geek

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls

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.

September 26, 2008 | Filed Under baking, bread, breakfast, food, recipe, sweets | 26 Comments 

Eat a peach

apples

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.

September 20, 2008 | Filed Under Local, beef, fish, poultry, pork, bits and pieces, food, fruit and nuts | 12 Comments 

White Sauce and Bread Crumbs - the mac magic

white sauce

My menu planning and wiki posting system is still being fine tuned. I say this because there is the absolute sloth factor that crops up when one is too lazy to come up with a practical and cogent weeknight menu. Last week went off without a hitch but we’ve had two Plan B nights this week. Last night we ate Paninis instead of risotto and tonight ot was homemade mac and cheese instead of pizza. Both were big hits…especially the mac and cheese.

white sauce

The backbone of macaroni and cheese is a classic white sauce. Its simple proportions makes it easy to remember and it’s a snap to pull off. It’s 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, and 3/4 cup milk. For my mac and cheese I use 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoon flour, and 2 cups of milk (I go a little light on the milk because I’m adding cheese). I use a heavy 4 quart cast iron/enameled sauce pan. I start by melting the butter and then adding the flour. I stir the flour into the butter and let it cook over a medium low flame for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring often. Then I add the milk, turn up the heat to medium and whisk it until smooth. Then I add pepper, salt, and Crystal Hot Sauce and let it simmer on medium low for 5 minutes or so, stirring often.

While it’s simmering I grate up (use the food processor) some cheese…this time it’s cheddar and Gruyere. I add it to the white sauce and bingo… it becomes a cheesey delight that would be so tempting to guzzle. But I restrain myself and combine it with the drained pasta instead. I transfer it to a buttered cast iron gratin pan and bake it at 375 degrees. After 10 minutes I pull it out and add a layer of breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs are the other must have for homemade mac and cheese. They too are so simple…if you’ve got bread then you’ve got bread crumbs. When you’re grating the cheese for the sauce as I outlined in the step above you also want to pop 3 or 4 slices of your most stalest bread into the toaster and let it do its thing on its lowest setting for as long as possible without burning the bread. I use the toaster oven and set it to 250 degrees. Once the mac is in the oven you can pop the bread into the food processor which is now fitted with its blade and pulverize the bread into crumbs. I also like to add a pinch of salt and a clove of garlic. Heat a heavy skillet over a medium flame and add a 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it’s melted add the bread crumbs and cook them until they’re lightly browned, stirring often.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the mac and return it to the oven for 5 minutes or until it’s golden crunchy brown on top. Serve it up and know this…it is totally possible to make this fabulous, soul-satisfying dish in 40 minutes; just remember to put the pasta water on to boil the minute you walk in the door. Menu Planning and wiki posting are all good but it sure is helpful to have a Plan B like this.

Wednesday, September 17 is my 2 year blogiversary….woot. I’ve got a few blog improvements on my task list that I hope to get completed soon…a recipe index is number one. Thanks to all my sweet readers for keeping me going….I’m looking forward to another year.

September 16, 2008 | Filed Under beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, geek fast food, gratins, stews, and stir-frys, menu, pasta, pizza, noodles, quick and easy, recipe | 12 Comments 

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