Cinnamon Rolls

(Moist sweet rolls of bread perfumed with cinnamon.)


I know I swore never to come anywhere nearer than 10,000 miles of a cinnamon roll. Yes, I just hate stale (or at least dry, as you get them from food stores) bread stuffed with a gargantuan amount of cinnamon it overpowers even the tons of sugar glaze it swims in.

But I am not a hater of all bread that is rolled. I just don’t like the way most shops and people make their cinnamon rolls. It is either too sweet, has too much cinnamon, or the bread is plain thrash.

Like what I previously said, I do make my own rolls and more often than not, I fill them with stuff other than cinnamon sugar, like monggo (azuki or red beans) or apples.

So why did I finally decide to make plain old cinnamon rolls for only the third time in my life? Because, I chanced upon Peter Rheinhart’s recipe for it (here and here), and I have been dying to have his book for a very long time now (There, for all those who would be buying me something this December, here’s an idea. I pledge a year of baked goodies to whomever will give me a copy.) The recipe was taken from The Breadbaker’s Apprentice – Reinhart’s award-winning book.

The concept put forward in the recipe – that cinnamon rolls and sticky buns are two DIFFERENT entities has really won me over. On the one hand, you have a roll perfumed with cinnamon with an ample amount of sugar glaze that balances the cinnamon’s perfuminess. On the other is a roll bathing in caramel and nuts with no cinnamon to confuse its taster. And yes, the ones we see at malls and bakery fairs are the bastardized cinnamon rolls bathing in caramel! Also, Reinhart’s addition of lemon zest to the dough gives it a fruity aroma.
I made cinnamon rolls and I urge you to try one of his versions. I’ll be making sticky buns in the coming days.

(Leave enough space in the pan for rising.)

(The rolls are fully risen when the sides begin to touch each other.)

(It isn't burned! It really is a deep brown. Some glaze will conceal it later.)

(The amount of glaze looks a lot but it will "flatten out" as it dries, if you get what I mean. You can always peel off the dried glaze later on.)