No School Camps: November 25th and 26th
This week we tackled two delicious baking projects: Cinnamon Rolls and Mini Dutch Apple Pies. Read on for recipes!
Cinnamon Rolls
Servings: 10 large, or 16 small rolls
Ingredients
6 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 tablespoons (2.75 oz if using a scale) butter (at room temperature)
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
16 ounces bread or all-purpose flour (3 1/2 cups)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/8 cups milk (9 ounces; I used 1% milk)
Filling
2 tablespoons softened butter (optional)
6 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon or orange juice, or vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Cream the sugar, salt, and butter at medium-high speed with your paddle attachment of your stand mixer. Add egg and lemon zest and cream until smooth. Add flour, yeast, and milk, and stir on low until a ball forms. Switch to the dough hook and mix at medium speed for 10 minutes, until the dough is silky and tacky, but not sticky. I had to add a little extra flour to get to this stage. The dough should be tacky, but not sticky (think piece of tape vs. glue). Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and let rise for 2 hours, until dough doubles in size.
Line your counter with plastic wrap; oil it if you desire. Turn out the dough. Roll out the dough into a 18x9-inch rectangle using your rolling pin; dust the dough with a little flour to prevent it from sticking to the pin if necessary. Spread dough with softened butter, if using. Sprinkle dough with cinnamon sugar and roll up dough into a log. With seam side down, cut dough into 12-16 even rolls that are about 1 1/4 inch thick. (I got 14, even with measuring out 1 1/4 inches with a ruler.)
Place buns 1/2 inch apart, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment, or in another baking dish if desired. The buns should not be touching each other at this point, but will after they rise. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap.
Proof buns at room temperature for 75-90 minutes, until they have doubled in size. Alternatively, you can place them in the fridge for 1-2 days. If you refrigerate the dough, pull them from the fridge 3-4 hours prior to baking to remove the chill.
Bake cinnamon buns for 20-30 minutes at 350F on the middle rack of your oven.
Mix together powdered sugar, extract, and enough milk to make a paste. Cool buns for 10 minutes before glazing. Wait 10 minutes before serving. (The recipe said 20 minutes, but I thought they were too cool at this point.)
Recipe Notes
adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Dutch Apple Pie
Servings: 8
Ingredients - Crust
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour* (scoop and level)
1/4 tsp (heaping) salt
4 oz unsalted butter, well chilled, diced into small cubes
3 - Tbsp ice water
Ingredients - Crumb Topping
1/2 cup packed (100g) light brown sugar
3/4 cup (106g) unbleached all-purpose flour (scoop and level)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tbsp (85g) unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients - Apple Filling
2.5 lbs (8 small) granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp (26g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
*In class, we used all granny smith apples. I think a combo of some tart apples and some sweeter apples would work well too!
Instructions
To make crust: In a medium mixing bowl whisk together 1 cup flour, 2 tsp sugar and heaping 1/4 tsp salt. Add butter and cut into mixture using a pastry blender until there are just small pea size clumps of butter throughout. Alternatively, use a paddle on a kitchenaide mixer until mix resembles very coarse cornmeal.
Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time and toss until mixture is just moistened and comes together in bigger clumps. Gather mixture into a ball and shape and press into a smooth, 6-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Cover and refrigerate until dough is more firm, about 60 minutes.
Remove dough, roll out into a 12 1/2-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Fold in half then into a quarter or wrap around a rolling pin and transfer to a 9 1/2 to 9-inch deep dish pie plate and unwrap. Fit to plate, flute edges if desired. IF MAKING MINI PIES, one batch of crust will make 3-4 mini pies (4 inch diameter).
Refrigerate until well chilled about 1 hour (or freeze for 15 minutes). Meanwhile preheat oven to 375 degrees.
For the crumb topping: Add brown sugar to a medium mixing bowl and break up with fingertips. Add 3/4 cup flour, nutmeg and salt and whisk.
Stir vanilla into 6 Tbsp melted butter. Pour into flour mixture and toss until evenly moistened. Transfer to refrigerator while you prepare filling.
For the apple pie filling: In a large mixing bowl toss sliced apples with remaining and lemon sugar, 3 Tbsp flour, and cinnamon. Toss mixture to evenly coat.
Melt butter in large saucepan. Once melted, add apples. Cook over medium heat until apples are slightly softened and apples have begun to release their juices (about 15 - 20 minutes).
To assemble pie: Layer a handful or two of apple mixture into the pie dish at a time, spreading and pressing into an even layer and turning slices flat (this will help ensure you'll fit all of them in).
Remove crumble from refrigerator, break into small clumps and sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie.
Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in preheated oven until apples are almost fully tender when poked with a toothpick (they should have a just little give as they will continue carryover cooking as the pie cools), about 20-30 minutes for mini pies, 45 - 55 minutes. Check pie a few times throughout baking to ensure the topping or crust isn't overly browning, if needed tent with foil. If it's not browning enough you can move oven rack up one level.
Remove pie from oven and let cool on a wire rack (it will take about 2 hours of cooling). Serve just warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.