Gingerbread Cinnamon Buns

Another day of staying at home because of snow day.  It snowed late morning yesterday and even though there was not much accumulation, the snow has turned into a thin coat of ice this morning.  The school was canceled which meant I didn't have to go to work either.  Honestly I didn't feel like going to work :)  I have to drive uphill to my work and if the roads weren't cleared, which sometimes can happen, I'd rather stay home.

Because of that, I had quite a bit of time at home right now.  I ventured out to the back yard to take photos of icicles and then went back to do the same with my fruitcake.  Yes, I made a fruitcake yesterday afternoon.  No, it isn't a brick-heavy one; this is a lighter fruit cake from a Mary Berry's recipes.  I made this first last month and we really loved it.  It is rather cakey with lots of dried sour cherries, raisins, and fruitcake mix.  Some people are turned off by that fruitcake mix, but I don't mind it at all; my mom used to make a Dutch-style fruitcake using glace red and green cherries when I was young so I grew up eating it.

I will share the recipe later on but this time I want to share what I made for breakfast last weekend.  This is gingerbread cinnamon buns because we're a fan of cinnamon buns.  I think these buns are perfect for the season, the smell of the spices when they're baked is absolutely delicious.  I've always made cinnamon buns the night before and let them do the second proofing in the fridge.  In the morning of, I take them out and let rest for 30 minutes before baking them.  The freshly baked buns are ready in less than 30 minutes.

Gingerbread Cinnamon Buns

Makes 9 servings


1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 recipe Spiced Glaze

In a large bowl combine the warm water and the yeast, stirring to dissolve yeast.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Stir in the next six ingredients (through salt).  Stir in as much of the flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total).  Shape dough into a ball.  Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours).

Punch down dough.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.  Lightly grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.  For filling, combine the next five ingredients (through cloves).

Roll dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle.  Spread dough with butter.  Sprinkle with filling, leaving 1 inch unfilled along one of the long sides.  Roll up rectangle, starting from the filled long side.  Pinch dough to seal seams.  Cut into 12 slices.  Arrange and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (about 45 minutes).  At this point, you can cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to proof for overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Drizzle with Spiced Glaze.


Spiced Glaze:  Stir together 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.  Stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to make a glaze drizzling consistency.


Source:  adapted from Fall Baking 2015, Better Homes and Gardens

Pumpkin Loaf with Pumpkin Seeds

This I believe is my second post of pumpkin-related baked goods that I made this month.  Everyone else is on to their 10th pumpkin posts, I'm still working my way up, lol.  It's just my schedule this month is preventing me to bake as frequently as I want to.  But no worries, I've a few posts to write before I've to make new stuff.

Anyway, this bread--yes, it's another bread post--caught my eyes and it came from the same blog that has the sweet bread loaf.  I decided that since I had all the ingredients why not make it.  The bread barely taste like pumpkin, it's unlike a pumpkin quick-bread; this has  a very subtle pumpkin flavor but it's moist throughout and was very good with a cream cheese spread.  I bet it'll make a great pumpkin French toast.  Too bad I didn't think about it until today.

Because I like to make my dough in a bread maker, I dump all the wet ingredients first then add the dry ingredients with yeast on top.  If making this on a mixer with a dough hook, you have to make sure that it's sufficiently kneaded, do a window-pane test, proof, and then proceed to the shaping part of the recipe.


Pumpkin Loaf with Pumpkin Seeds


350g bread flour
 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
140g milk 
130g pumpkin puree (steamed pumpkin and mashed with a fork)
2 tablespoon honey 
26g unsalted butter, softened

Beaten egg for egg wash
Raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds -- I used about 1/3 cup or so

Additional butter for brushing, optional 


In a mixer bowl, place bread flour and salt, give it a little stir.  Add yeast, milk, pumpkin puree, honey, and butter.  With a dough hook, knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Do a window-pane test.  Grease another large bowl, dump the dough into it, cover with plastic wrap, and let it proof for about 1 hour.

If making with a bread maker, place all the wet ingredients first then add the dry ingredients with the yeast on the very top.  Select Dough cycle.

When the dough has doubled, place it on a well-floured surface, punch one time to release the gas.  Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest, covered with towel, for 20 minutes.

Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.  

Flatten the dough into a large rectangular shape.  Roll it up like making a swiss roll, starting from the short side. Place the dough into the pan, seam side down.  Let it proof again for another hour or until the dough has doubled in size.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

Brush the top with beaten egg, scatter pumpkin seeds and pat them down to make them stick.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the bread is hollow when tap on the bottom.  Once it's done baking, brush the top with butter if desired; remove it from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

To keep the bread soft, store in plastic bag for 2-3 days at room temperature.




Source:  adapted from Cook Bake Love

Sweet Sandwich Bread

I know I really, really love bread when I would forego social gathering in order to tend my bread making session.  This happened when I made this sweet bread a few weeks ago.  I was looking forward to be home and tending my dough when my son got invited to a friend's baptism.  All I kept thinking was how I couldn't leave my overnight sponge go a little longer while my mouth was saying, I'll chat with you soon, to friends.  I had to drop my son off and raced back home to do the bread.  It was a lot of steps, making this bread that was.  Then I had to back out again to pick him up before the bread was ready to be baked.  All I had to say to my friends was, so nice to see you again, thank you for having him(my son) here; and hugged each of them.  Then I rushed back home again.  So much for wanting to chat...

I even missed the baptism part.  I hope my friends forgive me and will invite me again to a social gathering :)

Well, the bread was worth the hectic afternoon I had.  This was a soft, Asian bakery style bread which is beloved by Asians (apparently).  My mom would love this kind, she wouldn't love Dave's Killer Bread no matter how many beneficial seeds it has :D  For me, this bread is best for eating fresh and as toasts.  The recipe yields 2 loaves; one I freeze and ate a week later.  Still good, soft, and wonderful when toasted and ate with soup.

This photo below showed the loaf that was baked in a Pullman pan with the lid on.  I wasn't happy with my Pullman pan which I bought in Indonesia.  I'm thinking I need to invest in a better pan.

I made the dough using a bread maker even though the recipe showed manual method.  I think either way is fine, I like the convenient of bread maker making my dough.  If making with bread maker, you should put all the ingredients at once, choose Dough setting, and let the machine do the work.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Sandwich Bread

Makes 2 large loaves


Overnight sponge:
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast---I used SAF Instant
60 g water
100 g bread flour

In a small bowl stir together the yeast with 20 g water.  Add the rest of the ingredients and knead to form a dough.  Let it proof for 30 minutes.  Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 48 hours.


Bread Dough:
550 g bread flour
80 g sugar
6 g salt
20 g powdered milk
10 g instant yeast
1 cold egg
270 g cold water
75 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Egg wash, optional

In a bowl of a mixer place bread flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and yeast.  Stir with paddle attachment until combined.  Add the overnight sponge, egg, and water.  Switch to hook attachment, mix it all until forms a dough.  Add butter, and continue mixing until it forms a smooth and elastic dough.  The dough will be rather sticky but should be smooth in appearance.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a plastic wrap and let proof for 45 minutes or until double in size.

On a floured surface, divide the dough into 6 equal round portions.  Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each portion flat with a rolling pin, then roll it up like a jelly roll.  Let it rest again for 10 minutes.  Repeat this step one more time.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F for regular loaf pans or 400 degree F for Pullman pans.

Place 3 piece of dough into two greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans or Pullman pans.  Let it proof for 50 minutes or until it reaches 80% on the loaf pans.  Brush loaves with egg wash if desired.  Cover the Pullman pans with the lids.

Bake the regular loaf pans for about 30 minutes, and the Pullman pans for about 35 minutes.  Take the loaves out of pan right away and let cool completely on wire racks.


Source:  adapted from Cook Bake Love

Chelsea Buns

I just got back from my son's science trip with his school for 8 days last week, and I'm exhausted!  Not so much physically but mentally because there's so much to think about during the trip, the safety of the kids was always the paramount.  The constant vigilance of where they were and what they're doing, and the long drives wore me out.  But it didn't mean I didn't have good time because I got the chance to visit my bestie and my alma mater.

The kids went to Catalina Island Marine Institute to study marine biology and we stopped along the way, first at San Fransisco and second at Knott's Berry Farm.  The kids bonded and the chaperones bonded as well; the women I know were really wonderful and we got to know each other more.

With that trip behind me, I can now enjoy my spring break!  So need a break from a routine even though the typical springtime weather is back, days of grey and mist.  Ah, that's Oregon...

Maybe this Chelsea buns will cheer me up?  These are tasty buns, chockfull of moist dried fruits which my husband and I love.  My son still chose cinnamon rolls over this but he still ate a handful :)

Chelsea Buns

Yields about 12 large buns or 24 small buns


For sweet bread dough:
3/4 cup (6 ounces) warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup (2 ounces) bread flour
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain yogurt--regular or Greek, can be substituted with sour cream or buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups bread flour
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water (for egg wash)

For the filling:
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit

For the icing:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons cream or 2 to 3 tablespoons milk


In a small bowl, combine the warm water and 2 teaspoons sugar.  Stir to dissolve.  Stir in the yeast and 1/2 cup flour.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until bubbly and active, about 10 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl of a mixer or bucket for bread machine, combine the yogurt, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and yeast mixture.  Add 4 1/2 cups of flour and knead the dough--by mixer or bread machine--to make a smooth, supple, and soft dough.  Add the extra flour only if needed, 1/2 cup at a time.  If using a mixer, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to grease all sides, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 60 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.  If using bread machine, let it rise in the machine until the end of the Dough cycle.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly floured work surface.  Roll the dough into a 16" x 24" rectangle.

Spread the dough with the 1/3 cup melted butter.  Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle it evenly over the dough.  Scatter the mixed dried fruit over the cinnamon sugar and lightly press it down onto the dough.

Starting with a long end, roll the dough into a log and cut it into 12 slices for large buns or 24 slices for small buns.  Whatever the size of buns you cut, they'll turn out delicious!

Place the buns in lightly greased baking sheets.  Cover the pan and let the buns rise until they're nearly doubled, about 45 minutes.

While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 375F.  Brush buns with egg wash and bake until golden brown, about 30-40 minutes.  While the buns are baking, make the icing by stirring together confectioners' sugar with cream or milk.

Remove the buns from the oven.  Drizzle the icing on the buns while they are warm.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cinnamon Rolls

I've always wanted to try something different with familiar recipe, eating the same old sounds boring to me.  Well, I found it in this cinnamon rolls recipe; instead of normal cinnamon rolls, I treated my family to the pineapple upside-down cinnamon rolls.  And you know what, it's actually delicious!

The basic sweet dough recipe is already fantastic, it's a very soft dough that's easy to handle.  It can be made using a mixer or bread machine--which is my go-to machine to make bread dough.  Bread flour is my preferred flour to make sweet dough even though the original one uses all-purpose.  The quantity of pineapples was changed slightly to 2 cups instead of 1 1/2 cups.  I do like it that way so there's an equal amount of pineapple to the rolls, otherwise I would have eaten only rolls and no more pineapples.  

And because I wanted to bake it in the morning for breakfast, I proofed the two pans in my fridge overnight.  The morning of, take those pans out and set in the oven with a pan of boiling water placed on the rack underneath the pans.  Let it proof for 30 minutes and then bake.  

If you have cream cheese frosting, this is also good with it!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 18 small rolls

Pan Sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 cups canned pineapple chunks (juice reserved)
1/4 cup reserved pineapple juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
9 maraschino cherries, cut in half

Dough:
Flour for dusting
1 recipe Cinnamon Roll Dough--recipe follows

Cinnamon Filling:
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the pan sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir in the brown sugar until it melts.  Stir in the pineapple chunks and juice and cook until the sauce starts to bubble and thicken, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the salt, remove from heat, and divide the sauce between two 9-inch square pans.  Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.  Arrange half the cherries, cut side up, in the bottom of each prepared pan.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and cut in half.  Roll each half out to an 8 by 12-inch rectangle.

For the filling, combine the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.  Set aside.  Spread each half rectangle of dough with half the melted butter and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar.  Roll up the dough, starting with a short end, to form a tight 9-inch cylinder.  Cut each cylinder into 9 slice. Place each slice, spiral side up, in a prepared pan.  Cover with tea towels and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Bake for 23 to 25 minutes or until the rolls have risen and browned. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto serving platters.

Cinnamon Roll Dough

Makes 6 jumbo, 12 large, 16 to 20 medium, or 48 mini rolls

1 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature 
3 1/3 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading and dusting
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or bread machine yeast

In a 4-cup measuring cup, combine the milk, butter, sugar, and salt.  Microwave on High for 1 minute or until warm.  Whisk in the eggs.

Place the flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the liquid ingredients.  Mix on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time, until the dough forms a soft mass and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove the paddle attachment and switch to the dough hook.  With the mixer on low, knead the dough with the dough hook.  Sprinkle the dough with a tablespoon of flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking to the sides of the bowl.  When the dough is smooth, not sticky, and springs back when you press it with your finger, you've kneaded enough (4 to 6 minutes).  Place the dough in a large, oiled mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, or until it has almost doubled.

For bread machine dough:  Place the liquid ingredients in the pan of the bread machine after first step.  Add the flour, then the yeast.  Select Dough cycle, and press Start.



Source:  adapted heavily from I Love Cinnamon Rolls by Judith Fertig