A Southern Grace: rollin' rollin' rollin'

August 22, 2013

rollin' rollin' rollin'

Yum

My beloved bakery makes the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. That's not an exaggeration, folks, and I'm not the only one with that opinion.


They're made using a laminated dough, which simply means that the dough itself is separated by layers of butter. It's incredible, obviously; we also use it to make croissants. The filling consists of granulated sugar, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and cinnamon and our icing is a simple powdered sugar glaze. As I reread this paragraph, I realize that I'm not making these cinnamon rolls sound very impressive, but believe me, all these components combine to make magic.

Rather than give you the recipes fine-tuned by my boss and risk losing my head (and job!), I thought I'd just settle for a little technique tutorial. This is how I roll:

I cut off a hunk of dough about 5x18" and begin to roll it out on my heavily-floured bench. I work it as much as I can, until it's about 1/4" thick and about a 30x40" rectangle*:

*I happen to be a horrible judge of measurements like this, so take those numbers with a grain of salt.

After the dough is rolled out, I apply a generous coating of melted butter to every single millimeter:


Next, the filling gets dumped on and spread over every millimeter except for about an inch up at the top. (This is to help the roll seal.)


Now, I begin to roll. This is something I can do very quickly now, but it takes practice to be able to accomplish it with finesse when you're working with so much dough. You have to pull and roll, traveling from one side to the other and back again:


Pull and roll, pull and roll. When you get about halfway up, you can stop pulling and just roll. Incidentally, I find this part of the process to be particularly cathartic:


Once the log is formed, be sure to pinch the seal well so the rolls won't unfurl (great word!) while proofing or baking. I give it a good back-and-forth roll right on the seam too, just to close it well:


I cut the log (using a bench scraper, FYI) into 5-ounce rolls, about 1.5" each:


The rolls go on a parchment-covered sheet pan, about 1" apart:


Since we prep our rolls the day before, the pan gets covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. In the morning, the pan is proofed in a warm oven for about 30 minutes, or until the rolls grow enough to touch each other:


The pan gets baked in our convection oven at 350F for 30-40 minutes, depending on how close to the 5-ounce mark I actually got:


The glaze is liberally applied:


These suckers get sold for $2.50 apiece, which is a deal you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere! As you can tell, I'm proud of these beauts and am glad to have the recipe and technique in my repertoire.

How do you eat your cinnamon roll? I start at the end and unroll it, eating the doughy center last, and I love a lot of glaze.

28 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Fabulous rolls! That is something I crave all the time...

Cheers,

Rosa

Unknown said...

This....this looks like heaven. I've been eating no sweets to slim down a bit for my wedding (only 10 more days!) but MAN I really want a cinnamon roll right now. You are making me crazy hungry, lady! Seriously, these look amazing.

Rosita Vargas said...

Bollos de canela son deliciosos me encantan una receta infaltable en mi infancia se ven lindos lindos,hugs,hugs.

Alyson - Lift, Bend, Bake said...

They're beautiful!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Amazing. I make a good cinnamon roll, but these look superb!

Gloria Baker said...

They look really delicious Grace!!
I love cinnamon rolls of course!!
xo

Big Rigs 'n Lil' Cookies said...

Oh my gosh! I wish your bakery was in Wisconsin!

Mel said...

I loved this! What a process...and how come I'm not surprised you are such a cinnamon roll aficionado since you love cinnamon probably more than any other person I "know"! I unroll my cinnamon roll, too, and eat the center last. I'd give my right arm for one of the rolls from your bakery!

Shashi at SavorySpin said...

These cinnamon rolls look FANTASTIC! does your bakery ship orders? :)
Shashi@ http://runninsrilankan.com

Angie's Recipes said...

o my..these cinnamon rolls look fanfreakingtastic!

CQUEK said...

I’m definitely going to try them, just based on how good they look!

Beth said...

Where is your bakery? Your rolls look breathtaking!

lisa is cooking said...

This looks more exciting than a cronut! I can never resist a cinnamon roll, and this looks like one amazing version of that lovely spiraled treat.

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

They look so perfect, I want to dive in and take a bite :D

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

Jenn said...

Cinnamon rolls? Yes, please! Ship me 2 dozen. I also eat them from the outside in, and there's no such thing as too much icing. Is it wrong to like some nuts on top, too?

Becki's Whole Life said...

You had me at laminated dough. I do that with my biscuits and it makes a big difference. Ok, so where is your bakery?? I know its down south somewhere just wondering how close it is for one of the cinnamon rolls. I think I need to do more of the pull and roll my dough out more because whenever I make them I have about 3 swirls around. That is how I eat mine, too! Thanks for the tutorial!!

Joanne said...

Cinnamon rolls...made of croissant dough. If that doesn't blow the Cronut out of the water, I don't know what will!

Caroline Taylor said...

These look and sound absolutely fantastic! I could easily eat too many of these!

Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic said...

Love the tutorial. These do look amazing. Believe it or not, I used to not like cinnamon rolls. Now I'll find it hard to say no to one!

pam said...

Oh my gosh. I can practically smell them!! Gorgeous!

Lisa-Marie said...

mine ways come out all wonky. This is an excellent tutorial

Erica said...

Wow! Those sound amazing, Grace!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Wow! I would love one right now with my morning coffee.

Anonymous said...

never thought that cinnamon rolls can be so swirly heavenly treats that we will drool over those snaps like we did,these really are the best,gooey tender rolls we have ever seen,will be trying them out tonight,thanks for the inspiration :-)

Blond Duck said...

Have a delicious Monday!

Dianne @ Sweet Journey Home said...

OMGoodness! Wish I had one of those right now to go with this second cup of coffee! ;-)

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Holy moly! These look divine :)

Laura said...

How did I not realize you worked at a bakery? So much is explained! :) These look wonderful!