I decided to make some homemade cinnamon rolls for my co-workers. This also gave me a good excuse to go out and buy a French rolling pin from Sur LA Table... a baker without a rolling pin seems absurd but I had managed somehow before (i.e. stealing my mother's). Note to self - do not enter a cookware store unless the bank account is overflowing. I haven't been that excited about shopping since Toys-R-Us.
Anyway, I decided to use Alton Brown's version. With his "overnight" rolls you can prepare almost the entire recipe the night before, which helps when you have a job that starts at 7 am.
I started out by gathering all the ingredients for the dough:
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 large whole egg, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (Alton calls for instant, but no go at Wal-Mart)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
Vegetable oil or cooking spray
So I had to make some modifications, first of all I wasn't going to buy 1/2 gallon of buttermilk when I just needed 3/4 cup. So I created my own: 1 cup of skim milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar (you could also use 1 tbsp lemon juice)
Also, Alton's recipe called for instant yeast but I only had active yeast. The difference is active yeast has to be activated with 100-110 degree water whereas instant yeast can just be thrown into the dough.
That being said, I "proofed" my yeast by mixing 1/4 cup of 105 degree water with 1 pkg. active yeast & 1 tbsp sugar (not skilled enough to guess the temp with my hand, I used a candy thermometer). Then I let the mixture double in volume(if it doesn't, get some new yeast, yours is dead).
Because of the 1/4 cup increase in liquid caused here, I had to reduce the buttermilk from Alton's 3/4 cup to my 1/2 cup.
Starting out, I beat the yolks, egg, sugar, butter & buttermilk. I used a hand beater since I don't own a stand one.
I then mixed in the the salt & 2 cups of the flour before adding the proofed yeast.
At this point, the hand mixer just wasn't working out so I switched to a good ole wooden spoon. (Alton switches to the hook on his stand mixer.)
Continued with 1 more cup of flour & added a little of the remaining cup to get the right softness without any stickiness (although I think I either added too much dough or my spoon work was not ideal because my dough did not turn out as soft as Alton's).
Kneaded the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 1-2 minutes. Thanks Mom for that skill.
Coated the dough & a bowl with cooking spray, covered with plastic wrap, & let it rise for about 2 hours (until it doubled in size). Unfortunately my dough did not double in size after 2 hours so I turned the oven on 150 for about 5 minutes, turned it off, then shoved my dough in there. See whose not rising now!...but maybe not completely "doubled."
While it was rising, I threw together the cinnamon filling:
1 cup light brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 tbsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Rolled out the dough on a cleaned, floured surface into a 18x12 rectangle with my new rolling pin! Then buttered up the surface with 2 tbsp melted butter & covered completely (except for the top inch) with the filling patting it down to stick.
Now the fun part! I tightly rolled up the dough, sealing by pinching the dough together at the end seam. To make 12 even rolls, with a serrated knife I cut the dough in half, then in fourths, & each fourth in 3.
After spacing the rolls out on a heavily butter baking pan, I covered them with plastic wrap & slipped them in the fridge for the rest of the night.
Waking up at 5:45am (I enjoy this way too much), I placed the pan in the oven (turned-off) with a boiling pot of water for 30 min. Alton says this wakes up the yeast. It also helped rehydrate the dough.
I took the rolls out, preheat my oven to 350, then put them back in for 30 minutes or until fluffy, brown, and the smell makes you drool.
Top Left: Pre-refrigeration, Top Right: Post-steaming, Bottom Left: Post-baking, Bottom Right: Post-icing
While baking, I whipped up an icing of:
1/4 cup cream cheese
3 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
They turned out buttery, sweet & delicious. Everyone at worked loved them.
Being a perfectionist, I found they were a tad bit too dense. Probably due to either:
1) Too much flour added
2) Poor mixing (would have helped to have a standing mixer with a hook)
3) Incompletely dough rising (Mom says this could be caused by the cold weather)
Didn't matter, still ended up with a Happy Pan!
