Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls

Date Prepared: 02/05/11

Source: Greg Atkinson. bon appétit magazine. March 2009. Recipe available at epicurious.com



Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls

*Recipe:

Dough
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 large eggs
4 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water (105F to 115F)
3 1/4-ounce envelopes active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar

Filling
1 1/3 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons (or more) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Prep. time: 2 1/2 hrs.
Cooking time: 20 min.
Yield: 12 rolls

Combine potatoes, 2 cups water, and 1 tablespoon coarse salt in large saucepan. Boil until potatoes are very tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Mash potatoes with water in pan (do not drain). Add butter and mash until butter is melted.  Whisk in eggs, then 1 cup flour; mash until very smooth. Let potatoes stand until barely lukewarm, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup warm water into large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; stir in yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add potato mixture to yeast mixture; mix on low speed until well blended, 2 minutes. Mix in 3 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well. Beat until sticky dough forms.

Spread 1/2 cup flour on work surface. Scrape dough onto floured work surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 8 minutes. Coat large bowl with butter. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until double in volume, about 1 hour.

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, flour in medium bowl. Using fork, mix in butter.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface. Roll out dough to 24x16-inch rectangle. Sprinkle filling evenly over dough. Starting at 1 long side, roll up dough jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Using large knife dipped in flour, cut roll crosswise into 12 pieces. Transfer rolls onto baking sheet, spacing rolls about 3/4-inch apart. Cover baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes (roll will be very puffy). Bake cinnamon rolls until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool rolls 10 minutes on baking sheet.

Whisk powdered sugar, melted butter, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla, and coarse salt in small bowl. If glaze is too thick spread, add more milk by 1/2 tablespoonfuls as needed. Spread glaze over warm rolls.

________________________________________________________________

Difficulty: Easy - The recipe is written well enough and generally easy to follow. The difficulty lays in the dough manipulation - understanding how the dough should look at feel after being kneaded. There are no particularly difficult steps to this recipe, however.

Accessibility: Common - The ingredients for this recipe can be obtained readily at your basic grocery store. The recipe discusses the use of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but this equipment -though helpful if available- is not necessary. Manual mashing and mixing can be substituted with comparable success.

Visual Appeal: Visual appeal with a cinnamon roll is implicit. The toasted bread covered in gooey glaze is completely enticing. The look is basic and does not have eye-pop like a sophisticated plated entree (not that it is really expected). I was displeased that much of the filling seemed to leak out of the roll as it baked, generating a sticky caramel on the bottom of the pan. Also, the rolls did not have that stereotypical spiral shape. However, this was likely an error on my part and not a downfall of the recipe itself.

Overall Taste: The recipe boasts of being "amazingly moist and tender," a description that is quite accurate. The flavor of the bread was a bit bland. The bread alone was not particularly sweet and did not have a remarkable cinnamon flavor. In my opinion, it could have had used more filling to raise the flavor a notch.

Overall Experience: The most satisfying recipes to me are those that do require a lot of work. Typically, the flavors pay dividends on the work. I don't do yeast breads often but am pleased to have tried this recipe. It was a basic enough recipe and an interesting deviation from the typical bread dough. I prefer cinnamon rolls that are moist and dense over ones that are light and flaky. These rolls held up well for the the second day in a sealed container.

Additional Notes: Active dry yeast  is a "biological leavener" which is actually living. Adding warm water and "food" (typically sugar and/or salt) allows the yeast to grow and generate the gas required to produce a light, fluffy dough. The water used to "bloom" active dry yeast should be warm but not hot - 105F to 110F.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.