Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
I absolutely love brioche and I absolutely adore cinnamon rolls. Bringing the two together is beyond obvious but leave it to me to point out the obvious. These cinnamon rolls turned out tender, buttery, rich, and sweet, with that fabulous bite of cinnamon. These are my new favorite cinnamon rolls.
When I made these I was multi-tasking and trying to get all my kitchen chores crossed off my list so I could take an afternoon nap and I ended up veering from the brioche recipe…actually veering is a polite way to say that I totally blew off the first step of the brioche, the making of the sponge. I’m happy to say that my mistake didn’t seem to harm their tender texture or their superb fluffiness and it saved me 40 minutes so I’m calling it my timesaver method…40 minutes is a sweet little catnap.
I know that not everyone has a stand mixer but honestly I can’t imagine making brioche without one…15 minutes of working the dough on medium speed would be nearly impossible for a hand mixer to handle and only the strongest kitchen geek could manage it by hand…we certainly have none of those around here. I also love baking them on the silpat lined baking sheet since it helped form a sweet carmely crust of sugar on the bottom of each roll…isn’t that excellent!
Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
(printer-friendly version)
1/3 cup warm milk
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
5 large eggs
4 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and dump all of the above ingredients into the mixer bowl and work it on medium speed until it comes together and forms a nice ball of dough. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Mix for 10 minutes on medium. This will help smooth the dough out. While the dough is being worked you should hear it slapping against the sides of the bowl.
6 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
Take the butter and smash it about with a rubber spatula…the point of this is to work the butter into the same texture and smoothness as the dough. With the mixer on medium low add the butter to the dough in increments of tablespoons and allow the mixer to work in each increment until it is fully incorporated. The dough may fall apart as the butter is being added but don’t worry, it will come back together…just keep the mixer working the dough.
Once all the butter has been added turn the mixer speed up to medium high for a minute or two and then lower it again to medium low and let it work the dough for 5 – 7 minutes, again it should be slapping the sides of the bowl.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it in buttered bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.
When you wake up the next morning remove the dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a floured counter and let it warm up for a hour. Cut the dough into two equal pieces and roll it out to about 1/3” thickness, brush each piece with softened butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar (2 tablespoons cinnamon and 1 cup sugar). Roll your rolling pin over the top to lightly compress the sugar/butter into the dough and then roll them up, reserving the neatest, straightest edge for the outside edge of the roll. Secure the roll by pinching the loose edge to the roll and then smooth the pinch out. Cut the rolls into 1” pieces and line them up on a silpat lined baking sheet. Place them in a warm spot and let them rise for an hour or until they are doubled in bulk. Bake them at 350°F for about 10 – 12 minutes or until they are golden brown and register 210° on an instant read thermometer. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for as long as you can resist them. I always end up putting them under a fan for a fast cool.
I like to drizzle the top of these delicious babies with a simple powdered sugar, milk, vanilla glaze.
Eat a peach
Every few years I kick myself in the ass and do something new. The last big change for me was in 2006 when I started writing this blog…huge life improvement. This year I quit my part-time job, spent the summer freelance writing and found out that I’m not into whoring my skills for little money…big money, sure. Now I’m working a interesting full-time job. This week I started going to the gym during my lunch break and again, a huge improvement…I have sooo much more energy. I bet you’re thinking…well Vanessa if you’ve got so much energy then where the heck are the recipes, where’s the food?
Honestly I haven’t been very inspired as of late. Fresh fruit, a big salad for lunch, and a family friendly meal in the evening has been the pattern for the past few weeks. I shop the farmers’ market where I collect apples and cucumbers and tomatoes (mine didn’t do so well this year), and I look at yet another bag of green beans from our CSA and I actually give up, I can’t deal with more beans. In CSA lore this will definitely be the year of the green bean. I ate some of the pickled beans and they are perfect, crisp flavorful, and tart.
I’ve also been incredibly pissed off. Sarah Palin really pisses me off and I’m sickened by her apparent lack of intelligence and lack of relevant experience. I’m pissed off that we may get a president that is worse than Bush…and that concept blows my mind. I’m incredibly pissed off that people think she’s qualified and that she has somehow improved the lot of women as a whole…give me a fracking break$@#@#!! McCain would have chosen a chimp if he thought it would help him win the election. These are depressing times and frankly I’ve been either hunkered down with a book or mindlessly watching DVDs.
At least we still have peaches, big, ripe, juicy, organic peaches with the taste and texture of the peaches of my youth. Simple honest food for these trying, lying times. There are 44 days left until the election.
This rant brought to you by a concerned citizen for Obama.
