BBA #8 - Cinnamon Rolls

This week the Husband has an exercise to deal with - basically, lots of time at work. So he requested some goodies to bring in for the guys. As cinnamon rolls were next on my list and I didn't much want to have them around my house, this seemed perfect! Of course, less than perfect was trying to cram a whole bread into the 4-5 hours in between the end of work and bed-time. But it all worked out in the end!

The dough-mixing went very smoothly. I was able to use my hand-mixer to cream the butter and sugars together. The actual kneading went super fast - to my surprise, instead of the 12-15 minutes the book suggested, the dough was passing the windowpane test before 10 minutes were up. I set it to rise then, which was silly move #1. The dough, despite passing the test, was still quite chilly. I'm blaming that on the fact that it didn't rise much. However, being on a tight schedule, I went ahead anyway.

The dough was very easy to roll out, but I do recommend flouring the counter first. It did stick a little. I did have trouble rolling the dough. It kept wanting to fold instead of roll! But eventually I ended up with a log (though the middle was much fatter than the end!). Slice, slice, slice, and there was a tray of cinnamon buns ready to rise.

Eventually.

Sometime.

I think...

Well, eventually I gave up and popped them in the oven. Didn't seem to harm them at all, they still came out tasty and fluffy!
The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread


Next time, I think I'll try making the sticky bun version, largely so that I can make my own grilled stickies in true Penn State fashion! Maybe even for Christmas day, if I'm really ambitious.

One thing I wasn't a big fan of - the fondant topping recipe the book provided. It was far too sweet for my tastes!

In other news, I'm right on track to reach the cranberry celebration bread for Christmas. But before then, cinnamon walnut bread and corn bread!