Once the ingredients for the dough have been mixed together, it is left to sit, before you begin the kneading process, so the flour can absorb the liquid and let the yeast get a head start as it is filled with whole grains. Once it had time to rest, kneading the dough seemed to go much quicker and I hardly needed any flour to keep it from sticking to my hands. The use of potato flakes and dried milk gave the dough a soft and smooth texture so it was easy to tell when the dough was ready for its first rise. The filling for the rolls is a little different - you don't need to smear the rolled out dough with softened butter! Instead, robust dark brown sugar and quite a lot of cinnamon are made into a paste with the addition of an egg white. As you go to roll the dough into a log, be sure not to roll it too tight - this will give it some room to expand as it rises and the center of the cinnamon buns will not shoot up when baked. While you can use a serrated knife to portion out the dough, I have always found that the easiest way is with unflavored dental floss - this way you don't risk smooshing the filling out or squishing the dough.
Once baked, the rolls are slathered with a tantalizing creamy vanilla frosting - we wanted to have a fairly thick layer on top, so we let the buns cool down a bit before we frosted them. If you want the icing to melt and seep into the cracks dispersing the rich sweetness throughout the inside, be sure to spread them while they are fairly warm. If I didn't already know what these buns were made of, I would have never guessed it was 100% whole grain. A wonderful bonus comes with having so much honey in the dough - they will keep their freshness for several days if you keep them well covered at room temperature! I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow (and dessert!).
Joe - these buns look great and a lot like a 'chelsea bun' that is sold here in New Zealand. Perfect comfort food!
ReplyDeleteGreat work, Joe - those look even better than the originals! I worked hard with Jodi to make that recipe a good one, as I knew a lot of people would go for cinnamon buns. Glad you're enjoying the book.
ReplyDeletePJH (one of the authors)
Joe - You had me at dark and dangerous. =)
ReplyDeleteTim - I agree, total comfort food!
ReplyDeletePJH - Thank you! You guys did such a fantastic job with this cookbook! I may just end up making everything at the rate we are going!
Ed - tee hee!
Happy these worked out for you. I tried to make the "Sticky Buns" counterpart (which uses the same dough) last night and I had the first dough failure of my life. What a dense, dry, lifeless mass! The yeast was good, too.
ReplyDeleteMight try again.
Noah - sorry to hear yours didn't turn out! I hope you give them another shot!
ReplyDeleteLike Noah, My 1st try resulted in no dough rise. 2nd attempt with new yeast, matched the first. There must be a secret to get the dough to rise.
ReplyDeleteContinued from the Mike above. I guess I should have specifically asked, but I would appreciate any suggestions for success with this recipe. I used active dry yeast. Could that be the issue?
ReplyDeleteMike - how about your water temperature? Could it have been too hot and killed the yeast?
ReplyDelete