Revision: Cinnamon buns -> indulgent bread
Inspired by the success of the pretzel rolls, and suckered by the sweet sinfulness that is cream cheese frosting, I set my sights on smitten kitchen’s cinnamon buns.
Let me start by informing you that I have never made a recipe before that required yeast. At least, not with me in charge of it. I make cookies, though, so I know I like to have my ingredients pre-measured.
Dough
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise or instant yeast (from 1 envelope yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120°F to 130°F, about 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Beat on low speed 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add additional 2 1/2 cups flour.
I also don’t have a stand mixer. So, I was extra careful to measure out the second helping of flour before starting to mix.
Beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.
I beat on low, but that whole sticky thing…. not at all. I looked up videos on how to knead bread, and they said to be careful not to tear the dough as you were kneading, but that seemed darn near impossible. Finally, I deemed it kneaded enough, and put it in the bowl to rise for 2 hours….
After an hour, it dawned on me. I had left out the egg.
I went back and pulled the dough out. I made a little well. I even went so far as to crack the egg before I decided that there was no way the egg could be incorporated in this late in the game.
Then I started to make another batch, before realizing that I didn’t have enough flour to start again. I didn’t want two projects in a row to end in defeat, though, so I started googling bread recipes. “Lots of these don’t have eggs in them!” I thought to myself. So, I pulled out a loaf pan (where did I get one of those?), shaped my dough into a loaf, and popped it in the oven for 40 minutes on 350.
And it worked! I have often been put off from baking by tales of its unforgiving precision requirements. Turns out, maybe it’s not as bad as I had heard.
Since the loaf came out pretty tasty, I decided to honor its roots by whipping up the cream cheese frosting to go with it. It’s nearly all butter and cream cheese. That’s a perfectly reasonable bread spread! It’s not like putting frosting on a baguette or anything! (Ok, that just compelled me to put frosting on a baguette. It’s tasty.)
Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth.
