Sweet Dinner Rolls

When I think of the word "Dinner Rolls" this is the first image that comes to mind:

That's me. Can you see the resemblance? 

Dinner rolls are so 1950's, no? I speak from experience, obviously. But seriously, you say dinner rolls, I think " dinner party." You say "dinner party" I think 1957. But that's just me. Could be you go to dinner parties every week. And bring a pan of fresh dinner rolls along with you. And in case you do, here's a wickedly amazing recipe for fresh sweet dinner rolls:

Oh, and in case you don't go to weekly dinner parties, your family and friends will be forever in love with you for introducing them to this delicious idea. 

Sweet Dinner Rolls

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk or soy milk
1 egg
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoon)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Place warm water, and warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar and yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture starts to "foam." Add remaining ingredients, and knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Divide dough into 12 even balls, and place in a 9x13 pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. 

 Its a good idea to double this recipe, because if you do not, there will not be any left for the kids to take for lunch on their first day of school. 

PW's Cinnamon Buns

Any self-respecting Cinnamon Bun Expert will tell you that the whole reason why Cinnamon Buns exist is for the little twirl in the middle. All the cinnamony, gooey, doughiness all twirled up smack in the middle

Everything else is just a means to an end. The rest of the cinnamon bun is there just to hold up that little twirl, keeping it safe, just for you!

Ok fine, if you like the outside of the bun, I won't tell anyone. Because it does taste pretty good too.

But you know what the really best part of the Cinnamon Bun is? 

The true sign of a successful Cinnamon Bun....a sticky bottom. 

And lets leave it at that.

Ok, so you want to make some Cinnamon Buns? The Pioneer Woman is the absolute queen of Cinnamon Buns. I am not going to type out the whole recipe,since you can go ahead and click this link, and get the full scoop there. Have fun!

By the way, her recipe makes tons and tons of cinnamon buns. If you are planning on eating these all by yourself, and don't want to have to eat through seven pans of cinnamon buns, this recipe is very similar, just as good (and 134,647 people also think its good!) and makes half the amount. I use the filling recipe from the Allrecipes recipe in the Pioneer Woman's dough recipe instead of hers. 

Also, if you are tragically not a cinnamon lover, then these work great with chocolate too! Just mix 1 cup brown sugar, with 2 tablespoons cocoa, and you got yourself some delicious chocolate buns. 

Cinnamon Bread

Cinnamon Bread was the first yeast dough recipe that I ever made, 

and it holds a special place in my heart. 

Sadly, there is no place in Big D.'s heart for cinnamon. 

I think it might have something to do with an unfortunate accident

 between some cinnamon and chulent. 

(Note to self: Do NOT  put cinnamon in chulent. Ever.)

Either way, let us all take a moment of silence for this sad, sad fact. 

*

*

*

*

Ok. Done.

On a more positive note, that means there is all the  more cinnamon bread for me!

Now let's make some awesome cinnamon bread.

 If you haven't tasted cinnamon bread, you are missing out.
So, we must fix that ASAP. And if you think its the same thing as Cinnamon Rolls, 

you are sadly mistaken.

Cinnamon Rolls are pastries, sweet and sticky and belong with a cup of coffee.

Cinnamon Bread is really a bread, with a touch of sweetness. It is delicious in a tuna sandwich or french toast, as well as with plain cream cheese, or melted cheese. 

And here it is:

Cinnamon Bread                                                               adapted from ThePioneerWoman.Com

• • 
    
        1 cup milk/soy milk

• 
        6 tablespoons butter/margarine

• 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast

• 
  2 whole eggs

• 
  ⅓ cups sugar

• 
  3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• 
  1 teaspoon salt

• 
  ⅓ cups sugar

• 
  2 tablespoons cinnamon

• 
  egg and milk, mixed together, for brushing

Melt butter/margarine with milk. Heat until very warm, but don’t boil. Allow to cool until still warm to the touch, but not hot. Sprinkle yeast over the top, stir gently, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix sugar and eggs with the paddle attachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter/yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add half the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the other half and beat until combined.

Switch to the dough hook attachment and beat/knead dough on medium speed for ten minutes. If dough is overly sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beat again for 5 minutes.

Heat a metal or glass mixing bowl so it’s warm. Drizzle in a little canola oil, then toss the dough in the oil to coat. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and set it in a warm, hospitable place for at least 2 hours.

Turn dough out onto the work surface. Roll into a neat rectangle no wider than the loaf pan you’re going to use, and about 18 to 24 inches long. Smear with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon together, then sprinkle evenly over the butter-smeared dough. Starting at the far end, roll dough toward you, keeping it tight and contained. Pinch seam to seal.

Smear loaf pan with softened butter. Place dough, seam down, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix a little egg with milk, and smear over the top. Bake for 40 minutes on a middle/lower rack in the oven.

Remove from the pan and allow bread to cool.

Pretzel Dogs

These are a really cute change from the usual boring hot dogs. The pretzel dough is a basic soft pretzel dough, and you can have lots of fun playing around with it: Cheese Pretzels, Pretzel Bites etc. You can freeze formed pretzels raw, and then dip them (frozen) into the baking soda solution when you are ready to bake them. 

• Prezel Dogs
• • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 1/8 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup bread flour*
  • 2 cups hot water 
  • 2 tablespoons baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt

(12 hot dogs)

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.
Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan. After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope and wrap around hot dog, tucking the end under. Dip into the baking soda solution and shake off excess water. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.Brush with egg and sprinkle on salt. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. 

* I used all regular flour and it was fine.

Fan Tan Rolls

I love a challenge. Although I am sure you know that by now. And I can never say no. You probably know that already too. So when I got this innocent looking email from Mrs. M. asking : "Do you have any great recipes that would mimic (almost duplicate) Mezonos rolls?  Preferably cinnamon?", I bet you know what I was busy doing...

Mezonos rolls are basically another term for Fan Tan Rolls, and when I grew up "Mezonos Rolls" were a staple item in the story called "My Childhood." So, of course I was up for the challenge! I can't say these are exactly the same, but man are they good, so who really cares, right? 

Fan Tan Rolls

• 1 cup warm milk or apple juice
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 
  
• extra melted margarine or butter margarine for stacking
• 
  
• Pour milk into a large bowl. Add the yeast and sugar. Let sit for a few minutes until the yeast begins to bubble. Add the flour, eggs, margarine and salt.  Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour.  Roll out the fan tan rolls as indicated in the video below. For cinnamon rolls, sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar, mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon before stacking.
  
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Onion Croissants

I am always up for a challenge, and one of the challenging things that I like to bake is bakery style items. Its always exciting to try new types of rolls and cakes that you would normally find only in a bakery. Of course, the wow factor of "you made that?!" only makes it more fun! I realized how fun it was when I made those chocolate bear claws in the beginning of the summer. Another popular baked good at the bakery in Detroit is their onion rolls, or as we affectionately call them " New Yorkers"( To all my NY readers: I have no idea why they are called that, but we say it with love, ok?) Anyways, when I tasted these onion croissants, they just reminded me of those New Yorkers. They are really easy to make, but look pretty and professional.

Onion Croissants

2 oz fresh yeast, or 6 3/4 teaspoon dry instant yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/3 cups warm water

6 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine ( 1 stick)

2 eggs

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water, in a mixer bowl. Add the flour, salt, margarine and eggs. Mix with the dough hook until a smooth dough forms. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling for the croissants.

Onion Filling

1 medium onion, diced

1 tsp salt

1 tbs poppy seeds

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup oil

Mix the oninons with the salt, poppy seeds, breadcrumbs and oil. Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 400°. Divide the dough in half. Roll out the dough to form a large circle. spread the filling over the dough, concentrating more on the edges than the center. Slice the dough into triangles ( like a pizza) as large as you want the croissants to be. Roll up each triangle, starting at the wide end, towards the point. Lay them on a parchment lined baking sheet, with the point tucked under. Allow the croissants to rise for another 20 minuts. Brush the tops of the croissants with a beaten egg, and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Bake for 12-15 minutes. 

Adapted from the Mishpacha Family First