Sunday, July 12, 2009

BBAC Week #8 - Cinnamon Rolls

Not gonna lie, I was a little lazy about my baking this week. The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge recipe this week made either cinnamon rolls or sticky buns. I chose cinnamon rolls and I'd planned on prepping everything up to the actual baking on Friday night. I totally scrapped these plans when given the opportunity to go see the movie UP with J. Such a great movie! The animation blew me away and we laughed so hard we cried for most of the movie.

I got home at about 10:30pm and started my dough. Got everything mixed and let it rise once. By that time I was exhausted so I just covered the bowl in plastic and tossed it in the fridge. So tired, in fact, that I completely forgot to take any photos up to that point. Oops!

The dough risen a bit more overnight in the fridge, but didn't seem over-risen by Saturday morning. I did the poke test (gently poke the dough with your finger: if the indentation fills back in the yeast is still active, if not it has risen for too long) and the dough was surprisingly in perfect shape.

I rolled he dough into a large rectangle, covered it in cinnamon and sugar, and rolled the whole thing into a big, doughy log. I actually think the overnight refrigeration helped during this step as the cold dough didn't stick to the rolling pin, my hands, or the board.


I sliced the roll into twelve buns, and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I let them rise for a bit longer than the recommended time since they were still cold from the refrigeration.



I popped the rolls into the preheated 350 degree oven and started prepping the rest of breakfast. I ended up baking them for 40 minutes, rather than the 20-30 minutes in the recipe, as they weren't browning very quickly. It was definitely worth the wait.



The rolls rose a bit more during baking, and the sugar turned into a glaze in between layers, and created a crispy crust on top. By this time I was starving, so I hopped in the shower while they cooled (recipe calls for 10 minutes of cooling before glazing) so as not to dump the whole bowl of fondant on top and start downing them. I think this was more effective than a low flow shower head at conserving water, because I was in and out in record time!

Not surprisingly, these were really good. Per the recipe, I added lemon zest (you could also use lemon extract) so they were a bit citrusy. I'm not completely used to lemon in my cinammon rolls, but it was a nice addition. We ate them with good, crispy bacon and a fruit salad of honeydew, orange, grapefruit, and Ranier cherries ( love that they're on in season and on sale right now!). Didn't get any photos of the plated breakfast because it immediately went into our mouths. Sooooo good!

Next up: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

1 comment:

Jason Cowan said...

they were amazing. mmmmm...Babs, bacon, fruit, and those babies make every morning fabulous.