Dark and Dangerous Cinnamon Rolls

One of the cookbooks that I received for Christmas this past year was The King Arthur Flour Whole Grains Baking book. This is a massive book (544 pages!), loaded with lots of information on different grains, different ways to use them and then of course the recipes. One of the best parts is that each recipe includes the nutritional information!

Stuck at home on a snowy Saturday afternoon, I was flipping through the book with hopes of baking something. As soon as I landed on the cinnamon roll section I knew I wasn't going to get any further until I made some of them. The Dark and Dangerous Cinnamon Rolls were calling to me, so I got to work. These cinnamon rolls are called dark and dangerous because they use whole wheat (dark) flour and dangerous because they're hard to stop eating.

Usually I pass over any recipe involving yeast, unless I'm using my bread machine. There are so many steps and room for mistakes, but this time I was feeling up for a challenge. This is a very time intensive recipe, letting the dough rise two separate times, but it really wasn't that bad because I mixed everything up at the beginning and then all that was left to do was let the dough rise, assemble the rolls then let them rise again before baking. Not too bad!

I thought these were actually pretty darn tasty, definitely sweet and cinnamon-y, but they were a tad on the dry side. I think that may have been due to my substitution of regular flour for the potato flakes or potato flour, which I didn't have on hand. I used whole wheat pastry flour, and couldn't really pick up on any "whole grainy" flavor, but my ultra-picky husband took one bite and said "Wheat flour?", to which I replied "Well technically the majority of flour that I use comes from wheat, honey," but he was on to me. So, while I thought they were delicious, some super-picky eaters (Hi honey!) may not be feeling the whole grain cinnamon roll love.

An interesting tip included in the book was how to avoid "exploding" cinnamon rolls. You know those ones where the middles are popping upward and the whole roll looks more like a cone. They suggest that when you are rolling the filled roll into a log that you do it as loosely as possible. That gives room for the dough to expand and create a more even bun shape.

Dark and Dangerous Cinnamon Buns
from The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book

makes 16 buns

Ingredients

Dough:
3/4 plus 2 tablespoons (7 ounces) lukewarm water
1/4 cup (2 ounces) orange juice
5 tablespoons (3 3/4 ounces) honey
1 large egg, separated (reserve the white)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
3 1/2 cups (14 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (1 3/4 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
Heaping 1/2 cup (1 1/4 ounces) dried potato flakes or 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces potato flour)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Filling:
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Icing:
2 cups (8 ounces) confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, melted
Pinch of salt
2 or 3 tablespoons (1 to 1 1/2 ounch) milk or cream, enough to make a spreadable icing

To prepare the dough:
Combine all the dough ingredients, using the egg yolk and setting the white aside to use in the filling. Mix and knead - by hand, mixer or bread machine - (I used my stand mixer with the dough hook) until you have a medium-soft, smooth dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it's quite puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours. While the dough is rising, make the filling. (I also made the icing -- and made 1.5 times as much to we'd have lots of icing)

To prepare the filling:
Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until smooth.

Lightly grease a 9x13-inch, 11-inch square, 12-inch round or similar sized pan.

To shape the buns:
Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Roll and pat it into a 12x16-inch rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 1-inch margin along one long edge. If the filling seems too sticky to spread easily, wet your fingers and smear it over the dough as best you can.

Starting with the filling-covered long edge, roll the dough into a log, turning it so the seam is flat against the work surface. Using a long serrated knife or dental floss, gently cut it into 16 pieces.

Place the guns in the prepared pan, spacing them evenly: they won't touch one another. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap or a proof cover, and allow the buns to rise for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. They wont double in size, but will become about half again as large as they were originally. They should barely touch each other. Near the end of the buns' rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To bake the buns:
Bake the buns, until they're a deep golden brown on top, 25-28 minutes. Remove them from the oven and after 3 minutes, carefully turn them out, upside-down, onto a rack. Place another rack, feet side up on the buns, and invert them once again, so their tops are up. they'll be hot and delicate, so be careful While the buns are cooling a bit, make the icing.

To finish the buns:
Beat together the sguar, vanilla, butter, salt, and 2 tablespoons of the milk (or cream) in a medium mixing bowl. Beat in additional milk or cream if the icing is too stiff to spread. Spread the icing on the lukewarm buns. Serve immediately, or cool completely, cover, and store at room temperature. Buns will keep well, covered, for several days.

Nutrition Information per serving (1 bun 96g)
28g whole grains,
288 cal
5g fat
6g protein
22g complex carbohydrates
33g sugar
4g dietary fiber
25mg cholesterol
225mg sodium
225mg potassium
43RE vitamin A
3mg vitamin C
2mg iron
62mg calcium
139mg phosphorus