I already wrote my spiel about different rolls for different occasions--I've found that even to be true about cinnamon rolls. There's definitely a difference between the part-whole-wheat-less-fat-and-sugar-but-still-yummy version I'm willing to feed my kids for breakfast on a weekday and the perfect, not-so-little chunks of heavenly goodness I feed to my girlfriends before a big day shopping. To be honest, I even have different recipes in those categories.
I find having different recipes for the same thing is useful. And not boring.
This particular dough is very multipurpose. It has a minimum chill time of 8 hours and a maximum fridge shelf-life of 5 days. I always make a huge batch and use it all week long for different things, including cinnamon rolls, hot dog/hamburger buns, dinner rolls, pigs in blankets, steam buns ("surprise muffins" to my kids) and more. The only thing I really haven't tried is making it into a loaf of bread. I guess it seems like such a waste to do that, because this dough is so easy to work with.
One more note before I begin--don't over-complicate your life. This dough is made with mashed potatoes. I have never, ever made potatoes especially for this recipe (though I have purposefully made extra so I made sure to have enough left over). Just try the recipe one day after you serve up mashed potatoes for dinner. I've never tried using instant, but I bet those would work fine, too. Little hint though--my family will eat all the potatoes served on the table. So I usually sneakily dish out some and set it aside for using later.
Proof your yeast first. Mine is a little old so it's not all bubbly. But it still works most of the time!
Then mix in mashed potatoes, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt and half the flour. Mix it up until it's relatively blended together.
Then add in the remaining flour, one cup at a time. Mix well after each addition.
You know you have enough flour with the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom, as shown:
Knead it for about 8 minutes with the dough hook or 10 minutes by hand. Grease the bowl, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Or forget about it for 3 days and then come back to it. Whatever.
Even with "old" yeast, it grows plenty big...
I try to take advantage of my resources. On this particular day, I had 4 cups of leftover mashed potatoes, which is enough for a quadruple batch. Of course I had to make it all!
When you work with that much dough, though, you have to know about how much to dish out. With a single batch, you'll just be dividing in two. Larger than that and you're doing math or estimating weight. With this recipe I usually choose the latter so I can just pull a hunk out of the bowl and leave the rest in the fridge for another day. I'm showing you below my approximate measurement for about one pound of dough--about the size of a coconut, if it were balled up.
With that, you do whatever you want. Suggestions listed above. But here's a cinnamon roll tutorial since that's one of the most complicated options.
First, roll out the dough to about 12"x18". It should be 1/4" to 1/2" thick, depending on how you like your bread to filling ratio. Optionally, spread it with softened butter. If you do, you get a caramelized filling. If you don't, you get sort of a more granulated-cinnamon-sugar crunch, if you know what I mean. Both are good.
In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1 T cinnamon. Spread that over your dough.
Starting on one of the long sides, roll the dough into a log:
Leave it seam-side down.
Slice it. About 1 1/2" is good--any bigger and they like to fall over. I like to use a pizza cutter. You can use a sharp knife, a dough cutter, or dental floss (probably not minty...)
Place them on a pan. You can do a large jellyroll pan for the giant cinnamon bun look, or cram them all into a cake pan with only about an inch between each one. The latter seems to get more of that caramelized sticky bun result.
Optionally, chill these overnight in the fridge. If you do this, pull them out at least 2 hours before baking so you don't end up with doughy middles.
Cover and let rise about 30 minutes, or until doubled.
Potato Rolls (single batch)
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 1/2 cups warm water (100 degrees F)
1 T yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
6 1/2 cups flour (can use whole wheat)
*for cinnamon rolls, add:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 T cinnamon
Proof yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients, reserving half of the flour. Mix well. Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Use additional flour if necessary. Dough should pull away from sides of bowl but still stick to the bottom. Knead 8 to 10 minutes with dough hook or 10 to 12 minutes by hand. Grease bowl, place dough in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 5 days. Use as desired to form dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, hamburger/hot dog buns, pigs in blankets, steam buns, etc. Most rolls bake well at 375 for about 15 minutes (less time if smaller than the palm of your hand). This dough works well for forming rolls, refrigerating before the second rise, and removing from the fridge a couple hours before baking time.
No comments:
Post a Comment