Sweet Rolls Round 2

Last week, my mom tried her old sweet rolls again after talking to me about all the recommendations we got from the last try. In the interest of only changing one thing to see the impact, we decided to fix the worst of our mistakes - trying to get GF dough to rise multiple times. The result was borderline perfect!

From Sweet Rolls

Ingredients:

• Sweet Dough
• 1.5 cups milk warmed to ~120
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 packets yeast
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 7.5 cups flour (we used Jules Shepard's All Purpose Flour from Nearly Normal)
• Filling
  
• ~ 1 stick melted Butter
  
• ~ 1 cup Sugar
  
• ~ 2 tbsp Cinnamon
  
• Glaze
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 5 tbsp white karo corn syrup

Procedure:

So, this time the recipe stayed the same, but the rising steps were taken out.  

To make the dough, start by mixing the yeast with half a cup of warm water. While that sits, mix together the warm milk, sugar, and salt. When the yeast has bubbled, add it to the warm milk mixture and stir. To that, add 2 lightly beaten eggs and half a cup of shortening. Mix about half the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the rest of the flour - you can use a little more or less, just add it until the dough feels like dough.

For the glaze, just mix together the brown sugar, butter, and karo syrup. Grease 3 or 4 8" baking pans and line the bottom of the pans with the glaze mix. If you want, you can add chopped up walnuts or pecans on the glaze (we used pecans).

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar (the ratio listed is an estimate, just use as much cinnamon as you like) and melt some butter. Then, separate out a baseball-softball sized chunk of dough and roll it out into a rectangle about 3-4 inches wide. Drizzle on some butter to lightly coat the dough, then sprinkle on a thin layer of the cinnamon and sugar mix. Roll up the dough and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half long. Place the pieces cut side up/down in the prepared pan (see below), with room between the rolls for them to rise.  Place the populated pans in a warm oven for about 45 minutes to rise.  Remove the rolls, get the oven up to temperature for baking.

Bake the rolls at 370 for 25-30 minutes. After baking, set a plate on top of the pan of rolls, then flip it over. Let it sit for a minute to let the glaze drizzle down, the remove the pan. There you are - a beautiful pan of glazed sweet rolls! They get stale quickly, so make sure to cover them soon after they cool.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This time, the rolls were almost perfect. They were still a tad on the heavy side, but barely. The taste was pretty much right on, just a little less 'doughy', or maybe yeast-y?, than I remember them being when I was a kid.  Maybe next time we will try some of the other suggestions to see if we can get just a little more rise.

Thanks again to everyone for all the comments! 

Gluten Free Sweet Rolls

This was my family's favorite desert when I was growing up, we were always bugging my mom to make them. Since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about seven years ago, we've tried to re-make sweet rolls a couple times, but nothing ever came close. This time, we nailed the taste. If the rolls would rise a little more and be a little softer, they would be perfect. If you have any advice on that, please let me know in the comments!

Ingredients:

• Sweet Dough
• 1.5 cups milk warmed to ~120
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 packets yeast
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 7.5 cups flour (we used Jules Shepard's All Purpose Flour from Nearly Normal)
• Filling
  
• ~ 1 stick melted Butter
  
• ~ 1 cup Sugar
  
• ~ 2 tbsp Cinnamon
  
• Glaze
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 5 tbsp white karo corn syrup

Procedure:

I'll tell you the original recipe, with notes about how it was different with GF flour... To make the dough, start by mixing the yeast with half a cup of warm water. While that sits, mix together the warm milk, sugar, and salt. When the yeast has bubbled, add it to the warm milk mixture and stir. To that, add 2 lightly beaten eggs and half a cup of shortening. Mix about half the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the rest of the flour - you can use a little more or less, just add it until the dough feels like dough. Knead the dough (although I don't think that is necessary for GF flours?). Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and let it sit in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 hours (it did not double with GF flour, but did rise significantly). Punch the dough down, flip it over in the bowl, re-cover it, and let it rise a second time. Once risen, punch it down a final time and let it sit for 15 minutes. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar (the ratio listed is an estimate, just use as much cinnamon as you like) and melt some butter. Then, separate out a baseball-softball sized chunk of dough and roll it out into a rectangle about 3-4 inches wide. Drizzle on some butter to lightly coat the dough, then sprinkle on a thin layer of the cinnamon and sugar mix. Roll up the dough and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half long. Place the pieces cut side up/down in the prepared pan (see below), with room between the rolls for them to rise (the GF rolls didn't rise much, so we placed them closer together than you would for wheat flour rolls).

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the baking pans and make the glaze. For the glaze, just mix together the brown sugar, butter, and karo syrup. Grease 3 or 4 8" baking pans and line the bottom of the pans with the glaze mix. If you want, you can add chopped up walnuts or pecans on the glaze (we used pecans).

Bake the rolls at 370 for 15-20 minutes (they took about 27 with the GF flour - anyone know why that would be?). After baking, set a plate on top of the pan of rolls, then flip it over. Let it sit for a minute to let the glaze drizzle down, the remove the pan. There you are - a beautiful pan of glazed sweet rolls! They get stale quickly, so make sure to cover them soon after they cool.

Resulting Deliciousness:

These rolls were the closest to the real thing that we've ever gotten using GF flour - Jules' mix definitely works well, I highly recommend it. The taste was exactly what I remember. The only shortcoming was the texture - these did not rise as well as the flour ones, so they were a little more dense and harder. However, they were very worth the effort. If anyone can give me some tips on how to tweak the recipe to get them to rise better, please let me know in a comment!