One source for bakery sweet dough creations.
I have been looking for a cookbook for the past week on Amazon to learn to make all the sweet dough comfort rolls that were once displayed in Bakery cases across america. Rolls like Cinnamon Rolls,butterfly rolls, pecan rolls,long johns, twists, chain twists, bismarks, bear claws, elephant ears, crullers, snails, raisin buns, hot cross buns and criss cross coffee cakes etc. These are just the ones I remembered from my upper midwest bakery I visited in my youth.. To my dismay and disappointment their are cookbooks with some in them but there numbers are shadowed by tarts, pies, cakes and artisan bread. Then their are those listed cookbooks to attact the artisan pastry home baker but not simple, good tasting sweet rolls with varible fillings and icings. the variety of sweet rolls varied by their ethnic providers. Bakers that were Polish, Swedish, German, Italian etc.I have tried all combination of word searches and viewed pages and checked indexes and found nothing specific to Bakery Sweet dough Recipes. Oh I found Judith Fertigs cookbook "I love cinnamon rolls" and Grandma Rose baking book from the past and even that one was crowded and limited by other bakery goods. I would love to find one full source devoted to American ethnic Sweet dough baking across America. These might not interest a artisinal baker but it would interest home bakers to recreate what they remember enjoying from their past as youth. Either making for themselves, for friends or gifts or for church coffees
But the biggest reason is a recorded history and heritage of all these creations in one source
This is food for thought or a planting of a seed.
You probably have to assemble your own recipe collection, I'm constantly looking at baking books, and I don't know of one that has all or even several of the recipes you are looking for.
Formulas for hot cross buns you will find here in TFL, and I'm happy to give you the link to my favorite cinnamon roll recipe from Abby Dodge's "The Weekend Baker".
Happy baking,
Karin
I have been planting seeds to inspire someone to write such a book. I have written many celebrity chefs and bakers in the hope that someone will see the importance of preserving creative part of our history.
In doing so I have learned that the three brothers bakery in Houston texas is owned by three survivors of the Holocast.
To have them share what their hands created would give decidance to the taste.
And when I think of the craze of the Paczki or the Kringle of Wisconsin. These creations are reflections of peoples lives and nationality. In bakeries the sweet dough is in the forefront and the bread is to the rear.because they were the bulk of the profit.
Im hoping that the seed will find furtile ground
Thank you Karin for your kindness. I own approx. 1500 cookbooks. I rarely cook the same thing twice for dinner and love German, Vietamese,chinese, cajun and because Im a swede I make my mothers crisscross coffee cakes every sunday for church. My favorites authors for baking are are Marcy Goldman her Parkerhouse recipes are fantastic and the near perfect pizza hut dough is great., Judith Fertig, the author of I love Cinnamon Rolls,Rebecca miller Ffrench for Sweet Home. Every recipe is a winner and you can get it cheap on amazon.And last but not least Pat Sinclair with her Sandinavian Baking and Desserts
Thanks again.
What a fun project. Have you looked into Stan and Norm's book 'Inside The Jewish Bakery'? While it doesn't have all of the pastries you mentioned it does have quite a few. It is also full of history which to me is an added bonus and makes it like no other cook book that I own.
Have Fun,
Janet
In times past alot of magazines forcused on Sweet Rolls and family circle was one of them. So I emailed them with the same plea for preservation because of the lack of attention. I also ordered an old cookbook of theres titled "Bread and Sweet Rolls" I bought it very low used price..
I have alot of recipes for Sweet rolls but my main purpose is for someone to author a book that records all the sweet dough bakery creations in one book. This is a change from writing editorials in the local newspaper for me and titling it Food for thought.. So now its planting a seed.. My activity will find the one that is destined to author such a book.
Just like my path was to see this need and commit to an awareness.
My baking started when I was to adopt a mother pup with seven pups from the pound. She was giving the pups her nutrition through her milk so I needed to up her nutrition. So I added everthing nutritional to unyeasted biscuits and delivered them each day. So now I share a piece of yeasted 100% Canadian whole wheat with millet, sunflower seeds, quinoa fresh, fortified flax seed, grownd barley with blackstrap molasses, cocnut oil and almond milk for the liquid.with the mother and the no longer runt of the litter.
All I have to say is "a piece of toast" and they immediately take their respective positions on the kitchen floor.