Solboller - Norwegian Sun Buns with Cinnamon and Vanilla Cream

How to prepare solboller - norwegian sun buns with cinnamon and vanilla cream

1. For the dough, start with the tangzhong: mix the flour and water in a small saucepan and place over heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until you get a thick cream, like a paste (about 2 minutes). Put the paste in the stand mixer/bread machine.
2. In a cup, put the yeast, a pinch of sugar, and warm milk. Leave for 10 minutes in a warm place (I put it next to the lit stovetop burner), until it foams on top. Pour this starter over the tangzhong.
3. Then add to the mixing bowl the eggs, flour, sugar, and salt. Knead for 5 minutes in the mixer (or one cycle in the bread machine).
4. Start the mixer again for 8 minutes and add the butter in small portions, adding each portion after the previous one is incorporated (you'll see that the dough separates into pieces when you add the butter and then comes back together, at that point you can add the next portion). It takes about 3 minutes to add all the butter. Let the machine finish kneading for the full 8 minutes (or the entire cycle in the bread machine).
5. Transfer the dough to a bowl greased with a little oil and let rise in a warm place (I put it in the oven at 30C) for 1 hour.
6. While the dough rises, prepare the vanilla cream following the steps here. The only difference is the smaller amount of cornstarch so the cream comes out softer. When cooled, transfer the cream to a pastry bag, it will be easier to pipe into the buns.
8. For the flavored butter, beat the butter with sugar until creamy, then add the cinnamon. You can do this step by hand or with a mixer. Taste the butter, it's delicious!
9. Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Roll it into a sheet of 35cm x 45cm, as evenly as you can.
10. Spread the sheet with a thin layer of cinnamon butter. It spreads easily using a spatula or the flat side of a table knife.
11. With a pastry wheel, cut strips of 3cm on the 35cm side. You'll get 10 strips.
12. Roll each strip not too tightly and transfer the resulting roll to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place the rolls apart from each other so they have room to rise.
14. With your fingers, press in the center of the rolls to make a depression as wide as possible. With the pastry bag, fill the depressions to the top with vanilla cream.
15. Put the tray in a plastic bag and let the rolls rise in a warm place (this time I place them next to the hot radiator) for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C.
16. Bake the rolls at 180C for 30 minutes or until nicely golden.
17. Let the rolls cool, then you can dust them with powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon.

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