Pan de muerto Revisited

This weekend (el primero y 2 de noviembre), the day after Halloween, a very sacred holiday will take place - El día de los muertos. Although I am not Mexican, I celebrate and respect this holiday even more than Halloween. Why? Because I am comforted by the idea of honoring loved ones who have passed on and "bringing them back" into the present world via a multitude of tangible symbols such as altars showcasing loved ones' photos and momentos, skullface paintings, sugar skulls. I especially enjoy the culinary dishes that are usually present around these two days, such as mole and pan de muerto.

Dessert Braids: Nutella, Strawberry, and Banana/Cinnamon Roll

I'm back in the States.  After living for approximately two and a half wonderful months in Portugal, et al., you can imagine my reluctance to return here.  Still, I'd thought I'd muse about a few homeland items that I had taken for granted and truly missed that are not readily available in Western Europe (at least at the places I've visited):

Resuscitated Dough for Cinnamon Rolls

So you're looking at the title of this post and are thinking "huh? what?" I hear ya. Let me explain...

These past few years I've made a lot of bread and yeast-based desserts on this blog so I am familiar with the usual signs of good/bad yeast growth, dough quality, etc. While living abroad, however, I have to relearn how to cook in a sense and get familiar with different ingredients and tools. I'm in Lisbon this time around, and I decided to make cinnamon rolls for my two friends who have graciously allowed me to stay with them for two months!

Happy, risen dough! You would never know that this dough had no life in it just a few hours ago. . .

La Pizza Mariangela

While reading my previous post about Mariangela's Pizza dough, my boyfriend and his parents went through a range of emotions: Upon seeing the title of the post, they became excited. Once they saw the first photos of the dough, their expectations continued to soar. However, as soon as they saw the turkey "pepperoni", mushrooms, and yellow cheese, their hopes were quickly dashed.

I could just see them - my boyfriend sitting in the office chair in front of the computer, his parents standing behind him looking over his shoulder as he slowly scrolled through my blog post only to reveal one "horrific" photo after the next. *sigh*

Italian-Inspired Burgers

I'm back! Sort of :). 

In May of 2008, I first fell in love with Italy. For my first solo trip abroad, I visited Firenze, Pisa, and Venezia and promised myself to return here for good. So on the 2nd of July 2012, I flew from Los Angeles to Berlin to Roma. For almost 9 months now, I have been living in Europe trying to realize my dream of remaining in Italy (yes, even with its economic and political problems) for the rest of my life. Although it does not look like it is going to happen this time around, I plan to come back here after 90 days; and while in the States, I plan to apply for a long-term visa. 

北海道牛奶麵包 Hokkaido Milk Bread

Hokkaido Milk Bread
recipe found on 

http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/03/japanese-style-bacon-and-cheese-bread.html#ixzz2DdhcQu8W

Hokkaido Milk Toast

Makes two loafs (each loaf tin size: 20.5cmx10.5cmx9.5cm)
Ingredients:

• 540 gm bread flour
• 86 gm caster sugar
• 8 gm salt
• 9 gm full cream milk power（original recipe calls for a kind of natural milk essence, not available here, so I replace it.）
• 11 gm instant dried yeast
• 86 gm whisked egg
• 59 gm whipping cream
• 54 gm milk
• 184 gm tangzhong (method of making tangzhong)
• 49 gm unsalted butter, melted

Read more: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/10/hokkaido-milk-toast-japanese-style.html#ixzz2DdccwqX

Sausage Buns and Giveaway Winner!

My supposedly fixed oven slightly overcooked my buns, but they didn't taste burnt at all.

I saw these buns on Hearty Bakes and knew that I needed, wanted, and deserved to make them pronto. The dough was easy to put together, but the instructions in the first recipe were lacking some detail for me, so I looked up another recipe on Fresh Loaf that was basically the same but with more steps. I used the recipe from the first and the shaping instructions from the second. The compilation of the two recipes is below along with some process photos.

The dough was still so soft and had just the right texture due to the mixture of bread and AP flour. For the hot dog portion, I used Nathan's hot dog wieners, which were longer and skinnier than the average wiener. Consequently, I had to make the dough rope longer. When you make these buns, make the dough rope slightly more than double the size of the wiener for proper coverage.

With this recipe, I ended up with double the amount of dough needed for 8 buns, so I plan to use the other half of the dough for monkey bread or more sausage buns. They are sitting in the freezer waiting for their purpose in life :). I hope you make these buns soon. They are fantastic. If you're a yeastaphobe, these are a pretty easy and fun introduction to making bread.

Paella Pan Giveaway Winner: According to the Random Generator, out of 51 valid entries, the winning number is 26, which is scrambledhenfruit!! Congratulations! Email me ASAP with your contact information.

I am submitting this post to yeastspotting!

Sausage Buns

Adapted from Hearty Bakes and jleung on Fresh Loaf

If you possess a scale, please weigh your ingredients instead of using measuring cups.

400 g (1 3/4 cup) Bread Flour
100 g (almost 1/2 cup) Plain Flour
1 Tbsp instant yeast
100g (almost 1/2 cup) castor or granulated sugar
1 tsp salt (I used kosher)
220 ml (~3/4 cup) warm water (110 degrees F)
75 g (1/3 cup) soften butter (I used unsalted)
16 Hot dogs or sausages (I put 16 because with 8 wieners, I still had another bunch of dough left)
Egg wash (1 beaten egg + 1 Tbsp water)
 
Preheat oven 190 degrees C/350 degrees F.

Mix bread flour, plain four, yeast, sugar, salt in the mixer bowl, and slowly pour in water. Knead the dough till gluten is formed. Add butter and knead till dough smooth & elastic. Leave aside to prove till double in bulk.

After proof or bread has risen, weigh and slice dough in equal weight (50g each/ping-pong ball size), and shape it round. Leave aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Next, roll the dough into individual long rod shapes, and allow them to rest for 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Roll out each log again and gently stretch them into thinner, longer logs. They'll need to be long enough to wrap around your sausage, so make them a bit more than double the length of the wiener or sausage.

[If you want the middle bulge of your bun to be bigger, you could also at this point taper the ends of your dough log by rolling the very ends a bit thinner until they form a point at each end.] 

Wrap the log around the sausage and try to leave both ends on the bottom. That way, you can easily form a better seal by pressing the dough-wrapped sausage down on the ends. You'll want to place the shaped buns on a greased baking sheet, parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Wrap dough over the each sausage, and place them on baking tray. Cover tray with plastic wrap or a damp cloth.

Leave them for final proof till double in size, estimated time about 30 minutes. When they start to look puffy, brush them lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds and/or sea salt (if using) on top.

Brush with egg wash on top of buns, and bake buns for about 20 minutes. Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 200C (~400F) oven for 8 minutes, and then 180C (~350F) for 5 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

Pizza Braid and My Makeshift Pizza Sauce

Remember the BBQ Chicken Braid I made? Well, I took out the other half of the dough from the freezer, placed it in the refrigerator overnight, and then let it sit out on the counter for more than an hour (I forgot it was sitting there!! Oops!).
I added my own pizza sauce to the base, grated some mozzarella cheese, and then added pepperoni, Italian seasoning, and more cheese on top. I then braided the bread and brushed olive oil on top. I didn't to allow it to rise a second time because the sun was quickly descending, and it still tasted just fine.

Ah, lovely blue photos. *cry*

I actually enjoyed this one much more than the chicken one. Oh, it was so good. I dipped some of the braid in ranch dressing and some in marinara sauce. Both sauces were great complements to this dish. I can't wait to make this dough again and try out more savory dishes!

Look at that cheese peaking out of the braid!! Oh goodness!!

The recipe for the bread, braid, and process photos can be found here and printable recipe here. What fillings would you like to try in braid form?
*UPDATE* Someone asked me to post my pizza sauce on here. I didn't originally post it b/c it is so simple and I don't ever measure it out. I will just tell you what I use:

Makeshift/Quick Pizza Sauce

One small can (6-8 oz) of tomato sauce
About 1 Tbsp or more of dried Italian seasoning
1/2-1 Tbsp of fresh or dry basil, chopped fine (I'm so glad I'm growing this stuff.)
1/2-1 Tbsp of fresh or dried parsley, chopped fine (I know the Italian seasoning has basil and parsley, but I like to enhance the flavor with more)
About 1/2-1 tsp of granulated sugar (to counteract the acidity of tomatoes)
1 tsp garlic powder (optional. I sometimes forget to add this.)
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or the can itself and spread on the pizza dough. I never cook this sauce before adding it to the dough. It just isn't necessary, and it's quicker.

That's it! Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Braid

Dear Yeastaphobes,

On my very first post, I made a Cherry Cream Cheese Danish that required not only laminated dough but the use of yeast. I never knew there existed a fear of yeast until I became more integrated into the food blog world. I say this not to brag but to tell you that most likely your fear of yeast lies in the knowledge of the fear of yeast itself (huh?!). In other words, because I never knew there existed a fear of yeast, I treated this fungal ingredient as any other ingredient. I just followed the instructions and avoided the pitfalls I had read or heard on other recipes (i.e., avoid hot water and salt). I used a thermometer to check the temperature of the water and only added salt after adding the flour, and everything always has worked out fine....well, at least in the yeast department. So, pretend like the fear of yeast doesn't exist. Just remember that it's just another ingredient like eggs or milk. All ingredients require a certain procedure in order to obtain optimal use out of them. NOW GO FORTH AND MAKE THE BELOW BREAD DISH! :)

Love,
Memoria of Mangio da sola
I have to admit that this is the prettiest, savory dish I've ever seen in my own apartment haha. This braid was so lovely that I almost didn't want to cut into it...almost. It was delicious.

Wow. Did I really make this?

The bread was soft with a slight, welcomed crunch due to my overheating oven. The filling was very flavorful despite the little bit of BBQ sauce I had in my possession. After I made this braid, I went back to the recipe source at Mel's blog, My Kitchen Cafe, and saw that other people who had tried this braid experimented with other fillings that I would like to try in the near future.
Since I live alone, I froze one half of the dough for later. With that dough, I would like to make a sort of a buffalo chicken filling with Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce. For the vegetarians out there, I'm sure you could use a variety of meat-less fillings as well. Stuff the braid with various grilled veggies. That mixture even sounds good to me!!

"Off with its head!" I still feel bad about doing this decapitation to the lovely braid.

I have posted some step-by-step photos below and a link to a printable version without photos. I suggest making the filling first or during the bread's first rising. Also, mix the chicken with the other fillings (minus the cheese) for quicker distribution.
Thanks, Mel!

There's a yummy filling inside of that soft dough!

I am submitting this lovely braid to YEASTSPOTTING!

*UPDATE* Check out the Pizza Braid I made with the leftover dough!

French Bread Rolls
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe who got it from allrecipes.com

Yields one dozen rolls or two braids
PRINTABLE VERSION

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread (or AP) flour (I used bread flour)

In a large mixer bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. (If doing regular french rolls: Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.] [If doing the braid: Divide the dough into two, equal-sized balls. (I weighed them out). Scroll down to the next recipe for more instructions.] Cover the rolls with a damp cloth (or greased saran wrap), and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

The left ball of dough is now in the freezer.

Bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

BBQ Chicken Braid
adapted by My Kitchen Cafe

PRINTABLE VERSION

1 recipe French Bread Rolls (above)
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1/2 medium onion, sliced into thin half moons
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (I only had 3/4 cups of bbq sauce in the house)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used and shredded a block of provolone)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

FILLING: Season your chicken well. Boil or grill your chicken and then shred it. Add the BBQ sauce and chopped onions to the chicken.

TIP: Make the filling first, and store it until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

BREAD BRAID: After the french bread roll recipe has gone through the first rise, split the dough into two parts (I weighed my dough. Each one came out to about 528 grams). Lightly cover one portion and set aside, or refrigerate (up to 2 days) or freeze (up to 2 months) the other ball. Roll the other portion into about an 11X17-inch rectangle (I rolled mine out on a silpat liner for easy transfer to the baking sheet and oven).

Grate your own cheese for a better flavor!

Using a pizza cutter, knife, or dough cutter, cut 1-inch wide strips in towards the center, starting on the long sides. There should be a solid strip about 3 inches wide down the center, with the cut strips forming a fringe down each side.
Spread half of the barbecue sauce down the center strip. Top with the chicken, onions and cheese. Fold the side strips over filling, alternating strips from each side and pressing them into the dough on the opposite side, forming a braid. Pinch or twist to seal.

Can you tell how soft this dough was?

Pick up the Silpat or parchment paper, and transfer it to the baking sheet. Or you can slide the pan under the Silpat liner, and let rest for 15 minutes.

While it is resting, follow the same steps above for the second portion of dough. Bake the first braid for 15-20 minutes (while the second braid is resting), until golden brown and bread is baked through. Remove from oven and bake the second braid.

Let the braids rest for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut braid into sections, and serve warm.

Lemon-Lime Danishes, my First Blogiversary and a Giveaway!

Danish 2: The "fallen" danish

1. Blog Updated!: Instead of focusing on my dissertation proposal, I worked on updating this blog all weekend. I have come to the realization that while most people like WordPress for its snazzy themes, I much more prefer Blogger for its ease in adjustments and settings (I wrote this before it messed up today). I spent literally hours trying to upload a theme to Wordpress.com only to find out that you couldn't upload unaffiliated themes to wordpress.COM, but you could do it to Wordpress.ORG! Then, you have to get a domain host before you can download the .ORG version. So, before I found that out, I had paid money to get a new theme. When I found out I couldn't use that without paying more money for a domain, I felt like screaming. I bought a cheap domain at godaddy.com and still couldn't move forward because I couldn't find some authorization EPP code. At this point, I had spent more than 5-7 hours working on this stuff.

I finally gave up and went back to blogger to find a theme to my liking. I was hoping to find one with a three column footer and a dark, simple, sleek background, and I found it...for FREE. I downloaded it in a matter of seconds and then moved things around and was very pleased. Then, I decided to change the header to add my own photos but didn't know how. I found a great tutorial on Digital Photography School and was finally able to make my header once I figured out what was going wrong with the Rectangular Marquee Tool on my limited, free version of Photoshop. Two hours later, I made the header you see above. I am happy. I am pleased. I don't ever want to update my blog again....well, not until my next blogiversary. LOL!

Danish 1: The burnt danish

2. FIRST Blogiversary!/Danish Revisited: Anyway, since this is my first blogiversary, I decided to revisit what I made on my very first post: a cherry cream cheese danish braid. Instead of making a cherry danish this time, I made a lemon-lime danish and a lemon-lime danish with fresh strawberries (I'll explain next while I ended up making two danishes). Both danishes had a lime glaze on top and the last one had candied lime zest as well.

Danish 2: Before it fell

Well, to go along with all the trouble I went through to update my blog, these danishes didn't turn out as well as I had wanted. The first one I burnt even after baking it a few minutes under the time suggested (remember I always do half the time and then I went a few minutes under that). It still tasted fantastic, but as you can see, it was burnt and the braid didn't stay together as well as the one on my very first post.

A yummy slice of the burnt danish

I didn't burn the second one. Instead, I dropped it on the kitchen floor right before I baked it (fortunately, it was covered with clear wrap), and the braid loosened up and just opened up completely while baking in the oven. Everything was a total disaster but still tasted great. After, drizzling a bunch of glaze and candied lime zest on top, you couldn't see its "lime pastry cream guts" sticking out as much.

Generous portion of lime glaze to cover the damage

I am sorry that I can't share with you all a beautiful, perfect danish. I will make another one....next year for the next blogiversary (if I last that long). I will do it well enough ahead of time so that I'm not stressed and pressured for time. I will do it before spending hours on fixing up my blog.

The burnt, yet in-tact danish! It was still so good!

3. FIRST Giveaway!!: On a positive note, I am offering my first giveaway. I wasn't sure what to offer. So, I thought of something related to the theme and feel of my blog, which I hope deals with international culture, foods, and languages. So, for my giveaway, I am giving one of the following cookbooks to one of my lucky readers, lurkers, and/or visitors residing in the UNITED STATES, CANADA, or MEXICO (I apologize to readers not residing in those countries; I am a lowly graduate student and can't afford much more.). Deadline: Thursday, April 1st at 12 midnight, Pacific Time.

THE GIVEAWAY DEADLINE HAS PASSED.

Click on photo to enlarge. Photos of book covers courtesy of amazon.com

In order to participate in the giveaway, answer ALL of the following questions in the comment section below:
Para participar en el concurso, contesta todas las siguientes preguntas en la sección de comentarios abajo:

1. Which cookbook would you like? ¿Cuál libro escojerías?

2. What international (i.e., outside of the U.S. for me) dish would you like to see on Mangio da sola? OR What international (i.e., any dish not traditional to your country of residence) dish have you prepared?
¿Cuál plato internacional te gustaria ver en Mangio da sola? O ¿Cuál plato internacional has preparado tú?

3. And because I am a linguist, how many languages do you speak? AND/OR What languages would you like to learn, if you could?
Y porque soy lingüista, ¿cuántos idiomas sabes? Y/O ¿Cuántos idiomas te gustaría aprender si pudieras?

If you would like to leave a comment without entering in the giveaway, you don't need to answer the questions. Just leave some love!

¡BUENA SUERTE! BOA SORTE! BUONA FORTUNA! GOOD LUCK! BONNE CHANCE! 행운!

I am submitting this post to yeastspotting!

Lemon-Lime Danish Braid

dough and candied lime zest adapted by Cooking Bread (process photos of dough and danish braid) and lemon-lime pastry cream adapted from Make a Whisk

DOUGH:
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup whole milk
3 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 cups bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cardamon (optional)
1 tablespoon butter2 large eggs (beaten)
2 cups unsalted butter (cold)

DOUGH: Pour milk and water into a saucepan; heat to a scald. In a large bowl, add in sugar, salt, cardamon and flour. Add a tablespoon of butter to the scalded mixture. Stir till the butter is melted. Add in two beaten eggs and mix with a whisk. Cook mixture to 110F.

Once cooled, add in instant yeast. Pour liquid into the bowl of the flour mixture; mix with a wooden spoon. Pour out onto a lightly-floured surface, and knead for 6 minutes or till smooth and elastic. Wrap into plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.

BUTTER BLOCK: Prepare the 2 cups of butter. Place the butter onto some plastic wrap. Place more plastic wrap over the top. Using a rolling pin roll out to a 6 x 12 inch rectangle. If you roll the butter to large, just cut the sides and place the excess butter on top and re-roll. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
DOUGH PACKET: Take the dough out of the fridge, and roll into a 9x18 rectangle. Place the rolled butter onto the bottom 2/3rd of the dough. Fold over the top part of the dough to the middle. Brush off any excess flour. Fold over the bottom half over top the first. Pinch the seams closed. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the narrow end is facing you. Roll out the dough into another 9x18 rectangle. Brush off any excess flour. Do the three fold again and seal the ends.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place a black dot or make an impression with your finger on the plastic wrap. Place into the fridge for another 30 minutes. Remove the dough, and roll out again and fold again. Wrap with plastic wrap and place another dot or impression on the plastic wrap. Place back into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Again, remove the dough and roll out again and fold for a third time. Cover with plastic wrap and place another dot or impression on top so you will have three dots to remember how many times you have done this. Place the dough back into the fridge for at least 1 hour or over night. Now the dough is ready to use.

DANISH BRAID:
Remove the Danish dough from the fridge. Sprinkle a little flour on a flat surface and then unwrap and cut the dough in half. Wrap one piece with plastic wrap and place back into the fridge. Roll the dough into a 10x15 rectangle.

Brush any excess flour from the top. Now, place the dough into a piece of parchment paper. Using a pizza slicer lightly score the dough 3 inches from each side. Do not cut through the dough. It's just to be used as a guideline.

Place your filling into the middle without crossing the score marks. Using your pizza cutter and a rule cut slices down each side on the dough. Do not cut past the score line. It will be about 9 slices down both sides.

Cut off the two bottom pieces and the two top pieces. Fold over the bottom onto the filling.

Beat one egg and 1 tablespoon of water into a small bowl. You will use this as glue. Brush each piece of dough as you create the braid. Begin at the end of the dough and fold one piece of dough over the filling. Brush with the egg wash. Now, take one piece of dough from the other side and fold that over the other piece. Continue till you have created a braid. Brush the top of the braid with egg wash. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour. Remove plastic wrap and egg wash once again. Place into a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Drizzle with some icing over top.

To make the spirals, roll out the other half of the danish dough in a rectangle shape about a 1/4 of an inch thick. Fold in half and using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1/2 inch thick strips.

Take each piece of dough, gently stretch it slightly and twist it over and over until it is tightly wound. Coil the twist rope into itself.

Place onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for about 30 minutes. Make an indent in the center of the coil ( I used the bottom of a shot glass to make the indent ) and fill with filling. Brush with an egg wash and bake in a preheated 400F oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Drizzle some icing over top.

LIME PASTRY CREAM:
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2 cups cream
2 teaspoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I combined lemon and lime)

Mix together egg yolks and cream. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Whisk the egg mixture into the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk every minute or so at first, but as it heats up and starts to boil and thicken, you will need to whisk constantly. This should take about 10 minutes.

Turn the heat to low/medium-low so that mixture bubbles gently and cook until it coats the back of a spoon, or when you can draw your finger through it and the line stays there. Stir in the butter and vanilla, and two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve/strainer to remove all lumps. Because the mixture is very thick, you may have to help the mixture through the strainer by pushing gently with a spoon.

Set aside and let cool to room temperature. Then place in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, with plastic wrap pressed gently against the surface of the cream.

CANDIED LIME ZEST:

1/3 cup of water

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of corn syrup

Zest of 3 limes

Using a zester, remove the rind from three limes. In a saucepan, add the water, sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a soft boil, and add the lime zest. Continue to boil mixture for 15 minutes. The lime zest with become translucent.

Use a fork, remove the zest from the liquid, and place the cooked zest onto a piece of wax paper. Spread out the zest, and sprinkle on top with a little sugar. Allow to cool and place into an airtight container until ready to use.

LEMON OR LIME GLAZE:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice

Stir ingredients together well, and pour or drizzle on top of danish.

Chocolate-Filled and Cinnamon Rolls *UPDATE*

I sprinkled chocolate shavings on top of the chocolate-filled rolls.

I was trying be inventive. I was trying to combine two cravings into one: chocolate and cinnamon roll dough with a warm glaze. I didn't want to combine cinnamon and brown sugar with the chocolate. I just wanted pure, unadulterated chocolate with bread and a glaze.

The chocolate is peeking through!

That is how I thought of making chocolate-filled rolls. Once I started applying the melted, milk chocolate on top of the melted butter, though, I became hesitant. I decided to make a regular cinnamon roll on the other half of the dough just in case I didn't like the chocolate half, and I'm glad I did.

The chocolate layer on the left and cinnamon/brown sugar on the right.

The chocolate half was boring. It had nothing special going for it. In fact, it made the regular side taste even more fabulous. I used my go-to cinnamon roll recipe for this because I love how the dough rolls out and how easy it is to put together.

*UPDATE* I tried vanilla buttercream frosting on the chocolate-filled rolls, and they instantly tasted a million times better. I used this recipe for the frosting. So, maybe it was the paring of the cream cheese frosting and chocolate I didn't like too much. I bet a plain powdered sugar/milk glaze would work just as well, too. I take back what I said about the chocolate rolls. They are truly amazing now! YUM!
It's been a long time since I've made these rolls for me and not for my "step-daughters". I still felt a bit guilty eating them even though the girls had no idea I was doing it haha. Anyway, next time I will just stop messing with a good thing because the cinnamon roll section was amazing.

The next morning: top: dough fresh out of the refrigerator; bottom: risen dough

This post has been submitted to yeastspotting!

Chocolate-Filled and Cinnamon Rolls

adapted from Clone of a Cinnabon from allrecipes.com

Dough:
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (I use active yeast)
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup margarine (or butter), melted (and slightly cooled b/c of the eggs)
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 1/2 cups bread flour

Chocolate Filling:
1/3 cup butter, softened
5-8 ounces of milk, semi-sweet, or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used milk)

Cinnamon Filling (USE IT ALL! :D):
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
(optional add-ins: raisins, apples, nuts, etc.)

Cream Cheese Frosting (I suggest doubling this part if you like a lot of icing):
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (you could use 4 ounces)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
(For instructions using a bread machine, go to the allrecipes website.)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl (or stand mixer). Mix in the sugar, margarine (or butter), salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball (or use the dough hook for about 5 minutes), using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle (I don't measure the dough; I just make sure it's thin enough...but then again, I've made these a lot.).

Chocolate Filling: Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter, spread melted chocolate on top.

Cinnamon Filling: Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. (I saw the following tip on another website from someone who claimed to have worked at Cinnabon: lightly roll the cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture into the dough. I then pat it down with my hand until it is well-meshed or integrated into the rolled-out dough.)

Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. (I almost always overnight these by placing them in the refrigerator at this point. I then take them out of the fridge 60 minutes before baking time and then throw them in the oven.) Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake rolls in a preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Then add confectioners' (or icing) sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

KAF Walter Sands' White Sandwich Bread

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You may have noticed the bread in the background of the photos of the lasagne I made the other day. It wasn't Italian bread, but I did it eat it alongside the yummy pasta dish because I made this bread a couple days beforehand and didn't feel it was wise to make more bread.
I've made white sandwich bread before, but when I saw the bread on King Arthur Flour's fantastic blog, I knew I had to try the recipe out. This bread will now be my go-to for sandwich bread. It came out soft with a hint of sweetness, and it had a buttery, yellowish hue to it. It didn't overpower the fillings in my sandwiches; it was easy to cut into thin slices. Also, it was perfect with my dip of oil and Italian spices (I should blog about my dip one day).

My breaded chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and mayo! Yummy!

Anyway, I hope you get to try out this recipe. It's very easy to make, and KAF has step-by-step photos of the process to make it all even easier.

TIP: Since I live alone, I don't go through bread as fast as other households. I slice all of the bread, then I wrap the slices in foil (2 slices per foil packet), then I place the foil packets in a freezer bag, and freeze the slices until I need them. So, whenever I need a sandwich, I just take out one foil packet and heat up the slices in a toaster while I prepare the rest of the sandwich!

I'm submitting this lovely, loaf of bread to yeastspotting!!

KAF's Walter Sands' White Sandwich Bread

adapted from King Arthur's Flour

1 cup + 2 tablespoons to 1 1/4 cups (9-10 oz) lukewarm water (about 105 degrees F)
1 heaping tablespoon honey (or sugar, if you don't have honey. I used honey)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons soft butter
4 cups (17 ounces) AP Flour
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk granules (I'm going to try using ~1 1/2 cup of regular milk in place of dry milk and water)

Mix all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand or regular mixer with the flat paddle. Scrap off the sides, if necessary. Knead the dough for 10 minutes by hand or via a dough hook. Oil lightly a big bowl or use the same stand mixer bowl with a bit of oil in it (that's what I do!). Roll the bread around in the oil, and cover it with a towel or a shower cap. Allow dough to double in size for 60 to 90 minutes in a warm area.

While the dough is rising, butter a loaf pan (my addition). Once the dough has risen, roll the dough out into a thick, rectangular shape on a pastry mat, Silpat, or wax paper. Roll the dough into a tight log the same length as the loaf pan you're using.

Place the rolled log of dough into the loaf pan, cover it with a towel or shower cap, and allow it to rise 1 to 1 1/2 inches over the loaf pan in about 60 minutes. During the last 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Once the dough has risen high enough, bake the bread for about 20 minutes. If it starts to get too brown on top, place foil over it and bake it for 10 more minutes. (So, a total of 30 minutes). The temperature of the dough should be between 195 and 200 degrees F.

Butter the top of the bread. Then, allow the bread to cool before cutting into it!!!! Then enjoy! :D