Sweet Rewards of Honey-Cinnamon Rolls, after poly-pulling
I wrote yesterday about spending time with our awesome team (or “village” as in, “it takes one . . .”) pulling the humongous sheet of poly over our hoop house structure. And I teased you, my Gentle Reader, into checking back with me today to learn more about the honey-cinnamon rolls that I served the crew afterward. And you’re back. (giddy giggle)
I believe in rewards for hard work, don’t you? We don’t “muzzle the ox” around here, no sir! And yet on a crazybusy (Yes, it’s a word. Look it up! Wait, don’t, just take my word for it) weekend like this last one was, I didn’t have the time to make something for our crew (though they deserved it!) that would have taken me hours to prepare.
Five minutes, though? That much time I had . . . maybe even ten. And that’s all the time it took for me to make these scrumptious honey-sweetened cinnamon rolls. Honest. (Can I say “Honest Injun”? I don’t suppose I can. I really want to. It’s right there on my tongue.)
That’s what I like so much about the 5-minute Artisan bread that I’ve gone on and on about . . . if you have a few minutes in the beginning of your week (you know, when your optimism is at its peak and you still have a bit of energy and you’re looking at your fresh to-do list with a mixture of excitement and trepidation) to mix up a few buckets of dough, then on Friday when your harried brain is trying to think of something toothsome and special to make for an impromptu work team that you’ve assembled for the very next day, you think–“Huzzah! I’ve got one bucket of dough left! I can, after all, do–this–thing!”
And you toddle, or ramble, or skip, or sashay, or limp to your refrigerator (we have an older, second refrig in the basement, where I keep things like 35-pound watermelons and big ole’ pots of soup and overlarge cabbages, and leftover casseroles that I forgot about but am too cowardly to peek into and, of course, buckets of dough) and you pull out your last bucket of dough and in 5 minutes (or 10, tops) you’ve got a pan full of lovely honey-cinnamon rolls for your special morning event the next day. You know you’re very clever, don’t you?
So you can go to bed. But first, if you really are making these the night before, cover them and stick them in the freezer. That will stop them from rising and then when you get up in the morning, you need only leave them on the countertop for an hour or so to rise before you pop them into the oven. Maybe a bit longer. But they won’t be frozen solid, so an hour might be just enough.
And you feel so clever and so virtuous and yet (really, you must admit) it took so little effort to pull this off. But you don’t have to tell anybody this, lest they think that you are just a slacker, after all. Because, of course, you’re not.
So here’s how to make the dough, and the rolls. If you want to learn more about 5-minute Artisan bread, check out the website “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.” It’s really amazing and a font of great tutorials and ideas. I make most of my bread this way. And by the way, if you prefer, you can just use sugar with the cinnamon instead of the honey. Either way, these are delicious. Make lots.
- 1 1/2 T dry yeast
- 1 1/2 T kosher salt
- 3 cups warm water
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 5 1/2 cups unbleached flour
- soft butter
- honey (raw and local is preferred, natch)
- cinnamon
- confectioner’s sugar and milk to make a glaze
- First, mix the yeast, salt and water together. You can use a mixer or a whisk in a bowl or bucket. I like to use gallon ice-cream buckets with lids.
- Then add the flours until well-mixed. Don’t knead.
- Cover with a loose lid and let rise until the dough reaches the top of the bucket or bowl, about 2 hours. Your dough is ready to use at this point, although it will be easier to shape if you refrigerate it for a couple hours, or overnight. It will stay good in your refrigerator for up to a week, though it will taste more “yeasty” the longer you keep it.
- On baking day: roll out a rectangle of the dough, about 18″ by 12″ and about 3/4″ thick.
- Spread with soft butter, then the raw honey, and then sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up jelly-roll style, and cut into slices about 3/4″ thick.
- Place in oiled 9″ x 12″ pan, and let rise for 60 minutes.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden on top and not at all doughy (gak I hate that) inside.
- If desired (and I always desire this) make a glaze out of confectioner’s sugar and milk and drizzle on the top.
- Eat while still hot! Smiles all around!
- Ah, the cleverness of YOU!
Oh, you’d better print this off, and make these rolls. And if you like the looks of this recipe, I’d love it if you shared it with your friends. Push the “Share” button on Facebook, or send it Tweeting, or Google-Plussing, or whatever. I’ll be your friend forever if you do a little bit of my shameless promotion for me. Truly BFF. <3
Thank you so much, Gentle Reader, for putting up with all this foolishness. Oh! And I just remembered what is niggling away at my brain . . . bulletproof coffee! I nearly forgot that I promised to tell you all about it! But you’ll have to come back tomorrow for that post.
After all that, I think I’m out of steam for today. 🙂
- Hoop house poly-pulling part 1: It takes a village
- Make your own version of “bulletproof coffee” and rock your world
19 thoughts on “Sweet Rewards of Honey-Cinnamon Rolls, after poly-pulling”
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Oh me Oh my you have my mouth watering, just what this carb addicted girls needs to put a smile on her face. I would love to try this but must stay away because I know me and I will eat the WHOLE Pan!
Oh Kirsten, no, just make a panful and invite your fam and friends to share it with you! That always works for me, with my hungry crew, I rarely have the opportunity to eat the entire panful!
Amy, first of all, you cracked me up with the title of your blog Vomiting Chicken.
Then when I saw those hot steamy buns (at least in my mind), I’m thinking I Want Some Now.
I love your writing style and sense of humor. I too have had a pot or two that I was too afraid to look in ( I swear it was moving on it’s own).
I can us doing these buns around the holidays when we’re all together and need to feed an army. I’m looking forward to trying them out.
Claudette Chenevert
The Stepmom Coach
Claudette,
With the bucket-dough method it is so easy and so quick to make these rolls, that you’ll spoil your family for sure! Enjoy the recipe and let me know how your rolls turn out!
Oh yes I will share this with my friends on Face book. They will need get their children involved, if they have children, because this looks like something that could easily made into a family project.
Sadly, where I am at in Mexico, we do not have ovens at the moment. Even people that have the money to purchase stoves with ovens, don’t use the ovens for anything except storage. While I learn recipes from them, I have a great chance to teach them a few tricks, starting on how an oven works and how they can use it to make their life easier.
WOW, Chef, that is surprising! I had an oven element burn out and I had to make do without my oven for ONE DAY and I thought I was the most to be pitied for that! Do teach your new neighbors about the pleasures of freshly-baked bread! Now and then perhaps they’ll enjoy the break from tortillas?
There is only one word to describe this Amy – GLORIOUS ! I’m hiding it from Caro and keeping it all to myself.
Oh, don’t hide it, Anita-Clare, just make a bucket o’dough and surprise her with hot rolls for breakfast!
When I was done laughing at the ONE step instructions….
(I may be a great chef, cooking all kinds of foods, I rarely essay into the dessert column— and this 1 step looks like it was not made for this old ballroom-dancing dude.
Roy,
Oh, I am glad that you alerted me to my “one step” process. I’ve gone and fixed that, and thanks to you it’s all a bit easier to read, now. (That’s what happens when you type up a post so quickly!!) And . . hey, you ballroom dance?
I love the image of you dragging your tired legs to the refrigerator. Thank you for sharing your experiences. They give me heart. I won’t be making the rolls though because I tend to shun anything sweet. You’ll find out when you reach my age. We have to give up things we once loved. Either that, or swell like a watermelon. They do look yummy. 😉
Francene,
When I first read your (sweet, thank you so much) comment, I thought it said “either that, or SMELL like a watermelon.” I did puzzle over that for a minute or two!
Anita thought she could hide this from me! Huh! It’s wonderful!
Ornery lady, that Anita-Clare! I hope you ladies try these rolls. I know you’ll love them!
Those are so good. No, great.
Agreed!!
Ooohhhh myyyy!!! Ohhh sooo goood!! Had some dough leftover in fridge that needed to be used up and yup, made these!! Took 5-10 min. like you said. Think I will put pecans on them next time. Next on the list, overnight monkey bread! Mmmm…thanks!
These look delicious!
I don’t know why, but the recipe doesn’t say how much honey to add, maybe it’s just my phone? Can you please tell me how much, I want to make these for thanksgiving
Jamesia, the honey is actually not added to the roll dough, but is drizzled on top of the rolled-out dough, which is spread with softened butter first. So it kinda depends on how much sweetness you desire. I don’t personally like these rolls to be TOO sweet, so I drizzle around 1 TB of honey on each big sheet of dough, on top of the butter, and then sprinkle with cinnamon. Good luck! I hope you love them as much as we do!