pays to read through the recipe before beginning, including the rye starter recipe that follows the main recipe.

To make the cinnamon buns you will need the following equipment: mixing bowls, digital thermometer, flexible plastic dough scraper, bowl or pitcher of warm water (for rinsing), tea towel, stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, proofing container, 25cm round cake pan or 23cm square baking dish, palette knife, pastry brush, rolling pin, cooling rack.

For the rye starter recipe, you will need a jar or plastic container, flexible plastic dough scraper, digital thermometer, bowl or other vessel for water bath.

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Richard Hart’s cinnamon buns

Makes 8 121g buns
Preparation time: 1 hour 45 minutes, plus 5 days to develop the rye starter, 12.5 hours refrigeration, 1 hour 15 minutes resting, 1 hour bulk fermenting, 1 hour proofing
Cooking time: 17 minutes

Ingredients

60g softened butter (for coating the cake pan)

Starter
50g hot water (40°C)
50g whole wheat flour
20g 12-hour wheat or rye starter (see rye starter recipe below)

Dough
153g all-purpose flour
153g bread flour
41g sugar
31g milk powder
49g eggs
107g warm water (30°C)
92g freshly fed starter (above)
6g salt
3g instant dry yeast
77g butter
38g neutral oil

Cinnamon sugar
106g sugar
7g ground cinnamon
2g salt

Cinnamon schmear
115g softened butter
115g cinnamon sugar (above)

Method

Start by making your rye starter from the recipe at the bottom.

Once you have made your rye starter and are ready to bake your buns, you need to feed it using the Starter ingredients above. In a medium bowl, use your hands to mix the water, flour and the 12-hour starter you have made for a minute or so.

Take this mixture's temperature. At this point, it should be about 30°–35°C. Don’t worry if it isn’t in this range; simply place the bowl into a larger bowl of warm or cold water, if necessary, depending on which direction you need it to go. Make sure your dough scraper and a bowl of warm water are close at hand.

Scrape the excess mixture off your fingers back into the bowl, then rinse your hands in the bowl of warm water. Now, use your plastic scraper to push the starter mix together, getting everything off the insides of the bowl and into one cohesive body. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave the freshly fed starter in a warm, draft-free place. Set a timer for 45 minutes.

Once the starter is ready, it’s time to make your dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine both flours, the sugar, milk powder, eggs, water and starter and mix on medium speed to combine. The mixture will look wet at this point. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

Add the salt and yeast and mix the dough thoroughly on medium speed until it is completely smooth and very strong, around 10 minutes. Don’t rush this step, which will make the dough strong enough to absorb all the butter.

Now add half (38.5g) of the butter and mix the dough until it is fully incorporated. Add the remaining butter and mix again until it is fully incorporated. Be patient!

Now add the oil, half at a time. Allow the first half to be completely absorbed before adding the rest. Make sure all the fat is properly mixed in. Ideally, the dough shouldn’t be too warm (not higher than 28°C).

Transfer the dough to an oiled container large enough to hold double its size and allow it to bulk ferment at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the dough begins to look bubbly and the volume has slightly increased. Cover with a tea towel and refrigerate overnight, up to 12 hours.

Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sugar. In a bowl or other container, combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Cover and set aside.

The next day, once the dough has been bulk fermented, make the cinnamon schmear. In a small bowl, combine the butter and cinnamon sugar and mix until the sugar is well incorporated. Keep this mixture at room temperature so that it will spread easily across the dough.

Turn the chilled dough out onto your work surface. While the dough is still cold, use the rolling pin to roll it out into a 40cm x 30cm rectangle about 5mm thick.

Using a palette knife, small spatula, or butter knife, spread the schmear in an even layer over the dough, working quickly so that the dough doesn’t warm up.

With a long side of the rectangle facing you, roll it into a long log, starting from the top edge and rolling tightly to avoid leaving any air pockets. Transfer the log to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Use the pastry brush to brush the insides of the cake pan or baking dish with the softened butter, making sure to get into the corners and edges.

Remove the log from the fridge and use a sharp knife to cut it crosswise into 8 equal-sized pieces. Arrange the pieces in the prepared pan, leaving 1cm space between them. Let the buns proof in a warm place for 1 hour, until they have expanded to about one and a half times their original size. If you poke your finger into the dough, it should leave an impression but still spring back slightly. The dough is underproofed at this point, which will result in a moister baked bun.

Preheat the oven to 185°C.

Bake the buns for 15 to 17 minutes, until they are deep golden brown and the internal temperature is at least 98°C.

While they are still warm from the oven, invert the buns onto a cooling rack, watching out for any hot butter that might splash out from the pan. Serve warm.

Rye starter

Makes 175g (you will need 20g for the cinnamon buns recipe)
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus at least five days for fermentation

Ingredients

125g rye flour
125g warm water (28°C)

Method

Day one
In a clean jar or plastic container, combine 50g of the flour and 50g of the water and mix it well by hand to form a homogenous dough. It will be quite sticky. Use the dough scraper to scrape any excess from your fingers and back into the mixture.

Take its temperature. If it’s below 25°C, set the container in a larger container of warm water to bring it up a few degrees. The water should completely surround the starter container in order to insulate it. Don’t go crazy with boiling or scalding water, as there is an upper limit (55°C) to how warm the starter can be before you start to kill off the yeast and bacteria. Put a lid on the container.

Don’t expect much excitement in the first day or so. As long as you’re keeping the starter warm enough, you can leave it alone for 24 hours.

Day two
Check on your starter. To be honest, it probably won’t look all that different. It may have separated a bit, with some liquid at the top, and if that’s the case, just mix the liquid back in. Don’t worry! That’s just evidence that the process has started, but the mixture hasn’t entirely fermented yet. It’s completely normal, as unappetising as it may look.

Put your clean fingers into the mixture and stir it around a bit, to add some oxygen. Take its temperature and warm the container in warm water as necessary. Cover the container and let it sit again for 24 hours.

Day 3
By now, you should be seeing some noticeable bubbling and expansion in the mixture. Add 25g of the flour and 25g of the water and mix it in by hand. Scrape the excess off your fingers and add it to the mixture.

And if you’re still not seeing clear signs of life, don’t worry. Just check that it’s warm enough and wait another day.

Day 4
Check again for bubbling and expansion, which should be evident by day 4. Discard half the mixture and mix in the remaining 50g flour and 50g water.

If by day 4 there is no evidence of fermentation in your mixture, despite your having refreshed it and kept it warm, it’s quite likely that your starter is ruined. And definitely so if you see red or orange streaks of mould or other visible growths. You should chuck it out, buy some fresh flour, and start over.

Day 5 and beyond
At this point, you should have a nicely fermented starter, with real, clear signs of active life: bubbles and a steady rise in volume over the course of several hours, after which it will likely deflate a bit as the gas bubbles break through the surface. You are now ready to use this starter to make bread.

From here, you will maintain a daily feeding schedule by discarding about 90 per cent of it and refreshing it with flour and water, equal parts by weight. For a rye starter, you can do this once a day. For wheat, I recommend feeding it twice a day, which is what we do at my bakery, because it keeps the starter active and happy, and it fits best with our production schedule. Some bakers feed their wheat starter three times per day; some do it just once. I believe deeply in feeding your starter every day; it needs healthy, happy yeast to make great bread. Some people try to feed it less frequently or put it in the fridge, the idea being that the cold temperature slows down the whole process, allowing you to feed it less frequently. While that’s true, the fact is that the yeasts are also not multiplying happily. I don’t recommend it, but if you do this, you’ll need to bring it back to room temperature and give it a good feeding for a few days before it will make good bread for you.

For days when you’re not baking, you really don’t need to keep more than 100g of starter on hand. Every day, discard all but 10g of your starter and feed it 45g flour and 45g water. That way, it’s fed and healthy, and you’re not wasting too much flour keeping your starter happy and alive. For rye starter, you can do this once per day, and for wheat starter, do it twice a day, roughly 12 hours apart.

Rye starter tips

For the ideal container, I recommend a glass jar or transparent (or translucent) plastic container, so that you can see the bubbles and expansion happening. It ought to be taller than it is wide, to keep the surface area at a minimum.

I mix my starter by hand to get a feel for its viscosity, temperature, and texture. You could use a wooden spoon, but why not get into an intimate relationship with what you’re doing?

One last thing: antibacterial soaps are the standard in many kitchens, but as the name suggests, they kill bacteria, all bacteria, even the good ones. When you wash your hands to use them to mix the starter, I suggest using a simple bar soap that isn’t antibacterial.

Actually this is the last thing: if you’re too impatient to wait on the power of flour and water, just go to your local bakery. Ask really nicely if you can have some sourdough starter. Some bakeries will sell it to you, but I think that’s ridiculous. I’m happy to give it to anyone who asks. The more of us baking bread, the better.

This is an edited extract from Bread by Richard Hart, published by Hardie Grant Books.

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