Cinnamon Twists
Rainy days at home make me want to cook a pot roast or some soup. They also make me want to bake. I’m relaxing today though, so I decided to write about food instead of making some.
I started making these one weekend morning before I set out for a morning run. It seemed like a good thing to do with a run on the morning schedule for several reasons:
1. I could run during the first dough-rising period, and shower during the second dough-rising period. This also eliminates the inpatient anticipation that I always have when making cinnamon rolls (or twists) in the morning. I like the yeast-raised dough the best, but yeast takes its time, which requires hungry, salivating patience.
2. While running, I could think about eating cinnamon rolls. This makes me run faster and better, because I’m not continuously thinking about how much I want to quit running.
3. I could scarf them down with no regrets, because I had already run off all of the calories. In fact, I’m pretty sure I needed to REPLACE some calories that I burned off during running.
I like this enriched dough because it is easy to make (some enriched doughs have a lot of butter or other fats that make them hard to work with). I also like my cinnamon roll dough to be rich in flavor, but not really sweet. I like to pour on some sweet sweet icing after they are baked, and if the dough is too sweet, then I get overwhelmed with sweetness and don’t enjoy them as much.
I forgot to take pictures of how to cut the roll and braid it to make the twists, but hopefully I will be able to describe it well enough anyway. If it is too confusing, then just cut them into rolls instead of the twist.
I apologize for the strange weight measurements. I converted this from a classroom-sized recipe that made 16 pounds of dough. This recipe makes 2 twists, or about 20 cinnamon rolls.
Cinnamon Roll Dough
Ingredients
1.56 ounces fresh yeast
7.31 ounces milk
18 ¼ ounces bread flour
2.19 ounces sugar
4 ½ ounces butter
1 egg
⅛ ounce salt
butter, at room temperature (1 stick should be good, depending on how much butter you like to smear on the dough)
cinnamon sugar, about 1/2 cup
Preparation
1. Combine all ingredients together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for 6 minutes.
2. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
3. Punch down and let rise for another 20-40 minutes, until doubled in size.
4. Take half of dough and roll out to a rectangle, about 12 inches wide by 9 inches long. Do the same thing with other half once you have finished with the first half.
5. Brush all but the top 1/2 inch with softened butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Brush the top edge with water to help seal. Roll up tight, keeping the edges square. Seal the edge.
6a. For a braid: Hold one end of the roll and place your knift about 1/3 of the width of the roll. Cut a strip down the length of the dough. Then move over 1/3 width of dough and cut another strip. You should have 3 strips of dough that are all connected at the top. Braid the dough and tuck in the ends once you get to the end of the braiding. Place braid onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
6b. For cinnamon rolls, cut into 1-inch slices and place 1/2 inch apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Proof for 30 minutes (20 minutes if cutting into rolls).
8. Bake at 380 F until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool for 1 minute, then brush with softened butter.
10. Cool for 5 minutes and then glaze with topping of choice.