Sourdough Cruffins

These Sourdough Cruffins are crisp and lightly caramelized on the outside with buttery and soft layers on the inside.   A cross between a croissant and a cinnamon roll, these Cruffins are spread with a spiced sugar filling, wrapped in a sweet spiral, and baked in a popover tray.

The first Cruffin is said to have been made in 2013 by Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia. It became popular in the US later when Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in San Francisco made and trademarked it.

It is generally described as somewhere between a croissant and a muffin, but it’s neither one. It involves a laminated dough, hence the croissant part, but the only thing muffin-like about it is the tin/tray it is baked in.

Making a Cruffin involves laminated dough, but unlike with croissants, you don’t have to work with a butter block or roll out chilled dough multiple times. Instead, the dough is rolled out thinly and spread with room-temperature (not melted) soft butter.

The dough is then rolled up and sliced down the middle to reveal multiple layers similar to laminated dough. This means you end up with a buttery and soft but not flaky layered dough.

Soft and buttery inside of cruffin filled with cinnamon sugar

These buttery morsels are the bake of the month for the Bread Baking Babes. Aparna, of My Diverse Kitchen, put together a recipe from a few different versions she found on the net, along with a few tweaks of her own.

I used her recipe and method but converted it to sourdough instead of using dried yeast.  I also utilized stone-ground all-purpose flour, from a local farm, in the dough.  The stone-ground flour has a lovely off-white color and a delicious flavor.

Stone Ground All Purpose Flour

Everything went together really easily until I got to the rolling out the dough part.  Rolling out dough really thin has never been one of my favorite things to do. I got so frustrated when rolling out the first piece of dough, I decided to only make one batch that day, and work on the rest the next day.

The next day, I had an attitude check and jumped out of the box before attempting to roll out the dough again.  Practice makes perfect so the only way to do it was to just do it.

Making the second batch the next day worked out well because, I had a better attitude, and it was easier to roll out the refrigerated dough.

The sourdough cruffins taste best the day they are made so making them in two batches allowed me to enjoy some fresh each day.

I made the first batch with no filling and just sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top.  It tasted great with my homemade pineapple jam.  I sprinkled the next batch with cinnamon sugar after spreading it with butter, and I must say, I enjoyed that version immensely.  It didn’t need any jam.

Sourdough Cruffin served with homemade Pineapple Jam

Aparna’s Notes:

Here are two videos worth watching before starting with Cruffin making.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYWRHGHrJTw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfDPdrVjfaM

If you have a pasta machine, you can use it to roll out nice and thin dough layers. I don’t have one so I rolled the dough out by hand. I find it works quite well. I found I required only about 120 gm of butter but you might need more hence the recipe says 120 to 150 gm of butter.

I baked mine with just butter as I prefer a more savory Cruffin.  I have baked them with chocolate and cinnamon sugar fillings and they’re all good. Otherwise don’t use any filling with the butter but just dust them with icing sugar or cinnamon sugar as soon as they come out of the oven.

Feel free to experiment with fillings. You can add unsweetened cocoa to the dough for chocolate Cruffins. You could also try flavoring the sugar in the filling with vanilla bean. The Cruffin can also be filled, like a donut, with jam, pastry cream, fruit curd, peanut butter, salted caramel, or ganache. They can also be topped with a variety of toppings. I’m a bit of a purist here and prefer to keep things simple

Ideally, Cruffins are baked in muffin tins/ trays. If you want taller Cruffins that display the laminating/ layering beautifully, bake them in popover tins/trays, if you have those. You can even try baking them in disposable paper coffee cups provided they’re oven-safe.

Cathy’s Notes:

Don’t get crazy (read grumpy) when rolling out the dough.  It doesn’t have to be perfect!  It does need to be as thin as possible, but you’re going to roll up two pieces together so if one is a little shorter or narrower than the other, no worries.  If the dough tears while rolling, just brush a little butter over it and piece it back together carefully.  And don’t worry, it will add to the effect.

Unless you plan on serving all eight Cruffins on the same day, my recommendation is to make them in two batches.  I used a popover pan that has eight molds so I made four Cruffins one day and four the next.  The dough refrigerates well for at least a day.  I didn’t test it any longer than that.

Even though the texture is best on the day they are made, leftovers heat up fairly well.  I enjoyed them with coffee for several days.

Sourdough Cruffins

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• Author: Bread Experience
• Yield: 8 Cruffins 1x

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Description

These Sourdough Cruffins are crisp and lightly caramelized on the outside with buttery and soft layers on the inside.

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

For the Dough :

• 140g / 1/2 cup 100% hydration sourdough starter, active and recently fed
• 55 g / 1/4 cup sugar (more for sweeter cruffin)
• 270g / 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used stone ground which weighs a little more)
• 50 g / 3 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 125 g / 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)

For Lamination:

• 120 to 150 g (1 stick + 1/2 Tbsp. = 120g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

To Decorate/ Serve :

• Icing sugar/ Cinnamon sugar/ Melted chocolate, etc.

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Instructions

Feed your sourdough:

1. The evening before you plan to make the cruffin, feed your sourdough with equal parts water and flour and let it rest up to 8 hours at warm room temperature.

Final Dough:

1. The next morning, mix the milk into the sourdough to break it up.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work the chilled butter pieces into the flour using your fingers.
3. Pour the milk/sourdough mixture over the flour mixture and mix into a soft and elastic dough that comes away from the side of the bowl. The dough should not be sticky. Add a little more milk or flour, as required to achieve this consistency of dough.
4. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to back to the bowl. Cover and let the dough rise till double in volume. This should take between 2-3 hours, depending on ambient temperature.
5. Stretch and fold the dough two times – once after 30 minutes and again after the first hour.
6. Prepare your baking pan and keep aside. Butter and very lightly flour the cavities of your muffin or popover tray.
7. Dust your working surface lightly with flour and turn the dough out. Lightly knead to deflate the dough. Divide into four equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a 24 x 8 inches (60x20cm) sized piece. The dough sheet should be very thin.
8. Spread about 30 to 38 gm butter (depending on whether you’re using 120 gm or 150 gm of butter) of soft butter over each rolled out piece of dough. Cut each piece into half, lengthwise, creating two thin strips.
9. Roll one thin strip into a tight roll. Place this at the edge of the second strip and continue rolling till you have one thick roll. This will give your cruffins more layers.
10. Cut roll in half lengthwise. Roll each half, like a circle (cinnamon roll style) with the cut layers side showing the outside. Make sure to tuck both ends under so it doesn’t open up on baking. Place the roll in the prepared muffin or popover pan.
11. Repeat with all the dough pieces. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for 3-4 hours, depending on ambient temperature and if the dough was cold fermented. The rolls should look puffy and have risen to almost the edge of the cavities.
12. Bake the cruffins at 190C (375F) for about 30 minutes or till golden brown and done. Turn them out onto a rack and let the cool. Dust with icing sugar or brush tops the with melted butter and dredge in cinnamon sugar. Serve warm with coffee or tea.

• Category: Sourdough Bread

Happy Baking!
Cathy