Master Sweet Dough Recipe
Use this master sweet dough recipe to make all kinds of different desserts like cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, donuts, and more!
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 443kcal
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook
- Digital Kitchen Scale
- Instant Read Thermometer
Ingredients
- 8 ounces milk 90º F
- 10 grams dried instant yeast about 3 teaspoons
- 28 ounces bread flour or all purpose flour
- 8 ounces butter softened
- 4 ounces sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ounce corn syrup optional
Instructions
- Before you begin: Bring your eggs and butter to room temperature and warm the milk to 90º F. Cold butter and eggs slow down gluten development.
For the dough
- Place the warm milk, yeast, and half of the flour into the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attached and mix until combined.
- Add the softened butter, sugar, salt, eggs, the rest of the flour, and the corn syrup (if using). Mix on low until combined. The dough will look rough and sticky at this stage. This is normal.
- Increase the speed to medium and knead for 10 to 20 minutes, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and forms a smooth ball. Don't add extra flour. If it's still very sticky, cover it, let it rest for 30 minutes, then knead again.
- Pull off a small piece of dough and gently stretch it between your fingers. It should stretch thin enough to be nearly translucent without tearing. If it tears, keep kneading.
- Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place it into a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. For a reliably warm spot, preheat your oven to 170º F for 5 minutes, then turn it off. Place a bowl of warm water in the back of the oven, put the covered dough inside, and shut the door.
- Poke test: press two fingers into the dough. If it springs back slowly and mostly holds its shape, it's ready.
- Shape the dough according to your recipe. Let it rise again for about 60 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight to bake the next morning.
Video
Notes
Ingredient notes: Bread flour gives the best texture. All purpose flour works 1:1 and makes a slightly softer, less chewy dough. Instant yeast is the same as fast acting or quick rise yeast. The corn syrup is optional; honey or maple syrup work too.
Substitutions: To use active dry yeast, add it to the warm milk with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar and let it foam before adding it to the flour, then let the dough rise longer, until doubled. For sugar free dough, replace the sugar with a sugar replacement like Lakanto monkfruit, but keep 1 Tablespoon of real sugar for the yeast. Bread machine: add the ingredients in the order your machine recommends, run the dough cycle, then shape, proof, and bake as normal.
Make-ahead and storage: Shape the dough, place it in your pan, cover it tightly, and refrigerate it overnight. In the morning, let it rise in a warm spot until puffy and doubled, about 1.5 to 2 hours, then bake. To freeze, shape your rolls or buns first, then freeze them in the pan. They will need extra time to rise after they come out of the freezer.
Critical do-nots: Don't add extra flour to sticky dough; it only makes the dough tougher. Rest it covered for 30 minutes and knead again, and if you need flour to handle it, put it on your hands (or wet your hands) instead of in the dough. Don't use cold butter or eggs.
Nutrition: Calculated per serving, 1/12 of the dough, without the optional corn syrup.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 443kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10.5g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 417mg | Potassium: 27mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 139IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg
