Something like Nigella's Norwegian Cinnamon Buns, but ... better?

[DirtyMartini]

So I made the NCBs for the first time yesterday, and they were ok (from Domestic Goddess).

Very, very heavy and stodgy, though. Possibly this is because the recipe gives a totally insufficient amount of flour (600g but you really need more like 800g) so there was loads of messing around, trying to knead too-sticky dough, adding more flour and on and on. They maybe didn't rise properly as a result.

I would love a better recipe for yeasty, softer, lighter cinnamon-swirl-type buns, ideally with some sort of low-key icing-sugar glaze over them. Ones with lovely texture that won't sit in my stomach reprimanding me for several hours after consumption.

Can anyone help?

hmmm i have never made nigellas, but if you added another 200g of flour that may be why they didn't work so well?

don't be afraid of sticky dough! a good friend told me that once and i listeed to her and she was right

I may have been exaggerating at 200g. I would say it def needed another 100g though; I didn't measure, I just added it little by little in the hope it would eventually come right.

It wasn't even sticky dough tbh, it was just a sticky mess that refused to come together - it couldn't be kneaded or manipulated in any way. I know you're right that sticky dough can be all right sometimes, but the recipe was clear you had to be able to knead it "until smooth and springy" and that just wasn't going to happen with the 600g.

I Googled it afterwards and lo, many other blog posts etc mention that the flour is insufficient in the recipe. This is not unusual for Nigella, sadly - I mean not flour specifically, but something being wrong. Bad recipe testing.

I made some nice ones at Christmas, think it was a Hairy Bikers recipe