Cinnamon Rolls Grand-Mère
Our great friend Jerilyn kindly shared this family treasure with us, along with this sweet memory: "My Grandmother’s Montana Ranch house kitchen was a place of magic and mystery. Everything she made tasted just like love. She made everything by hand, without electricity or running water. She baked her legendary cinnamon rolls in a wood-fired oven, filling her home with the spirit and flavor of essential goodness. We wish this experience for you."
BY: JERILYN BRUSSEAU
Prep Time
45 minutes
Bake Time
30 minutes
Total Time
~3 hours 30 minutes
Yield
16 large cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
Sweet Dough:
1 cup (226g) warm water (95°F-105°F)
3 scant Tbsp (21g) active dry yeast*
⅓ cup (62g) white granulated sugar
⅓ cup (76g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (226g) milk, scalded and cooled to 95°F-105°F
3 large eggs
1 ¼ teaspoons (8g) sea salt
6 1/3 cups (908g) Organic Edison all-purpose flour or Organic Skagit 1109
Saigon Cinnamon Caramel Filling: (or your favorite cinnamon)
2 cups (454g) butter, unsalted softened to room temperature
2 ¾ cups (552g) dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons (30g) Saigon Cinnamon
Baker's Notes
Cinnamon rolls love softness and structure. Organic Edison and Organic Skagit 1109 both provide flavor, texture, tender/strong gluten strands for a soft, springy dough. Use alone or 50/50 for irresistibly delicious rolls.
Variations:
*If using Instant yeast, follow steps 1-3 but instead of adding the yeast in step 1, add it directly to the flour in step 3. (If using instant or rapid rise yeast, you may want to use Platinum from Red Star. It creates soft, resilient, flavorful dough that rises beautifully.)
** A combination of Organic Edison and Organic Skagit 1109 gives strength, softness and flavor to dough. Either flour may be used for the entire amount.
***If using a stand mixer, place warm water, scalded milk cooled to 105°F, butter, sugar and eggs in bowl of mixer. Mix on low for 1 minute. Then slowly add yeast combined with half of the Organic Edison flour and mix on low speed for three minutes.
Mix salt with remaining half of the Organic Edison flour. Add slowly to the bowl. Mix for approximately 8 minutes on medium speed (speed 3 on the KitchenAid stand mixer), until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
Remove from the bowl. Knead lightly. Place in buttered bowl. Cover with the plastic wrap. Let rise until double, punch down, let rise again. Proceed with rolling and shaping instructions.
****For convenience: this dough responds well to overnight cold proofing.
After mixing, place the dough in a large plastic food-grade bag (at least 2 gallons), allowing room for expansion. Twist-tie and refrigerate on a half sheet pan 10-12 hrs. Remove from the refrigerator and roll and shape the cold dough as directed above.
Let the shaped rolls proof until almost doubled in size. Bake as directed.
Instructions
Preface:
Grandmother’s recipe was done by hand before the invention of modern conveniences that we enjoy today. These instructions start with her technique, however you will find notes below that support a wider variety of ingredient choices and tools found in today’s home kitchen.Text
- Place warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and the sugar. Let stand while milk is scalded and cooled.
- Scald the milk in a saucepan until small bubbles form around the edge. Remove from the heat. Add butter to cool the milk and melt the butter. When cooled to 105°F, add milk mixture to the yeast and stir well. Add eggs and stir well with a whisk.***
- First, add half of the Organic Edison flour to the bowl. Begin mixing with wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick cake batter.
- Combine the salt with the remaining half of Organic Edison and continue adding until the dough is still slightly sticky. Mix again until dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl.
- Place ½ cup additional flour on your bread board, turn the dough out and knead about 10 minutes until smooth and satiny, slowly adding more flour if needed. The dough should be somewhat soft and resilient, almost sticky.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, buttered bowl, turning the butter the top. Cover with a damp towel. Let rise in a warm place about for 50-60 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Punch down, let rise again for about 30 minutes. ****
- Turn the dough onto a large floured board or counter top. Roll out to a 24”x 20” rectangle. The dough will be thin. Using a rubber spatula, spread entire rectangle with the softened butter, leaving a half inch border at bottom.
- Combine dark brown sugar and Saigon Cinnamon in a medium size bowl and stir well.
- Sprinkle the buttered dough evenly with brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Roll rectangle tightly from long side (the dough will be soft). Make sure the seam side is on the bottom. Shape with hands to make the roll uniform from end to end, 32” in length.
- Using a sharp knife, with a sawing motion, cut the roll into 16 two inch portions. Place 8 rolls per pan in two parchment paper-lined 9”x 13” metal baking pans. (Glass pans tend to caramelize the syrup too quickly.)
- Cover with warm, damp towel and let rise in warm place another 50-60 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the baking pans on the middle rack and bake for about 25-26 minutes, or until the rolls are nicely browned and all filling is bubbly. Gently lift the corner of parchment to see if filling is caramelized before taking rolls out of oven.
- Immediately invert onto parchment lined cookie sheet, allowing syrup to drip from pan onto rolls (this is the secret!).
Baker's Notes
Cinnamon rolls love softness and structure. Organic Edison and Organic Skagit 1109 both provide flavor, texture, tender/strong gluten strands for a soft, springy dough. Use alone or 50/50 for irresistibly delicious rolls.
Variations:
*If using Instant yeast, follow steps 1-3 but instead of adding the yeast in step 1, add it directly to the flour in step 3. (If using instant or rapid rise yeast, you may want to use Platinum from Red Star. It creates soft, resilient, flavorful dough that rises beautifully.)
** A combination of Organic Edison and Organic Skagit 1109 gives strength, softness and flavor to dough. Either flour may be used for the entire amount.
***If using a stand mixer, place warm water, scalded milk cooled to 105°F, butter, sugar and eggs in bowl of mixer. Mix on low for 1 minute. Then slowly add yeast combined with half of the Organic Edison flour and mix on low speed for three minutes.
Mix salt with remaining half of the Organic Edison flour. Add slowly to the bowl. Mix for approximately 8 minutes on medium speed (speed 3 on the KitchenAid stand mixer), until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
Remove from the bowl. Knead lightly. Place in buttered bowl. Cover with the plastic wrap. Let rise until double, punch down, let rise again. Proceed with rolling and shaping instructions.
****For convenience: this dough responds well to overnight cold proofing.
After mixing, place the dough in a large plastic food-grade bag (at least 2 gallons), allowing room for expansion. Twist-tie and refrigerate on a half sheet pan 10-12 hrs. Remove from the refrigerator and roll and shape the cold dough as directed above.
Let the shaped rolls proof until almost doubled in size. Bake as directed.