Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls


Okay, so these were also not on the original baking challenge for 2018. Originally I had a gluten-free dessert, but then I realized I had done a gluten-free dessert in the past (here’s looking at you, flourless Mexican chocolate cake), and I had NOT ever done cinnamon rolls. This was my last challenge of 2018. I made these for Christmas morning at my mom’s house. We always make cinnamon rolls from the tube for Christmas. My dad loved them, and even after he passed away, we still make them every year. So, needless to say, this was an emotional challenge. I’m not crying. You’re crying. There was some stress in the rise of the dough, but we got through that, and all of the cinnamon rolls were eaten and loved. Dad would be proud.
I used Alton Brown’s overnight cinnamon rolls recipe, which is perfect for baking off the next day. So if you have a Christmas morning, or a sleepover, or a brunch the next day, make these babies, and you’ll be the hit at the party! This makes one dozen big cinnamon rolls. Here’s the recipe: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe-2014250?soc=sharepin
For the Dough:
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 large whole egg, room temperature
6 oz buttermilk, room temperature
2 oz granulated sugar, about ¼ c
3 oz unsalted butter, melted, about 6 tbsp
20 oz all-purpose flour, about 4 c, plus additional for dusting
1 package instant dry yeast, about 2 ¼ tsp
1 ¼ tsp kosher salt
Cooking spray
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined.
2. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with dough hook. Add all but ¾ c of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for about 5 minutes. *So at this point you've put in 2 and 3/4 c flour of your 4 cups. You may not use all 4 cups. I didn't.
3. Check the consistency of the dough, and add more flour if necessary. The dough will feel soft and moist, but not sticky and the dough clears the sides of the bowl. *Here’s some videos about how my dough looked:

4. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 30 seconds.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl and lightly oil the top of the dough too. 
6. Cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 ½ hours. *Let’s take a few minutes here. First of all, I used a dry erase marker on my bowl so I could see if it actually doubled. Super helpful.
*Secondly, my dough didn’t rise for fucking ever. Here’s what I would recommend and what eventually worked for me: turn your oven on to the lowest setting and let it preheat. Once it’s preheated, turn it off. Let it sit for about 10 minutes before you put your dough in there. Put your dough in and it’ll rise. DO THIS FROM THE BEGINNING! For the love of god. If you do it from the beginning, maybe it’ll take less time than 2 ½ hours. It took me 3 ½ hours including the hour in the oven.

For the Filling:
8 oz brown sugar, about. 1 c packed
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
¾ oz unsalted butter, melted, about 1 ½ tbsp
1. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl; mix until well incorporated. Set aside for later.
2. Butter a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.
3. Once the dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you.
4. Roll into an 18 x 12 inch rectangle.   
5. Brush the dough with the ¾ oz of melted butter, leaving ½ inch border on the top edge. *You’ll be rolling it that way, and you need to give some space for the innards to go AND you want to have dough on dough action for sealing up the log once you're done rolling.
6. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the dough, leaving a ¾ inch border at the top edge. Gently press the filling into the dough.
 

7. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder.
8. Firmly pinch the seam to seal, and roll the cylinder seam side down.
9. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 ½ inch rolls, or 12 equal pieces.

10. Arrange the rolls cut-side up in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 16 hours.

Baking:
1. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3 full of boiling water and set on rack below cinnamon rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they are slightly puffy, approximately 30 minutes. *My rolls didn’t get that puffy, but they did puff in the bake, so no worries! See? This is post steam, pre bake. 
2. Remove the rolls and pan of water from the oven.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. When oven is ready, place rolls on middle rack of oven and bake until golden brown, or until internal temperature of rolls is 190F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes. *See, the DO puff!
5. While rolls are cooling, make the icing.

For the Icing:
*Disclaimer… I didn’t make this icing because I forgot to buy cream cheese. I bet it’s delicious, so I’ll tell you what Alton did; then I’ll tell you what I did. Sorry.
2 ½ ounces cream cheese, softened, about ¼ c
3 tbsp milk
5 ½ oz powdered sugar, about 1 ½ c
1. Whisk cream cheese in bowl of stand mixer until creamy.
2. Add milk and whisk until combined.
3. Sift in powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. *I didn't sift my powdered sugar. It's rustic...
4. Spread over the hot rolls and serve immediately.

*Okay, so I did just a buttercream. Not conventional, still DE-LI-CIOUS.
1 stick butter
3 tbsp milk
1 ½ c powdered sugar
1. It’s the same procedure as above, and you can add or subtract milk or powdered sugar depending on the consistency that you want. I made it pretty thick so that when it hit the hot rolls, it didn’t completely disappear.

Rating (Scale 1 to 5):
Difficulty: 3
Amount of Time: 4 (this is mostly just for the downtime) Active time is pretty low
Awesomeness: 5 *These are definitely in my top 5 for the year! 

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