Thursday, August 27, 2009

Part Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls {bba}



As I was getting ready to bake the next bread in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (as part of the BBA Challenge) I wasn't as worried about being stuck in the seemingly-endless "C" section of the book as much as being mired in enriched sweet breads (with more to follow upcoming weeks). But it wouldn't be a challenge if all of the requirements were easy, right? Plus, even though I was tired of it, many people that I know would consider homemade sweet bread to be a treat so I knew that I'd be able to share my batch of rolls.

Now, on to planning how I was going to bake these.

The recipe has two variations: Cinnamon Rolls or Sticky Buns. None of us like the ultra stickyness, so cinnamon rolls it was. (Asked about sticky buns, J.D.E. said "ooh, pecans... no")

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made my cinnamon rolls with about 1/3 whole grain (oat flour and white whole wheat), a bit of all purpose flour and 1/2 bread flour.

- I have a fairly fresh batch of fresh yeast in the fridge, so I used it for half of total yeast, and half was instant yeast.

- To keep the citrus accent very faint, I used a bit less than half of the lemon extract specified in the recipe.

- For the filling, I used brown sugar with cinnamon and a pinch of cardamom, mimicking the cinnamon filling from the cinnamon roll muffins that I'd recently made (and gave to my mother)

ready to proof
- I tried to make the "small" rolls, and cut 14 out of my rolled log. (Since my log was tapered a bit, my rolls were of varying sizes.) The rolls were huge by the time they came out of the oven! After making 8 recipes from this book, I've come to the conclusion that Peter Reinhart doesn't do small bread!

- Additionally, I didn't make the fondant glaze in the book (also has lemon in it) but just stirred together confectioner's sugar and milk then drizzled on a tiny bit of glaze over the finished rolls.

ready for the oven
the verdict:

These cinnamon rolls were a thousand times more to my liking than the ones I made with the brioche dough. The crumb wasn't as cakey; it was chewy, moist, yet tender. The brown sugar/ cinnamon was intense and a tiny bit of confectioner's sugar glaze was the icing on the cake so to speak.

[I'm sending these rolls to Yeastspotting!]

15 comments:

Jennifer said...

*swoon*

Nancy, these look SO good. I could dive head first into a plate full of these!

Cathy said...

I totally love these more than the brioche rolls as well. And I did the calculations - they have a significantly better nutritional profile than the brioche rolls. One of Peter's small/large brioche rolls may be a minor indulgence, but nothing like the over-the-top stuff we usually make around here! And you made them even better by using part whole grain flour - they look fantastic!

natalia said...

Ciao Nancy ! These were relly delightful buns !! I now imagine Peter Reinhart going aroun with huge breads !

Audrey said...

Yum. They look delicious, and perfect, and wonderful...and they're probably even good for you!

Bergamot said...

This looks good... love cinnamon rolls

Bergamot said...

This looks good... love cinnamon rolls

Kayte said...

Love the different sizes...guy sizes and my sizes! They look absolutely delicious and I wish I had one right now. A guy sized one. Nice job making them healthier, too!

Di said...

Your rolls look fabulous, Nancy! I'm going to have to try part whole-grain next time I make these. Which may be soon, since Brianna and Gillian ate all of the last batch and asked if I could make more. =) I think I'm going to add some white whole wheat to the cinnamon raisin bread, too.

Hillary said...

Thanks for converting the cinnamon roll to whole wheat! You should submit these to our site!

Pamela said...

Stunning!! Knowing that these would be slightly good for me would help me to feel less guilty when I had finished my second one. :o)

Lien said...

Beautiful rolls, I could eat one right now!

Anonymous said...

These rolls were outstanding! Your's look great. I tried to make them small too. I cut 16 and they came out HUGE.

Susan/Wild Yeast said...

Chewy, moist and tender is exactly how they should be, whatever the size. Nice!

Anh said...

So beautiful. I just checked out the 'other' cinammon roll you made.

I finally return to bread making. Your blog is so inspiring!!

Leslie said...

I'm whimpering. And almost crying.

Yes, these look that good.

Did the whole grains affect the texture at all or was it one of those sneaky changes that are undetectable?