Odd as it may sound, this is a good time of year to make cinnamon rolls. My sunroom is the perfect temperature for rising dough; in Winter I actually have to warm up my oven and use that to rise the dough as my house is kept cold on purpose. Great Pyrenees dogs get big coats in the Winter time and they get too hot if the house gets much above 65F.
This recipe is based mainly off of my
mom's old Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe (from the old book published in the
late 50's early 60's) and her notes, along with some help from more current recipes. I am
no pro at using yeast and this recipe takes any fear of messing up
the yeast completely away.
My first run through of the recipe I
over-baked them and they were definitely too dry. My go to fix
whenever I dry out a recipe is to use buttermilk in place of milk.
I've found with time that swapping in buttermilk doesn't
necessarily overpower the original recipe – when used correctly.
These were a big hit at the diner we
frequent, so much so even another customer was given one and couldn't
get enough. They are requested frequently enough that I bake them fairly often; their other favorite is a recipe I've yet to publish.
I am not a great photographer, but this
is what they look like before they are iced. I need to borrow a friend with better photography skills to help me with pictures.
It's not as time-consuming as you might
think to make these up. A big chunk of time is waiting for the dough
to rise. The first rise takes about 1½ hours, the second rise takes
30 minutes, add in the time for kneading the dough, rolling and
cutting the dough and you've got about 20-30 minutes of prep time.
Groceries Needed
For dough:
- 3-4 cups of all-purpose or bread flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 ½ tsp. (2 packages) regular active
or fast acting dry yeast
- 1 cup very warm milk or buttermilk
(120°F
to 130°F)
– see note below about milk
- ¼
cup butter softened
- 1
egg
- Unwaxed
and unflavored dental floss (for cutting, waxed and unflavored will
do in a pinch)
For filling
- 1/4-1/2 sugar or packed brown sugar –
dark or light brown sugar works
- 1 tblsp. cinnamon (I use about 3
tblsp.)
- 2 tblsp. softened butter
For glaze
- 4 tblsp. softened butter or cream
cheese (or 2 of each)
- 1 ½ cups powered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3-4 tblsps. milk (use regular milk for
this)
Tips & Tricks
- Put 4 cups of flour in a bowl and
“fluff” it using a fork or whisk, making sure there's no lumps.
Homemade bread using yeast is the only time I bother to “fluff”
flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off.
- If using regular milk instead of
buttermilk, use 2% or whole milk. Don't go any lower than 2% fat, the
dough needs the milk fat to work properly.
- Solid coconut oil can be swapped out
for the butter, the fats are a good match for a substitution.
- Wash your hands and thoroughly dry them
before starting on the dough, any additional moisture can throw the
yeast out of whack.
- You'll need a warm spot for the dough
to rise in. Winters in Michigan can make everything cold, so I
usually set my oven to the Warm setting and let it go while I make
the dough. Turn it off once it's done with preheating. If you don't
have a “pre-heat” setting, let it go for about 5 minutes and then
turn it off.
How I make the dough:
- In a large mixing bowl, put in 2 cups
of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
- Lightly mix these together, no need for
the mixer yet, a fork will do, just try to even the mix up a bit.
- Before turning the mixer on, add the
warm milk, butter and egg.
- Now it's time for the mixer, mix
everything on low speed for 1 minute, scraping the bowl frequently.
It should be fairly well mixed.
- Bump the speed up to medium and beat
for 1 minute, scraping the bowl frequently.
- Turn off the mixer.
- Add in ½ cup of flour at a time and
stir in by hand using a sturdy spoon or silicone spatula. You want to
add just enough to make the dough easy to handle, it will be sticky.
I typically end up with 3 cups of flour total in the bowl. The rest
will be kneaded into the dough.
- Grab a good sized board or clean
counter surface and lightly sprinkle flour across it. I have a very
large cookie sheet (16”x18”) that I use for this. It has a lip
that I can drop down the edge of my counter to make it stay in place.
- Turn the dough out onto the floured
surface.
- Gather the dough together in a rough
ball, it may be sticky, you can lightly dust the top of the dough if
it's really sticky.
- Knead the dough for about 5 minutes,
add more flour as needed, until the dough is smooth and springy. If
you're not sure, you can put a bit of flour on a finger and lightly
push into the dough, if the dough bounces back quickly you're done.
If you're unfamiliar with kneading there are lots of videos on line
with much better lighting and camera work than I can provide. Keep
track of how much flour you've used, too much will make the dough
tougher and dryer.
- Take another bowl (I use large Pyrex
bowls for this part). Grease the sides of the bowl with softened
butter. Put the dough in the greased bowl, turning it to grease all
sides of the dough. Cover it with plastic wrap or a clean cotton
towel. Let it rise in a warm spot (for me this is the pre-warmed
oven).
- Let the dough rise for about 1½ hours.
- While the dough is rising, make the
filling, mixing your pick of sugar (or you can use ½ regular sugar
and ½ brown sugar for a sweeter kick) and cinnamon in small bowl
with a fork or whisk. Begin softening 2 tablespoons of butter as
well.
- The first time through you might want
to check the dough at 80 minutes in. The dough should double in size.
It's ready when you poke the dough (clean fingers please!) and the
indentation stays.
- When the dough is done rising, deflate
it by gently pushing down on the center of the dough with your fist.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly
floured surface (again I use my cookie sheet). Gently shape with your
hands or a rolling pin into a 15”x10” rectangle. I usually start
with the rolling pin and finish with my hands since my rolling pin is
too narrow. If you like a thinner dough (more like Cinnabon rolls),
roll the dough into a larger rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter across the
entire rectangle, as close to the edges as possible.
- Sprinkle the filling across the
rectangle, using your hands so spread it to cover all of the butter.
- Starting with the long end, roll the
dough up tightly, tucking the ends of the dough into the roll.
Pinching the dough works too, but I tend to tuck mine and pat the
ends of the roll until they're flatted up. Think of a paper towel
roll and you'll get the general idea of what it ends up looking like.
- The last edge should be under the roll
for ease of cutting. Use your hands or fingers to continue shaping
the roll until it's fairly even. Again, this doesn't have to be
perfect and there are pletny of examples on line.
- Using about 12” of dental/ floss or a
very sharp knife, cut the roll into 1” or larger slices. I like to
cut mine about 1½” to 2” thick.
- Grease (with butter) and flour or use
baking spray a 13”x10” pan. Other sized pans will work as well,
so don't worry if you don't have an “exact” fit. Even an edged
cookie sheet will fit the bill if that's all you have.
- Place the slices in the pan, leaving
space in between, cover with plastic or a towl and place in a warm
place to rise a second time. I typically turn my oven to warm while I
roll and cut the dough, turning it off again before placing the rolls
in the pan and use that as my warm place.
- The second rising takes about 30
minutes with the dough roughly doubling in size.
- After the second rising, pre-heat the
over to 350°
for metal pans, 325°
for glass or aluminum foil pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. This will
vary greatly depending on your oven and your pans. Mine take 32
minutes at 325°
in the Pyrex pan.
- Remove
the rolls to a cooling rack and cool for about 10 minutes. Drizzle
glaze across the top if desired.
To
make Glaze
- Throw
the powered sugar, vanilla, butter and/or cream cheese in a bowl.
- Mix
together on medium speed, adding milk until it reaches the right
consistency.
- It should be significantly thinner than cake frosting.
Mine tends to be a bit thicker than most glazes, but can still be
drizzled using a spoon.
- Once
it's at the right consistency, kick the mixer speed up to high or
whip and mix for about 1 minute.
To
reheat: microwave for about 15 seconds, or pop back in the oven for a
few minutes on the warm setting.
How Mary Kneads
My great-grandmother taught me to knead
bread and our mom let us help knead when we were little too. So
here's how I do it.
Starting with the palms of my hands, I
rock forward on the dough. If it's too sticky, I sprinkle more dough
on top before picking up the dough and turning it. If the dough is
sticking to the surface, I sprinkle more flour on the surface. I'm
not super gentle with the dough, and I form it into a ball often.
When I think I'm close, I'll pick the dough ball up and drop it on
the floured surface. It should retain it's shape, if it doesn't I
keep going.
Oftentimes I get my fingers more
involved than other baker's suggest, but it all seems to work for me.
I remember Dearie picking up her dough from time to time and simply
working the ball in her hands, this was usually when the dough was
still sticky. Dearie never measured, she just tossed stuff in and
added more as needed. A true artist with bread!
