Hercules10 said:
Why don't cha just post the recipe here? Seems there's enough inner-rested.
You're right. I just know how much everyone hates really long posts, so I was trying to avoid that!
Here's the recipe:
Dough:
1 C milk
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or one dry packet) [I used Fleishman's Rapid Rise packet]
2 eggs, room temp
1/3 C butter, melted
4 & 1/2 C flour
Filling:
1/4 C butter, melted
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
3/4 C brown sugar (next time I'll use a bit more brown sugar than this)
Icing:
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 C butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 C confectioner's sugar
Dough: [I'm going to paraphrase the girls actual recipe here] King Arthur's all-purpose flour is recommended for the higher protein content than average all-purpose flour. If you're not using King Arthur flour, then buy bread flour.
I used two large-sized bowls to avoid having to wash dishes in the middle of baking. First, heat your milk up in the microwave for about a minute, until lukewarm like baby-bottle temp. Yeast needs warm and wet to grow. It also needs sugar, so after you heat up your milk, put it in your bowl and mix it with the sugar. Then add the yeast.
Next, you do what's called "proofing" the yeast, or getting proof that your yeast is alive, well, and working. After you mix your yeast into your milk & sugar, let it sit for about 10 minutes. It should start forming bubbles and smelling really yeasty. If it doesn't start to bubble at all after 15-20 minutes, throw it out and start again.
Once your yeast is started, start mixing in your flour, a 1/2 cup at a time. I used a wooden spoon for mixing to start with. Keep adding the flour until you've added 2 cups. At this point, work in your eggs and melted butter (cool your butter down after melting it, if it's blazing hot, it will kill your yeast and you will be sad.) Then add the rest of the flour, you may need slightly more or less than the exact 4 & 1/2 cups. Anyway, as you're adding more & more flour, a spoon gets less useful and it's time to use your hand.
Your dough should be cohesive and not overly sticky. Basically, you'll get a bit stuck to your hand if you stick it in there, but you shouldn't come away with dough trailing from your hand like ooze. After your flour is added, you need to knead it a bit. Not a lot, as you want this to be a softer roll when you're done, but a bit, just to get the gluten to develop. Just do it a couple of times until you have a nice ball.
Then take you other bowl out and oil it (or spray it with PAM). Toss your dough in there, then flip it over. This gets oil all over the dough so it stays elastic while rising. Toss a towel over the bowl (or Saran wrap) and place it somewhere warm. You can set your oven to about 250 and put your bowl on top of the oven, especially if you're using a ceramic bowl. [I was using a metal bowl, so I just heated up my oven to 250 and placed the covered bowl beside the oven.] Let the dough rise until doubled, about 2 hours. [I used rapid rise yeast, which took maybe an hour and 15 minutes.]
Once your dough is done with that first rise, turn it out onto a clean and flour dusted surface. Throw a bit more flour on top and let the dough sit for a few minutes. Set the oven to 400. Youre using a 9x13 pan for these, sprayed with PAM, by the way.
Roll your dough out with a floured rolling pin until its a big rectangle. Official measurements are 16x21. After its rolled out, you want to put the filling in. Take your butter and melt it. Use a pastry brush and brush it over the surface. Then take your cinnamon and brown sugar, mix them together and break up the clumps, and sprinkle evenly over your dough. Leave about ½ of the long side filling-free, though, because that will be the end of your roll and it will stick better to the other dough.
Now its time to roll. Start at a long edge and roll up. Now you have a log of dough that needs to be cut into 12 rolls. Thread works best for cutting the dough, because it doesnt squish it. Use a long piece of thread, place it under your dough, pull up with both hands, and cut the dough in half. Then cut the halves in half, and keep going until you have 12 rolls.
Then place your rolls into your pan. Its ok if theyre not touching; theyll get bigger. Let those rise in a warm place for about a half an hour, or until doubled in size. While theyre rising, take out your butter & cream cheese for softening.
Then bake the rolls at 400 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
While the rolls are baking, make your icing. Start by beating your cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Then add the salt and vanilla, then start gradually adding the powdered sugar. Mix til extra-smooth and fluffy.
By this point, your rolls are done. Take them out of the oven, let them sit a couple of minutes, then smother them with icing and enjoy.
