Cinnamon Roll Day!!

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I am known for making cinnamon rolls…quite often, in mass quantity.


I started making them 20 years ago and slowly the recipe has evolved into what it is today.  I always get asked for the recipe and people get frustrated when I say I don’t really use one.  I have made the rolls in mass quantity.  I have made them twice for huge events making about 425 each time.   When my son Buck was in high school football, I used to make 120 for opening day of football practice.  I have made them for hire a few times as well.   Kalissa wanted to take rolls to school for an end of the year celebration. Today, I am just making 55….a small batch.

I was up at 5 am mixing dough.  Today was an 8 cup ratio batch.   I use a ratio system to determine the “recipe”.  The dough I make is also my pizza crust recipe and my standard bread recipe.  My ratio goes something like this….

I start out with a serving spoon of yeast ( about 3 T ) then for every 1 cup of warm water I add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil…This batch of cinnamon used the ratio times 8.  If I am making deep dish pizza, I use the ratio times 1 1/2.  If I am making a pan of dinner rolls to share at a family get together, I take the ratio times 4.

For flour….I can’t tell you how much I use.  I have never measured it out.  I can tell you that I sometimes add a couple cups of wheat flour….I can also tell you that I try to make sure that at least 3/4 or more of the flour that I add is “bread” flour.  I sometimes mix the dough in my KitchenAid K45SS Classic 250-Watt 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer.  I love it for mixing dough.  I always make sure that I only use times 4 for the ratio or less or it just doesn’t work well.

Most people can’t believe  that I don’t use salt in the recipe….most people don’t believe that I don’t use milk either.  Most people don’t believe that I only let the dough rise once.

After I have the dough mixed up, if I am making pizza, I just make it immediately into crust and don’t let it rise.  I add the pizza ingredients and bake it at 450 for about 25 or so minutes.  Once the pizza is out of the oven, make sure to butter the crust.

To make dinner rolls I let the dough rise once.  I form it into rolls and bake in the oven for 25 minutes…butter the outside of the rolls once they come out.

For Cinnamon Rolls…let the dough rise once for an hour.  Then I roll a chunk of it out into a rectangle.  I spread melted butter…really thinly over the dough.  Then I sprinkle a mixture of cinnnamon and brown sugar oven the top.  I roll them up and cut them a generous inch wide.  Lay them out in the pan.  Let them rise 10 minutes and into the oven they go for about 25 minutes.  Once they are out they get a thin coat of butter then frosting.  If there is more dough left over then will fit in the oven, punch it down and let it rise again….this dough is not picky.

Frosting is also in a ratio….
For every half stick of butter add 8ounces of cream cheese, 2 T of milk and 1 T of vanilla.  From there powdered sugar enough to make a nice frosting.  I use this as my cake frosting too.

I also use this bread recipe to make fried bread dough…

FriedBreadDough-1

After I make the dough and it has risen once, I cut a piece of dough off, stretch it a bit, and fry it in the deep fat fryer then roll them in sugar.  These are wonderful.  If you want to read more about them, you can do that here.

I also use the same recipe to make Fry Bread Taco Shells…for those, I make the dough, letting it rise if I have time.  Typically I don’t.  I cut off a piece, roll it out into a 8″ circle, then fry it on each side.  Put your taco ingredients on top…YUM!  (What my daughter with the pink shirt is holding is a fry bread taco)

rendezvous-9

I started making these after attending the local Rendezvous.  This is on hubby’s top ten of favorite foods I make..the kids’ too!

I love The Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan # 1445 for making cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls.  I can fit two of these pans side by side in the oven allowing me to make 36 cinnamon rolls in each baking.  If all the kids are home and I am making homemade pizza, I use the bar pans then too.  I can just make more at one time with these bar pans.  Otherwise I use a Pampered Chef Large Round Pizza Stone for pizza.  I am not big into name brands or fancy kitchen ware but I swear by Pampered Chef stones for making breads and pizzas.

I often make a big ratio of six on the weekend.  We have pizza with part of the dough and fry breads or dinner rolls with the rest.  It’s a real time saver when I do that.

For my family that has been bugging me for years and years for the recipe…this is it.  I am sorry there isn’t a magic recipe and sorry that the recipe isn’t easier to explain.

Well those cinnamon rolls need to be frosted…so I best get at it.

To see what’s up at everyone homestead, head over to Dandelion House and the Country Homemaker Hop.  Sweet as Sugar Cookies also has some great places to visit.
Check out my great sewing machine light giveaway here.

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16 thoughts on “Cinnamon Roll Day!!”

  2. Bobi

    Gosh, I just got out of bed and you’re making me tired already. I wish I could be as productive as you. Those rolls look so good.

    Reply
  3. Karen

    Thanks for sharing Jo. My grandma used to make awesome cinnamon rolls. She was the head lunch lady ;) When you say serving spoon – do you mean the larger type for scooping out veggies, etc. or the one you place by the plate. I’m assuming the larger one, but that seems like a lot of yeast. I’ve just never done any bread type things from scratch before. Help a beginner?

    Reply
  4. Jolyn Olson

    I can almost smell those cinnamon rolls!
    It’s hard to write a recipe for bread…I know with my rye bread when it comes to how much flour…I usually just write…lots. Bread is a “by feel” type of cooking.

    Reply
  6. Diane / FL

    You’re killing me here! I just got fried dough out of my head and here you go! Oh man! :)
    I really wish I had not been introduced to this but it is the best. My husband took me to a resturant that has a sweet cream cheese inside and then drizzles honey over it instead of sugar. That is what I always ask for when we have a celebration dinner out. I never thought twice about eating it until my husband’s physical two years ago and his triglycerides were sky high. Now if we even think something is good we have to skip over it on the menu.:( Maybe I can sneak in and have some and not tell him!? You think?

    Reply
  7. Michelle

    It’s funny — the cooking shows and recipie books all tell me that I’ve got to use a scale and measure my ingreedients down to the tiniest grain. And then when I ask my friends who do a lot of baking (including one who used to have her own bakery) and you ladies all do it by “feel.”

    How do you “fry” the fry bread? Just a little oil in a pan, or a lof of oil?

    Cooking is not one of my strengths!

    Reply
  8. Elaine

    I make a number of things with no recipes. I have already told the kids that if you want a recipe for it, watch me and write down what I do. I have baked breads and such for 50+
    years. You go by feel and the weather will have alot to do with the amount of flour you add.
    Everything looks yummy!

    Reply
  9. Vic in NH

    Thank you for taking the time to write down just how you do this and making it successful for beginning cooks to read how! Maybe you will convince some of the “microwave generation” that cooking is also fun, creative, and tasty!

    Reply
  11. Karen K

    Thanks so much for the recipe. I was happy to hear that you often toss a couple of cups of wheat flour into yours. I’ve been wanting to try a recipe with more wheat since we have been trying to stay away from white breads. I’m going to try it for pizza- I used to make pizza from scratch all the time, and have gotten away from it. I used to let my dough rise- it’s a relief to know I can make dough for pizza faster!

    Reply
  12. Lizzie P

    They look fab! Have just got sense of taste back after 10 days with a rotten cold. Maybe I’ll celebrate feeling better with a lovely cinnamon roll. Many thanks for the recipe!
    Ratios are good! I do it with rice. The ratio is 3:2, that’s 3 parts water to 2 parts rice.
    Try this for 4 people – boil 3 parts (3 cups) water, tip in 2 parts (2 cups) rice, rinsed & well-drained. Cover tightly, bring back to the boil, then turn to LOWEST setting and cook for exactly 12 minutes – no more, no less, and NO PEEKING!
    Remove from heat but leave covered for a further 10 mins. The rice should be perfect – all the water absorbed & no need to rinse. Stir and serve
    Always use the same cup, jug or whatever to measure the rice & the water. This method works for any number – but I suggest allowing 1/3 cup rice per person instead of 1/2 cup if you’re cooking for big crowds. The ratio of rice to water and the timing is exactly the same.
    Now, about that cinnamon roll…

    Reply
  13. Deb- VTQuilter

    OMGoodness! I promised my daughter we’d do pizza tonight and I forgot to make our ‘normal’ dough. Tried yours and it came out great! Thanks so much. I made just the small ratio and did half as 2 little pizza’s and the other half as the cinnamon rolls. Those are in the oven as I type. They smell yummy already. Thanks again Jo. (I’m also making french onion soup for me and hubby… that’s why I only used half for the kids pizza!).

    Reply
  14. terry

    i was going to try the dough recipe but just reading it made my head spin.
    my mind dont think like it use too.right now its over welming.
    my familys been going thru alot the last two years.stress does funny things to your brain and body.

    Reply

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