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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Sweet Rolls on Sunday

After being a way for the holidays, I was ready to get back to cooking and baking again - even if it feels more like spring or summer than late fall outside - it's supposed to be 60ยบ today. I had a hankering for sweet rolls, so I browsed the recipes at Cooking Light and found a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls that caught my eye.


It's a bit of a miracle that these rolls turned out at all, but not only did they turn out, they are quite good. First, I proofed the yeast in 3/4 cups of water instead of a 1/4 cup. I dumped that out and started over. Then I added a full can of pumpkin puree instead of a 1/2 cup. To compensate, I just added flour until the dough became the right consistency. The final snafu was that the rolls never really did rise, even though I used a rapid rise yeast. This may be a result of me using far more pumpkin and flour than the original recipe called for. The rolls did rise pretty nicely during the baking time, however, so all was not lost.

It's hard to really comment on the original recipe since my mistakes changed it quite a bit, but even with all my goofs, these rolls were moist, tender and quite good. I should have increased the cinnamon filling to compensate for the increased amount of dough, but the increased pumpkin in the dough helped add flavor where the streusel came up short.

I'm not sure how I would approach these the next time I make them - I liked that they had a lot of pumpkin, but I would need to adjust other ingredients to get a proper rise and a little more streusel flavor. Perhaps I'll try the recipe as written next time and go from there.

And this time the yellow tinge on my rolls is a result of the pumpkin, not the lighting!

I'm glad that I didn't give up on these - I probably would have had I not been a bit familiar with yeast breads - yeast breads are a bit more forgiving than other forms of baking!

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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:04 PM

    Alysha-

    I think the problem with your rise was the type of yeast you used. I learned at a King Arthur bread baking class that Rapid Rise yeast was not developed for the home cook. It was made for professional bakeries etc. who need to make breads etc. fast. Rapid Rise is designed only for one rise. That is why it is good for the bread machine - usually only one rise there. Active Dry and Instant are better for breads etc. that need more than one rise. HTH!

    Molli

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  2. Thanks Molli. :) Interesting to know!

    I used this same brand of Rapid Rise - Red Star - to make a pizza dough recently and it never really rose that time either.

    Bottom line is, I'm not saving any time with the rapid rise, so I may as well skip it!

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  3. Anonymous8:12 AM

    Those look great Alysha! And I happen to have some leftover pumpkin puree sitting in the fridge.

    These may get a workout ASAP.

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  4. They are a perfect way to use up leftover pumpkin. :)

    I think they'd be even better with some pecans thrown in..........

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  5. Oooohhh, these look so good!!
    My son has been asking for me to make cinnamon rolls, and I have a few cups of puree pumpkin in the fridge.... I guess it is a sign, maybe I should try this one! I love the looks and the colors of yours, look so yummy!
    Ana

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  6. Ana - I definitely encourage you to give them a try. I read that Grace on the CLBB successfully used a full cup of pumpkin, so more pumpkin definitely works and gives more color and flavor than the original recipe.

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