Flaky Cinnamon Rolls ('Franzbrötchen')

Prepare the Danish pastry:

Take the butter that you use for laminating the dough out of the fridge.

Combine all the ingredients except for the butter used for lamination in a bowl and briefly mix the dough together either by machine or by hand. Don't knead the dough to develop any gluten. Once it is homogenous, set it aside.

Roll out the dough on a floured work surface into a rectangle. The dough sheet should be about 1/2-inch (1-1.5 cm) thick. Flour another part of your work surface and roll out the butter into a square that is a little smaller than the short side of your rectangle. Place the butter on one half of your dough rectangle and wrap it inside by folding the other dough half on top of the butter. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Place the rested dough on a floured work surface and roll it out lengthwise into a long rectangle. Fold 1/3 of the rectangle inward. Then fold the remaining third of dough from the other side on top of the folded dough so that you have 3 even layers. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Repeat two more times so that you have laminated the dough 3 times total. It's best to alternate the direction in which you roll out the dough during each lamination step to get an even result. Always roll out the dough against the direction of the last fold.

Let the finished dough rest in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours or overnight before rolling it out thinly.

Prepare and bake the cinnamon rolls:

Take your rested Danish pastry out of the fridge and roll it out into a thin rectangle, about 1/8 inch (2-3 mm) thick. Sprinkle with plenty of cinnamon and sugar to taste. Roll the dough into a tight long sausage as you would for American cinnamon rolls. Cut it into evenly sized pieces of your desired size and leave to proof, seam-side down, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 375 °F (190 °C) and place a pan or glass container filled with water on the bottom of your oven to create steam.

Take a wooden stick and make a deep and wide indentation in the center of the cinnamon rolls so that the inner layers get pressed to the outside.

Place the cinnamon rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven at 375 °F (190 °C) for about 20-25 minutes or until browned to your liking. It's best to use the convection setting of your oven for baking. If you have a spray bottle filled with water, use that to spray the surface of the cinnamon rolls once or twice during the first 5 minutes of baking. The more steam, the better the cinnamon rolls will puff up.

It's best to let the cinnamon rolls cool down for at least 20 minutes before eating so that the butter has time to re-solidify.