behold the power of lemon

It's on. Welcome to the Battle of the Buns. The Rumble of the Rolls. The Ultimate Cinnamon Skirmish.


I've decided to take it upon myself to experiment with different cinnamon roll recipes, mixing and matching and melding and meshing until I find the one that pleases me most.

The rolls I picked as my starting point come from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and you can find the original recipe on any number of sites around the web. I was (perhaps mistakenly) impressed by the oddly specific amounts of certain ingredients--6 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, for example. Would half of a tablespoon of sugar make that much difference? Clearly Mr. Reinhart and his crew had done some thorough recipe work. Not a bad way to earn a living, eh?


Even though I hadn't tested it in its untouched form, I decided to make some changes anyway based on things I had read in various posts:

*I added half a box of instant vanilla pudding mix to the dough, as it has proven to provide mucho moistness.
*I used brown sugar, much more cinnamon, and butter in the filling. More butter is better--that's a rule, right?
*Due to a woeful lack of cream cheese, I used ol' Pete's white fondant glaze (sans lemon extract) on top.

So, what did I think about these? On the upside, the dough was a breeze to handle. However...[brace yourself for Negative Nelly]...the bready part was more cake-like than anything else (perhaps that pudding mix didn't have the desired effect), and the lemon flavor dominated. Thank heavens I didn't add lemon extract to the glaze as Mr Reinhart suggested. There was nowhere near enough cinnamon in the filling--it didn't stand a chance to be tasted against that pesky lemon. Also, the brown sugar probably wasn't as conducive to carrying that spice of all spices into the sense receptors. Finally, and most tragically, the glaze was entirely too sweet and I ended up scraping most of it off.


I know I've made it sound like these were dreadful, but that's not true--they're a tasty treat to be sure. Further, I learned several things about the process and about the components I must include (more cinnamon!), omit (lemon!), and replace (fondant glaze!). All in all, I found them enjoyable, but I can't in good conscience call them cinnamon rolls.

Rolls of Lemon Cake with a Hint of Cinnamon
Makes 8-12 large or 12-16 smaller buns

Dough:
6 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 3.4-oz box instant vanilla pudding
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Prepare dough:
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, salt, and softened butter. Whip in the egg and lemon extract until smooth. Then add the flour, vanilla pudding mix, yeast, and milk and mix until the dough forms a ball. Plop out onto a floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes, or until the dough is tacky but not sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to cover it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

Shape rolls:
Mist the counter with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top of the dough with flour. Roll it into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick and 14 inches wide by 12 inches long for larger buns, or 18 inches wide by 9 inches long for smaller buns. Slather the softened butter all over the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar evenly over that. Roll the dough up into a log, creating a tight spiral as you roll. With the seam side down, cut the dough into 8 to 12 even pieces, each about 1-3/4 inches thick for larger buns; or 12 to 16 pieces each 1-1/4 inches thick for smaller buns.
Line one or more sheet pans with baking parchment or grease with cooking spray. Place the buns on the pan(s) approximately 1/2 inch apart.
Proof at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size.

Bake rolls:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Bake the buns for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool the buns in the pan for about 10 minutes, and then glaze the tops.

Prepare glaze:
Stir the ingredients together and add milk as needed to obtain desired consistency.