Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gstrong white flour
- 7 ginstant yeast
- 250 mlwarm milk
- 60 gsugar
- 1 tspsalt
- 1egg
- 60 gbutter, softened
Laminating
- 250 gcold butter
Filling
- 100 gbutter, softened
- 150 gsugar
- 3 tbspground cinnamon
Directions
- Make a soft yeasted dough with the flour, yeast, milk, sugar, salt, egg and softened butter, kneading for 8 minutes.
- Chill it for 1 hour, until it is firm enough to hold a butter block without the two merging together.
- Laminate it: roll the dough out, enclose the cold butter block, and give it three single folds with a 30-minute chill between each one.
- Keep everything cold throughout. Butter that softens and merges into the dough gives you a brioche rather than a laminated pastry, and the layers are what caramelise.
- Roll the laminated dough out into a large rectangle about 5 mm thick.
- Spread the softened butter over it and scatter the cinnamon sugar heavily and evenly across the whole surface.
- Roll it up tightly from the long side into a log.
- Cut the log into pieces about 4 cm wide.
- Now the step that makes it a Franzbrötchen: stand each piece on end and press down hard through the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon, so the spiral splays out on both sides.
- Press hard and press right through. That squashing is the whole identity of the pastry, and it forces the cinnamon sugar out to the edges where it caramelises against the tray.
- Set them well apart on lined trays and prove for 45 minutes.
- Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 18 to 20 minutes, until deep golden with a dark caramelised base.
- Lift them off the paper while still warm, or the caramel sets hard and glues them down.
- It is a Hamburg speciality, said to derive from French-style baking during the Napoleonic occupation of the city.
Technique
- The caramelised base is the best part and it comes from sugar escaping onto the tray. Do not try to prevent it.
- Space them well apart, because they spread considerably once pressed.
- They are a Hamburg breakfast and they are eaten within hours of baking.
Substitutions
- Shop-bought all-butter puff pastry, which skips the lamination and is a genuine compromise.
- A rolling pin handle or the back of a knife in place of a wooden spoon handle.
Variations
- With raisins rolled in alongside the cinnamon.
- With a chocolate or poppy seed filling, both sold in Hamburg.
- Made small, as Franzbrötchen for a coffee tray.
History
A Hamburg speciality said to derive from French-style baking during the Napoleonic occupation of the city.
Frequently asked questions
What is Franzbrötchen?
Franzbrötchen is a bread & pastry from Germany: squashed cinnamon-sugar pastry roll, caramelised at the base. A Hamburg speciality said to derive from French-style baking during the Napoleonic occupation of the city.
How long does Franzbrötchen take to make?
Franzbrötchen takes 1 hr plus 2 hr 30 min chilling and rising of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 pastries. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Franzbrötchen?
Yes, within limits. Shop-bought all-butter puff pastry, which skips the lamination and is a genuine compromise. A rolling pin handle or the back of a knife in place of a wooden spoon handle.
What is the most important thing to get right in Franzbrötchen?
Keep everything cold throughout. Butter that softens and merges into the dough gives you a brioche rather than a laminated pastry, and the layers are what caramelise.
