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This page stores my blog entry from January 2008. The entry is from January 9.
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Cinnamon Rolls - A Brain Dump on Cooking
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Pam bought me a cookbook some time ago. It's an old black washable-cover cookbook from 1943. My grandparents and
parents each have one similar to it, but my parents' copy has a cool wartime supplement that lists substitutions
for ingredients that would have been scarce. I grew up eating things that came from said book, and I've created
things myself over time. I love some of the recipes, and I love the sections on how to cook things and the definitions
of certain cookery vocabulary.
This past weekend, I endeavored to create cinnamon rolls from a recipe in this black cookbook. There isn't a "cinnamon
roll" recipe, really. The book has a recipe for "standard rolls" (probably a basic dinner roll),
and after the recipe it lists several modifications. One of those is, of course, for cinnamon rolls. It calls for
yeast, and I get a bit nervous about killing yeast before it can do its thing. With the yeast, using only half
a recipe of the standard rolls, and not being sure when to do what, I started on them.
Making the half recipe caused no problems. Working with a cake of yeast felt rather odd. I felt like I crumbled
a rubber eraser into my milk/salt/shortening mixture. The flour mixed in well, and the one-hour rising time was
plenty to double its bulk.
Now I get confused. "When light, roll out ...", but when is that? Is it after the first rising, or the
second? The standard rolls recipe says something about being light after the second rising, so I go that route.
After kneading the dough a bit and getting it back to that smooth-yet-rubbery texture, I roll it back into the
bowl and toss it in the warm oven to rise again.
Nuts! It didn't really rise the second time. Did I knead it too long? Did I not let it rise long enough the first
time? Or did I not give it enough time on the second rising? I'm not sure, but I don't have an option now. I mix
the cinnamon, sugar, and currants (think really small raisins but sweeter) together, and, after rolling out the
dough, pour said mixture on the dough. I roll it up and cut rolls from the log. It says something about letting
it rise until "light" (there's that adjective again!). So, back in the oven they go.
Nuts again! I don't think they rose any. Or did they? After a bit, I give up and just bake them. Given that I planned
to have these for breakfast and it was about 3pm, I didn't care too much anymore.
The true results will be tested this coming weekend. I liked how the cinnamon rolls turned out, but I think they
should be better. My main miscalculation about making these seems to be when to roll out the dough and when the
second rising occurs. Next time, I'll roll the dough out after the first rising and let the individual rolls rise
as the second rising. When I re-read the recipe after making these, that seems to be what I should have done.
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