Autumn Butternut Brioche Rolls

I cannot stress enough the importance of equipment when creating in the kitchen. We all are aware of the numerous conversion charts on the internet. However, I caution use of these because they are not all identical. Part of this is due to the variables associated with what you are measuring. For instance, if you are converting egg yolks from grams to units, there is a problem because eggs come in different sizes (medium, large, XL and jumbo). All in all, a digital conversion scale is worth investing in and they are not that expensive. With that said, this particular recipe is in grams.

If you are like me, brioche rolls (fluffy, buttery and sweet) are hard to resist. Now- pair those qualities with the extra flavor ingredients of butternut squash, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. The end result is nothing short of delicious. The idea of flavored brioche is simply genius and the possibilities are endless.

Before you stroll into the kitchen to make these, be aware that the dough rises overnight in the refrigerator. Most of the time devoted to making this recipe takes place the day prior to baking. The day of bake just requires some time to form the rolls and about 1 hr and 45 min rise time. This recipe makes 2 loaves of rolls using a 9 inch cake pan, creating approximately 17-18 rolls per pan.

Autumn Butternut Brioche Rolls
adapted from Wild Yeast Blog 

Ingredients/Bread dough
226 g butter (softened and cubed)
water (if needed)
100 g whole eggs
60 g egg yolks
480 g butternut squash pulp (cooked, mashed and cooled)
34 g milk
126 g brown sugar
840 g flour
10 g yeast (rapid rise)
10-14 g salt (preference amount)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger

Ingredients/Toppings
1 cup chopped roasted pecans (optional)
1 egg

The day prior to baking, fill the bowl of a stand mixer the eggs and egg yolks. Beat on medium speed with a beater blade until blended. Change out the blade for a dough hook and add flour, squash puree, spices, milk, yeast and salt. Set the mixer on low and run for 5 minutes, stopping at intervals to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The ingredients will come together, forming a very heavy dough. If it is still too dry after mixing for 4 minutes, add 1 tsp of water and blend until no more dry streaks remain.

Next, change the mixer speed to medium and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Beat for a few minutes and then repeat until all of the brown sugar has been incorporated into the dough. Run the mixer another 4 minutes and then pull out a tablespoon of dough. Stretch it to see if it forms a thin translucent "windowpane". If not, try beating another few minutes and test again. The "windowpane" is an indicator that the gluten in your dough has fully developed.

Once it reaches the correct consistency, add the butter cubes to the dough, running the mixer at low speed. Continue to beat until all the butter has been blended into the dough, stopping at intervals to scrape down the sides of the bowl interior. The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point.

Form the dough into a large ball. Butter the interior of a bowl that is 1 1/2 times larger than the dough mass. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place (approx 76 degrees) for one hour. Then place bowl (still covered) in the refrigerator for an overnight rise (8-12 hours).

The next day, prepare two-9 inch round cake pans by greasing the interior and lining the bottom with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator and punch down. Then, using floured hands, separate dough into 36 equal pieces. Take each piece and roll tightly into a circle. Place about 18 dough balls in each prepared pan, making sure they are placed evenly, touching each other but not losing their circular shape. If you cannot fit them all into the pans, place the extras on a baking sheet. The ones on the baking sheet can be spaced however you desire (round circle, spaced apart, one line, etc).

After placing in/on baking pans, whisk the egg in a small bowl, combining the yolk and white. Brush the surface of the rolls with the whisked egg. Cover each set of rolls lightly with a cloth or paper towel and let rise for one hour and 45 minutes. Also, cover the bowl of egg wash and place in refrigerator for later use.

During the last 15 minutes of rise time, preheat the oven to 380 degrees. Remove the egg wash so it comes to room temperature again.

One the rise time is completed, the surface of the rolls are to get another coating of the egg wash. After that, if you prefer, you can sprinkle the pecans evenly on top of the dough rolls.. Place filled pans in the preheated oven and bake for about 25 minutes. At the 25 minute mark, check the rolls for surface color. If the color of the rolls have darkened enough, cover them lightly with foil and place back in oven. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until light and fluffy. If you have some rolls spaced out on baking sheet or put in individual brioche pans, cut the baking time in half.

Remove pans from the oven and place on rack for 5 minutes and then invert rolls out of pan onto rack and invert again. Let cool completely if storing for later. If serving immediately, let rolls cool until slightly warm to the touch.

                                           **LAST YEAR: Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake**

Hawaiian Breakfast Rolls

This is a great spin off recipe from the original cinnamon rolls.  Instead of cinnamon and pecans or raisins, these rolls have a delicious filling of coconut and ground macadamia nuts rolled up into a sweet dough. The extra zing is the icing on top that can be flavored with coconut or pineapple extract.

The alterations I did on this recipe was to use pineapple coconut juice in the dough instead of milk. Also, I brushed it on the dough prior to layering the filling. The end result was that it added more of a tropical flavor to the filling, but did little to flavor the actual dough. Also, I found that the filling develops more flavor with time, so these rolls were better the day after baked. I used an unsweetened organic juice, so using something like "Coco Lopez" may offer more strength in the flavor category.

These do look like they take a lot of time, but the looks are deceiving. The two "time consumers" are grinding the nuts and the rise time. There is only 1 rise time (1- 1/12 hrs) and no kneading of the dough. I ground my nuts in a blender and they turned fine but not into nut butter (see sprinkled nuts on top of the rolls above). This recipe makes about 1 dz rolls.

Hawaiian Breakfast Rolls
adapted from Fleischmann's Yeast

Ingredients/Dough Roll
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup scalded milk (cooled to lukewarm) or lukewarm coconut/pineapple juice
1 egg
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package yeast

Ingredients/Filling
zest of 1 orange
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup flaked coconut
2/3 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
2 tbs melted butter
2 tbs coconut pineapple juice (optional)

Ingredients/Icing
2 tsp honey
2 tbs softened butter
3 tbs milk or juice
1 tsp coconut or pineapple extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup ground macadamia nuts (optional)
pinch of salt

Start on the dough by sprinkling yeast into the bowl of warm water. Then fill the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugar, salt, juice or milk and shortening. Beat on low for about 15 seconds. Stir the bowl of yeast and then pour into the sugar/shortening mixture. Add the egg and 1/2 cup of flour.  Beat on low again until blended. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the flour in half cup increments until all is incorporated into the dough.

Grease the interior of a small bowl. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Lightly cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This should take 1-1 1/2 hours if you are using regular yeast (rapid rise would naturally be faster).

While the dough is rising, you will make the filling. Measure out the juice and melt the butter. Set aside. Then whisk together all the other filling ingredients.

After the dough has risen, prepare one 11.5 x 14 inch pan by greasing the interior. Also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then dust a flat surface lightly with flour. Roll out the dough onto the flat surface into a large rectangle, measuring 11x14 inches.

Brush the surface of the dough with the pineapple coconut juice (optional). Then brush on the melted butter. Sprinkle all of the filling evenly on top of the dough and press down lightly to adhere. Starting from one of the longest sides, roll the dough tightly and evenly in a jelly roll fashion. Pinch seam together and flatten. Fold each end under and pinch/flatten the seams.

Using a serrated knife, cut jelly roll into 12 even slices and place inside prepared baking pan.  Put pan in the oven and bake until golden brown and toasty on top, about 20-30 minutes. Remove and set pan on rack to cool.

While rolls are baking, prepare the icing. Add milk or juice, honey, softened butter and extract to small bowl. Beat until the butter is broken up. Sift in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and beat again until smooth. Continue with the process until all powdered sugar is incorporated into the icing.

Once rolls cool to lukewarm, spread the icing on top of each, smoothing out. Then sprinkle with ground macadamia nuts.

Tips and Notes:

1. Make sure you give the filling a chance to soak up the juice and butter that was brushed on the dough. You do not want a lot of liquid flowing out when cooking and too much liquid keeps the dough from rolling tightly.

2. Instead of the sprinkle of nuts on the top,try mixing drained pineapple chunks and/or ground nuts into the icing.
                                   **LAST YEAR:Charlevoix Cookies**

Schnecken/ Pecan Cinnamon Buns

It is a tradition of my mother to make cinnamon rolls at Christmas for breakfast. These rolls are light and airy, filled with cinnamon and nuts. However, there are other households which take the tradition to a sweeter level by having the cinnamon rolls topped with a sticky sweet caramel and toasted pecans.

In comparison, these have more of a pastry than "bread-like" quality to the dough when baked up.  While less filling than bread, each serving does hit the mark for your sweet tooth.  Instead of just cinnamon lovers, these rolls will have your pecan pie lovers taking notice.

I found the rolls quite easy to make. The dough did not require a lot of shaping and kneading.  Outside of the rise time, it is just a matter of rolling up the dough like a jelly roll and slicing.  Also, these rolls fell out of the pan easily when inverting and came out without leaving a lot of topping still sticking to the pan.  Topping in the pan is something I did not want to have to tangle with, so I was happy to see it in its rightful place.

The other good point about these rolls are that they can be prepared the night before and placed in the refrigerator. Follow everything as directed up to the end of the 40 minute rise time. Then cover and place in refrigerator. The next morning, remove pan from refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. Then bake as directed.

Schnecken/Pecan Cinnamon Buns
adapted from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients/ Dough
1 cup milk
1 egg and 1 yolk
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter (more for greasing pan and bowl)
1 tbs active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 3/4 tsp regular salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour
5 tbs sugar

Ingredients/topping
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark-not specified)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 or 1 1/2 sticks butter
1/4 cup corn syrup

Ingredients/filling
1 cup sugar
1 tbs cinnamon

The first step to making the dough is to melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Once melted, pour in the milk and then add the sugar.  Mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon until there is no longer a grainy feeling when scraping the bottom of the saucepan, which means the sugar has all dissolved.  The ideal temperature for this is 110 degrees, so test the temperature with a candy thermometer and let cool or heat further according to the temperature it registers.

At the idea temperature, pour mixture in a heat proof bowl.  Sprinkle in the yeast and stir, making sure it is mixed evenly without clumps. Let rest 10 minutes and then stir in the salt.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, place the egg and yolk and mix with a fork until all is blended.  Pour into the yeast batter and mix.  After the egg and yolk are thoroughly mixed in, prepare a flat surface by dusting with flour.  Then add 1 cup of flour to the batter and stir.  Continue to add the flour in one cup increments until 3 cups have been incorporated, stirring mixture after each addition.  Check for the consistency of the dough, it should be sticky.  Reserve the rest of the flour for dusting and kneading.

Place the dough on the prepared flat surface and knead about 5 times.  Your dough should now be smooth and elastic.  Butter the interior of a large bowl and a 9 x13 inch glass pan.  Shape the dough into a ball and place in the bottom of the prepared bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until tripled in volume, which should take about 2 hours.

During the last 1/2 hour of rising time, prepare the topping.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Then stir in the corn syrup and brown sugar.  Let thicken a little and remove from heat.  You will notice that there is some excess butter that does not blend in.  It is okay, the excess is what enables the saucepan to be cleanly emptied along with the pan when inverted.

Pour brown sugar mixture into the prepared pan and let run to the edges evenly.  Then sprinkle on the chopped pecans, being careful not to get too close to the edge.  The ones close to the edge will most likely fall off the outer edge of the rolls.  No worries though, these as well as topping spill over can be easily scooped up and placed on top of the rolls when inverted.  However, should you need to do this, do not delay after removing the glass pan or the mixture will set up and make it more difficult. After filling with topping, set pan aside.

Prepare the filling by mixing the cinnamon and sugar together.  Then melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

Once dough has risen, punch down and then place on flat surface dusted with flour.  Roll dough out to the size of 12x15 inches with an even thickness.  Brush with the melted butter and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface. Press into the butter lightly with a spatula and make sure all is damp.  Dry cinnamon sugar will have a tendency to spill out when the dough is cut.

Take the longest edge and start rolling up.  Should you have any issues with sticking, use a bench scraper to ease it off the surface.  Roll the dough into a long cylinder with the seam facing down.  Then slice vertically into 12-14 inch pieces approx 1 inch thick.  Place each piece, cut side up, evenly in the pan.  Remember that these will rise some more, so do not place them too tightly together.   Tear off enough plastic wrap to cover pan.  Oil one side of plastic wrap and cover pan of rolls with the oil side face down.  Let rise in a warm place for about 40-50 minutes.

10 minutes prior to rise time completion, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  After the rising time, uncover rolls and place pan in oven and bake for 17 minutes.  Then rotate pan and bake for another 17-20 minutes.  Check periodically to make sure they are not getting too brown.  If so, place aluminum foil over pan (do not fold tightly around edges but just let set on top loosely) and continue to bake.

Remove pan and place over rack and let rolls rest for 10 minutes.  During this time, line the bottom of a baking sheet with parchment paper.  After the 10 minutes have expired, invert the rolls on the paper lined baking sheet.  The easiest and cleanest way to do this is to hold the baking sheet with the paper inside and place face down on top of the glass dish.  Then grip the handles of the baking dish along with the baking sheet edges and invert.  Then lift glass pan off of rolls.

Serve warm and enjoy.
                                  **LAST YEAR: Kiwi Pomegranate Angel Pies**