Orange Marmalade Rolls

Happy belated Thanksgiving y'all! (Please don't ask why I'm pretending to be from the American South  - it just seemed right so I went with it)

As usual, I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving; despite saying EVERY SINGLE YEAR that I will start a tradition of cooking Thanksgiving fare and inviting friends round. Perhaps I should make that 2012's resolution?

I also really should get my act together and at least celebrate holidays on my blog! Surely, I could have made something Thanksgiving-y and posted it on Thanksgiving day right? Okay, adding 'celebrate holidays on my blog' to my non existent New Years Resolutions list!

I wasn't going to post this because as you can see, my orange marmalade rolls didn't look exactly as they were supposed to. I decided to because imperfection is a part of everything. Even baking. Especially baking. Hopefully you'll learn from my mistakes and you and I can do it better next time!

I know you guys think I'm perfect, and I never get anything wrong ... right? Oh you don't? Moving swiftly on :) Seriously though, people do think that everything I bake turns out perfectly and I never have disasters but that couldn't be further from the truth! My only saving grace is that I am often able to salvage (read: hide) those disasters. And other times, like now, something may not look as it should but it still tastes damn good! And isn't that the whole point of baking after all? :)

FYI, I think my mistake with this was rolling out the dough too thin so I struggled to roll it up and cut it into slices. I love everything in the 'roll' family so I'll be making lots more of these. And hopefully they'll be better looking!

If you're anything like me, you find recipes with yeast slightly threatening but believe me when I say these were very easy to make! And so yummy!

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks


For the rolls
473ml Whole Milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
7g active dry yeast
4 cups (plus 1/2 cup extra, separated) plain flour
1/2  teaspoon (generous serving) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (scant serving) baking soda
1/2 tablespoon (generous) salt
8 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Orange Glaze
900g icing sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 dash salt

1 - Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off the heat and leave to cool for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2 - When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in the yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add the 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together.

Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

3 - After rising for at least an hour, add 1/2 cup of flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it - overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).
4 - When ready to prepare rolls, sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape.

5 - Spread marmalade over the top. Pour on butter, and then sprinkle the brown sugar evenly. Sprinkle with salt

6 - Beginning at the long side furthest from you, roll the dough into a long roll toward you; being careful to keep it tucked tightly. Pinch edge to seal.

7 - Cut rolls into 1 to 1 1/2 inch rolls and place into buttered pans. Allow to rise for at least 20 mins.

8 - Bake at 190C / Gas Mark 5 / 375F for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown (but not overly brown).
9 - While baking, mix together the ingredients for the orange glaze, thinning with more milk or orange juice to make mixture thin enough to be pourable.
10 - Immediately drizzle orange glaze over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread + Giveaway Winner

First things first. The winner of my giveaway was comment number 9; Pretty Lashes! Congratulations! You win a copy of 'Indulgence cupcakes: A Fine Selection of Sweet Treats'. Please send me an e-mail (vickii373@aol.com) with your name and address so that I can post the book to you.

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:9Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Now onto business! 
The business of baking, that is. 
And eating. 
Because obviously if I bake and don't eat, it's a waste. And I'm not wasteful. I was pretty much the opposite of wasteful with this bread because I ate it all myself (which I never do with my baked goods) over the course of a weekend! But me and bread, we've got something special. 


Anyway, I've wanted to make this pretty much since I saw it on Annie's blog. Have I waxed lyrical about Annie yet? If I haven't, let me just take a moment to do so. First of all, she has the same name as my mum which is always a plus. She is also a doctor, has two kids AND pretty much cooks or bakes something new and incredible every day. And then updates her blog at least every couple of days with these wonderful creations and beautiful pictures. She's superwoman right? Yup, I thought so. 


I want to be just like her when I grow up! Except that I'm grown. Dammit, why am I not like her?


Anyway, I've covered my love affair with bread already. Sugar is a given. Cinnamon, you probably know I like from this post so this bread was destined to be made, it was just a question of when. As with all yeast baking, there's a lot of waiting around for rising but it was totally worth it, I'm definitely making it again!


Yield: one 9 x 5" loaf

Ingredients

For the dough:

2¾ cups plain flour, plus more as needed

¼ cup granulated sugar

2¼ tsp. instant yeast

½ tsp. salt

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

¼ cup water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

For the filling:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 - To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  
2 - Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted.  Set aside and let cool briefly, until the mixture registers 46-51˚ C on an instant-read thermometer.  (I don't have a thermometer so I let it cool for 5 minutes)
3 - Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.  

Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms.  Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky.  Knead about 3-5 minutes more
 4 - Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover.  

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (After the dough has doubled, it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before proceeding.)
5 - While the dough rises, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned. Set aside.
6 - Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.
7 - Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out into an approximate 12 x 20 inch rectangle.Brush the dough with the browned butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer. (Yes really, use all of it. I've reduced the sugar slightly from the original recipe)

8 - Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.  Slice the dough vertically into 6 even strips.  

Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices. Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.

9 - Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.)  Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm.