FlourChild's blog

Work has kept me busy and away from posting as often as I'd like, but I'm happy to be able to share this recipe. These are completely amazing cinnamon rolls. They've conquered my heart, and I don't even really like cinnamon rolls. Except these.

Tang Zhong Milk & Honey Sweet Dough 

The cornerstone of this recipe is the soft, moist and tender sweet dough. It uses honey and a roux to tenderize and hold in moisture. And the long kneading time yields a wonderfully light, ethereal texture.  

 Crazy Good Cinnamon Glaze

Instead of the traditional plain powdered sugar frosting, these have a richly flavored, creamy glaze that rounds out the cinnamon with butter, vanilla, cocoa butter and coffee. While testing this recipe, my office mates repeatedly offered to lick the bowls, whisks, serving plates, you name it. 

This was a recipe I developed for Brod & Taylor for the roll-out of their new shelf kit. (If you haven't seen the shelf kit yet and would like to, it is here.)  It includes directions for the Folding Proofer with a shelf kit, but can also be made using a warm-ish (85F) proofing spot.

Yield: 12 Cinnamon Rolls (double the recipe to make 24 rolls). Make 12 rolls in two 9” (23cm) round cake pans or one 9x13" pan. Make a double recipe in two 9x13” (23x33cm) rectangular pans.

Timing: On day 1 the dough can be made, chilled, rolled and cut, then the rolls are refrigerated overnight. On day 2, pull the rolls out of the fridge about 2¼ hours before serving time, then proof and bake.

Milk & Honey Sweet Dough

Make the Roux. Measure the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the milk to a small saucepan and whisk in 3 Tbs of the flour from the mixer bowl. (If you are weighing ingredients, put 30g/1.1oz of bread flour into the milk and 220g/7.8oz into the mixer bowl.) Heat over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until uniformly thickened and bubbling, about 20-30 seconds after the mixture first begins to boil. Cover and chill until cool to the touch.

The butter will incorporate more easily with the dough if it is so soft that it’s gone all melty at the edges. If you have a Folding Proofer, the butter can be warmed at 85F/29C. To prepare for rising the dough, lightly oil a container and mark it at the 4-cup/1 liter level (8-cup/2 liters if making a double recipe).

Mix the Dough. Add the instant yeast and salt to the flour in the mixer bowl and stir to combine. Add the water, cooled roux, honey and egg yolk. Mix on low speed until flour is moistened. Once the dough comes together it should stick to the sides of the bowl. If necessary, add 1 more tablespoon water to achieve the right consistency.

Knead Intensively for an Ethereal Texture. Raise mixer to medium-low and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should still be sticking to the sides of the bowl. Add the butter in four parts, kneading until each piece is incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Once all the butter is incorporated, knead for 10 more minutes on medium-low. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl, although it may still stick on the bottom.

Ferment the Dough. Scrape the dough into the oiled container, place in the Proofer if you are using one and allow to rise until doubled, about 75-80 minutes at 85F/29C.  

Fold and Chill. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and stretch and fold all four sides to the middle, creating a square package. Wrap loosely and chill (a relaxed, cool dough will be less sticky and easier to roll out without adding too much flour). After 30 minutes, deflate the dough and re-wrap. Chill 30 more minutes or until it’s convenient to roll the dough, up to 24 hrs.

Cinnamon Pecan Filling

While the Dough is Chilling, Make the Filling. Butter the bottom and sides of the pans and chop the pecans finely. Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until well combined. Quickly whisk in the cold egg white to thicken and emulsify the mixture.

Roll and Fill the Dough. Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough, then roll out to a 12 x 14” (30 x 36 cm) rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough, extending all the way to the edges on the short sides and leaving a small bare border on both long sides. Sprinkle the nuts over the filling. Starting from a long side, roll the dough into a log and press lightly to seal the seam. Use plain dental floss to cut the roll into 12 pieces. If using a knife to slice rolls, it may be easier if the log is chilled first. Arrange the rolls in the pan with smaller rolls in the middle. Cover and chill overnight.

Proof the Cinnamon Rolls. Set up the Proofer, if using, with plenty of water in the tray. Use the rack with the fold-out legs on the lower level to raise the pan off the warming element so that the lower level and upper level proof at the same rate. Set the thermostat to 90F/32C. Place one pan of rolls on the lower rack, off to one side. Then add the shelf supports and shelf and place the second pan on the upper level, off to the opposite side. Close the lid and allow the rolls to proof until the dough springs back slowly when the side of a roll is dented with a finger, about 90 minutes. Half way through proofing, rotate the pans 180 degrees.

Cinnamon Mocha Topping

Preheat the Oven.  Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375F / 190C.

Make the Glaze.  Break or chop the white chocolate into pieces and put in a small bowl along with the coffee, cinnamon and butter. When the cinnamon rolls are fully proofed, remove them from the Proofer, then turn the thermostat up to 120F (49C). Remove the upper rack and fold up the legs on the lower rack so that it rests close to the warming element. Place the topping mixture in the center of the rack and close the lid. (Because the white chocolate is being melted with coffee and butter, it’s OK to leave the water tray in the Proofer - a little steam won’t hurt it.)  If you're not using a Proofer, melt the glaze over a double boiler or with short bursts in the microwave.

Bake the Cinnamon Rolls.  Cover each pan of rolls with aluminum foil (to seal in moisture and encourage the fullest oven spring possible) and place in the oven on the lower rack. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the foil, rotate pans 180 degrees and place on upper rack to encourage browning. Bake 15-20 more minutes, until nicely browned and the rolls reach an internal temperature of 190F (88C).

Cool and Top the Rolls.  When the cinnamon rolls are done, remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. While the rolls are cooling, whisk the melted glaze ingredients until they emulsify and are thick and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Unmold the rolls onto a serving plate and drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls.

Alternative Timing:  The rolls can be made all in one day.  After the first rise/bulk ferment, chill the dough only for the minimum time of 1 hour.  Then roll, fill and cut the rolls.  Skip the overnight time in the refrigerator and shorten the final proof to 70-75 minutes (the dough will be warm and will take less time than refrigerated dough).  All in, start these rolls 5½-6 hours before serving time.

Couldn't resist joining in all the pizza frivolity, it is hands down my favorite bread to make.  I was inspired by David's post here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34452/pizza-bliss and Breadsong's post here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34610/was-good-pizza, both takes on Ken Forkish's SD pizza in Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. 

Sasauge and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza 

My go-to pizza crust falls somewhere between Forkish's version and a miche made with high-extraction flour.  It's a sourdough with a small leaven, high hydration and 20% high extraction flour.  After David raved about his pizza made with Caputo 00 flour, I decided to bake off my formula using two different unbleached flours, one was KAF's  Italian-style flour with 8.5% protein, and the other was Gold Medal unbleached AP, with about 10-10.5% protein.  I left the high extraction flours the same for both, and lowered the hydration to 75% for the lower protein Italian-style flour.

Pizza with Braised Leeks, Roasted Yellow Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Bacon

I have to say that the Italian-style flour was far superior, baking up with a perfectly crisp exterior and a light, tender and delicious interior.  I'm headed up to KAF in a couple of weeks, this bake has me wondering where on earth I could fit a 50lb bag of this stuff, it is that good.  If it came in an organic version, I'd be even more thrilled.

Yield: Two 12" pizzas, can be doubled easily for 4-5 pizzas.

 Levain (night before):  Mix the levain and allow it to ferment overnight at about 68F.  My goal is to have the levain well-risen but not yet ready for another feed- a young levain.  In hotter weather my seed: flour ratio is 1:10 and in cooler weather it is 1:2.

High Extraction flours:  I sift hard red whole wheat flour and whole rye flour through a fine strainer to create high extraction flour, only takes a couple of minutes and it helps to keep the pizza texture light and open-crumbed.  Using high-extraction flour also works well with my goal of creating a dough that is full-flavored, rich and complex, but not overly acidic. 

Autolyse (morning of):  Stir main dough flours to combine, add water (85-90F unless room is quite warm) and mix until no dry spots remain.  I like to make a well in the dough and add the levain, then draw the sides around to encase it without mixing it in.  That way, the different hydration levels begin to equalize and the levain has a nice place to hang out during the autolyse.  Autolyse for at least 20 minutes and up to a couple of hours.   I autolyse in my folding proofer set at 78F to keep the dough temp from cooling too much before the bulk ferment.

Encasing the levain 

Mix the Main Dough:  Stir the salt and sugar together in a small bowl and sprinkle over, around and under the dough to coat it all over.  This helps keep the high-hydration dough from being too sticky for a short while.  Once the salt and sugar are mixed in, the dough becomes quite sticky and stays that way for the rest of the process.

Sugar in the Dough:  I don't add sugar to most bread doughs, but after making what seems like a gazillion pizzas over the last several years, I'm thoroughly convinced that sugar really helps create rich flavors and a browned, charred crust in a home oven.  It can be omitted and the main dough can be mixed at the same time as the levain and autolysed overnight if desired, but I find that adding the sugar gives the best browning.

Bulk Ferment:  In my folding proofer set at 78F, the dough takes about five hours to bulk ferment.  The version with AP flour needs 3 stretch and folds in the first two hours, and the Italian-style flour version needed 4 stretch and folds.  This dough is very wet and sticky, so I leave it in the mixing bowl until the folds are complete, then transfer it to a lightly oiled container to gauge the volume.  I like the flavor best at a volume increase of about 2.25x, though it also works just fine at 2x or 2.5x. 

Dough Balls:  Divide as desired and pre-shape into balls.  I like to proof them upside down (seam side up) with oil on the pan and coarse semolina on the seam side.  During shaping I continue with oil on the tops of the crusts and semolina on the bottom, it helps give the pizzas a softer top crust with a crisp underside.

Proofing:  The dough balls need to proof another 2 hours at 78F, covered.  If the main dough was mixed early in the morning and more time is needed before baking, they can be refrigerated after an hour of proofing.  Most of the time I don't refrigerate them.

Shaping:  I shape just before topping and baking them, being careful not to compress the rim.  The Italian style flour version was harder to shape because the dough was both wet and delicate (less gluten), but it was so enjoyable to eat that I didn't mind. 

Baking:  We preheat the oven to 500F+ for an hour with a stone on the middle rack.  Pizzas take about 5-7 minutes and get turned half way through baking.

Toppings:  The pizza at the top of this post is a seasonal favorite, it is made with burrata, pan roasted yellow tomaotes, a little parmesano reggiano and fresh basil.  If you haven't used yellow tomatoes on pizza before, I recommend giving it a try, they are phenomenal.  We like them on pesto pizza, as well as the two versions shown here. 

The pizza below is a simple goat cheese and basil pizza (my daughter's current favorite), she likes her crust a little paler/softer than the rest of us (braces). 

The last pizza pictured is a dessert pizza- we don't make dessert pizzas very often because once you've had them for a main course it seems a bit repetitive to have them again for dessert, but it was quite good and fun to try.  I brushed the rim with melted butter and used lightly sweetened whipped cream for the "sauce".  Then topped that with sliced peaches and blueberries, and sprinkled the whole thing, rim and all, with a tablespoon of sugar.  I lowered the oven to 450F so that the fruit would have enough time to bake through.  It was delicious.

Basil and Goat Cheese Pizza

Dessert Pizza

Our family traveled to Spain this past Spring, and Sevilla was our favorite city on the trip, we were there during Semana Santa.  We particularly enjoyed the Tortas de Aceite- yeast-leavened olive oil wafters laced with sesame and anise.  This version is a little different than the standard torta in that it is leavened with sourdough and uses star anise instead of anise seed.

A view of the courtyard in Sevilla's Alcazar, the Royal Palace.

Tortas de Aceite Recipe

Night Before:

Mix levain, allow to ferment ovenight at 68-70F.  It should rise but not yet be fully mature.

Next Morning:

Weigh flour into mixing bowl and coat a 3-4 cup bulk ferment container with olive oil.

Use spice grinder to grind toasted sesame seeds, salt and main dough sugar until fine.  Stir into flour.

Add 32g levain (the rest is for perpetuating the culture), water and oil to the flour mixture and mix until combined, then knead by hand about 10 minutes.

Transfer to oiled container and cover. 

Ferment until dough has doubled, about 5 hours at 81F.

Using olive oil to grease work surfaces and dough, stretch and fold 3 times in first 3.5 hours, then allow to rise.  Ready when rounded peak reaches a little past 2 2/3 cups.

Afternoon:

Divide and pre-shape into 12 rounds.  Place on oiled sheet pan and rest one hour, covered.

In spice grinder, grind star anise with 2 tsp sugar until fine, then scrape into bowl.

Preheat oven to 450F, placing rack in middle of oven.  Prep a half sheet pan with silpat or parchment.

Spread 2 Tbs granulated sugar on a plate.

Flatten dough balls slightly, then sprinkle the top with 1/4 tsp of the anise-sugar mixture.  Spread mixture over dough disc with fingertip.

Shape six discs into pizza-like tortas about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, then turn face down in sugar plate to coat with sugar. 

Place six tortas on one half sheet pan and bake 8 minutes, then rotate and bake 3-5 more minutes, until nicely caramelized.

Repeat with remaining six tortas.

Editing to add notes:  

Don't be tempted to add the anise into the main dough- it has potent anti-bacterial and anti-fungal qualities and will kill off every discernable trace of sourdough culture (did this with my first go at these).

These re-heat and re-crisp beautifully in the toaster.

Dough Rounds:

Flattened Discs with Anise-Sugar Mixture:

The Shaped Tortas:

Plaza Nueva at Sunset:

Sevilla's Cathedral:

Torta Crumb:

More Tortas:

Looking for Tapas:

In addition to Breadsong's post and Toad.de.b's post, I have a couple more loaves to add from Ken Forkish's Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast.  

I have to say I've really been enjoying baking from this book, it has opened up my repetoire to include a style of SD bread featuring low levain amounts (only 10-12% of the main dough flour is used to build the levain) and extended bulk ferments.  This style is different from Hammelman, and bears some resemblance to Chad Roberston's loaves, though Mr. Forkish seems to be a better teacher and to include more of the details needed for a novice to succeed.  The only drawbacks- and they are small compared to the deliciousness of his breads- are the narrow scope of recipes (no soakers, high percentage rye, brioche, baguette or long loaves, olive bread, fruit & nut bread, croissants, etc.) and the "supersize" scale of both levains and recipes (every recipe is made with 1,000 grams of flour).  

First up is the Bacon Sourdough, which I have to say is one of the best tasting loaves that has ever graced my kitchen.  I followed this recipe to the T, even mixing up the large levain.  Since I like bread best on the day it's baked, I generally prefer to bake smaller amounts more frequently and am not set up for this quantity of dough, so it was a bit of a hassle to find or jerry-rig enough containers, baskets, dutch ovens, proofers, etc.  But the incredibly moist crumb and crisp, red-brown crust on this loaf were superb, and the bacon hit just the right note- plenty to appreciate, but in balance with the crust and crumb flavors.  The photos on this are only of a small demi-loaf made of dough that I siphoned off of the two larger loaves; I wanted a small loaf to try the bread, as the two large loaves were given away as gifts.

The glossy, translucent walls on the larger holes:

The bubbles on the crust:

Next up is the Overnight Brown, a pure levain dough with 30% whole wheat.  For this bake, I decided to scale things back and also tried some whole grain spelt instead of traditional red wheat for the 30% whole grain portion of the dough.  For the scaling, I only made one loaf (50% of the main dough) and scaled back the levain to just a little more than what I needed for the main dough (150g of levain or 15% of what was called for).  Not sure that spelt was the right choice for this bread, it was good but not great.  I'd like to try it again with red wheat.

Here's the loaf, which Forkish doesn't score but rather bakes seam side up for a gnarly, rustic look.

The crumb:

And the bubbly crust that comes from his long room temp ferments:

Pizzas
I also made the levain pizza dough and the high-hydration poolish pizza dough, but my renditions did not turn out as well as the loaves.  They both seemed a bit over-fermented, in that they ended up a little too dense, without enough oven spring, and the flavors were a tad off.  These may be my fault, I suspect both my SD starter and my (commerical yeast) poolish were a little more ripe than was ideal, so I plan to try them again, being more careful to follow the times and temps exactly.  They were both a little harder to shape (elastic) than most of the pizza doughs I mix, which I attribute to the extra acidity from the long ferments.  In the case of the poolish, my pre-ferment only doubled in 12 hours, rather than the triple that is specified, so I let it go to 14 hours (recipe states 12-14 hours) in hopes of getting a bit more rise, which never happened.  This experience has taught me that with Forkish's recipes, it is better to err on the side of underfermenting than the other way around.

All in all, a great book that I've thoroughly enjoyed.

This is my first go with Maggie Glezer's Pandoro (from Artisan Baking), and all things considered I'm quite pleased with it.  There are two amazing things about this bread.  The first is how something with that much sugar and butter can be so light and ethereal-  I'm stunned by the texture.  The second is the balance of flavors.  It doesn't come across as too eggy, it doesn't taste only of butter or vanilla, and it isn't obviously a sourdough.  But put them all together in just the right balance, and they add up to a beautiful, rounded, perfumed and complex flavor.  I was so very happy when this bread was baking, I don't think I've ever smelled something quite that good from my oven.

The dough largely followed the schedule in the book, with the exception that the first build took about 50% longer (6hrs vs 4) than it was supposed to, but I attribute that to my tendency to feed starters a little too early, so it needed a bit of time to catch up.  Once it did, the rest of the stages proceeded right on time.  I used my folding proofer set at 78F.

The only other issue I had was that my paddle attachment was just not capable of mixing this super-sticky yet strong dough.  I have a KA 600, and this dough only worked when I switched to the dough hook.  With the paddle, it just wrapped around and would not come off for anything, not with a spatula, not with high speeds.  I finally had to slice it off with a sharp knife.  

I used a large tube pan (16 cups capacity) instead of two eight cup pandoro molds, as I wanted to see how the bread was before buying more pans.  Looks like I'll be in the market for some star-shaped molds this season:)  

The final proof takes the dough up by more than quadruple, from the picture above to the one below.  Not bad for a naturally-leavened bread with just 0.2% yeast.

I don't want to post Maggie Glezer's recipe, but Artisan Baking is a lovely book to read or check out of the Library.  This bread was the reason I made a starter last year, and though it's taken me a while to collect all the ingredients (like cocoa butter, high-gluten flour and osmotolerant yeast), I'm glad I finally got around to making it.  

The top is prettier than the bottom, if I make it in the tube pan again I think I'll keep it right side up.

The ethereal crumb, so soft and light.  It even had a bit of shreddability.  Next time, I'll try a bit longer/slower mixing to see if I can get more shredding.

This would be the perfect seasonal viennoiserie for anyone who isn't crazy about the fruit in a panettone, or who appreciates light textures.  The bread has 17% of its flour pre-fermented, more  than 42% butter/cocoa butter, 0.2% osmotolerant yeast, 68% eggs/yolks, more than 41% sugar/honey, and hydration of 73% (taking into account the water content of eggs, honey, butter, etc.).  

Today's family breakfast included rye bialys with cream cheese and smoked salmon, we enjoyed them!  The dark rye pre-ferment for these was adapted from The Bread Bible's rye pugliese, but the main dough, as well as the proportion of pre-fermented dough, is quite different.  In addition to the dark rye and unbleached flour, they also have KAF whole grain white wheat flour, which I sifted to remove the larger bran pieces.  The bran was used to coat the outside of the bialys in place of the tradtitional flour coating.  The onion, poppy seed, salt and pepper filling is from the Bread Bible's bialy recipe, it's a great filling.

The pre-ferment was mixed and left overnight (12 hrs) at cool room temperature, until doubled.

The flours, yeast and water were mixed and autolysed, then salt and pre-ferment added, and the main dough kneaded for about 5 minutes in my stand mixer.

Bulk ferment was 75 minutes at 80F.

Final proof was 60 minutes, also at 80F.   Before baking, I docked the centers and filled with the onion-poppy seed mixture.

Baked about 10 minutes at 500F.

Last time I made these, I used bread flour, which I think I'll go back to next time.  These were moist and tender, but I missed the chewiness of the bread flour.  The centers are dark from the poppy seeds (not burnt onions).