Labor of Love

There are certain things in life that take a lot of time and work. Some things, like taxes for instance, are not really worthy of our time, while relationships and books are deserving of all the time in the world. Baking and cooking are much of the same way. Dishes like aspics should not have another moment spent on them, while artisanal bread or cinnamon rolls for instance, are labors of pure love and joy.

The other day a lovely coworker gave me about 5 pounds worth of fresh tangerines from the orchard in her back yard. While I would have no problem plowing through them by myself, it hardly sparked any inspiration and wouldn’t be nearly as fun as creating a fun dish from them. Over the Easter weekend I was immensely blessed to be able to spend it with all three of my siblings, my niece and nephew, and my sister’s husband. I was in heaven having my family together. When we are all together we do what Italians do best; eat, laugh, talk and of course eat. Being around my family always makes me think about all the things we did and went through growing up, and one thing that got brought to mind were the Pillsbury Orange Cinnamon Rolls that my mom used to make for us on weekends when we were kids! These were my favorite and truth be told I find these infinitely more delicious than the plain cinnamon rolls! And what do you know! I had all the ingredients on hand to make these from scratch!

When I say cinnamon rolls are a labor of love, I mean it. It’s a 24 hour process and you get to use some elbow grease (especially if  you don’t have a stand mixer!). The recipe posted below is an adaptation from my regular Cinnamon Roll/Pull Apart recipe and my sweet Loraine was kind enough to give me some honest feedback on the rolls! These are rustic to the max, with a chewy dark exterior and a soft, melt in your mouth center. As is true with most of my recipes, these rolls are not overly sweet, but full on flavor. Here we go!

Tangerine Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:

• 1 tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Sugar or Honey
• 1 1/4 cup warm water or buttermilk (110F)
• 3/4 stick Unsalted Butter, very soft
• 2 Eggs, room temperature
• 5 cups, Unbleached Bread Flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon Kosher/Sea Salt
• Juice from one tangerine

Filling:

• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon, ground
• 1 teaspoon Cloves, ground
• Zest of one Tangerine

Glaze: (measurements not precise, sorry, I like to wing my glazes!)

• 2-3 cups sifted Powdered Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (if it has alcohol in it, you’re better off without it!)
• Zest and Juice of two Tangerines
• 1-2 teaspoons of Water or Milk

Process:

1. In your mixing bowl combine the sugar/honey and yeast. Pour in your warm water/milk and whisk to combine. Allow to sit for around 1o minutes or until the mixture is bubbly, tripled in volume, and smell strongly of yeast (I swear this may be one of my favorite scents on planet earth!)
2. While the yeast is fermenting, prepare your glaze in a tupperware, you will be using this the following day. Sift the powdered sugar, add the zest,  then the juice from the tangerine, and finally the vanilla extract. Slowly add water/milk as needed, whisking to combine. Taste test as you go along! We really want this to be packed with a Tangerine flavor!
3. Once your yeast is ready; add your flour, salt, eggs, and soft butter. Using the hook attachment, start mixing on the lowest speed, gradually building up the speed to medium. Once the dough begins to slap the sides of the bowl and tornado up the hook it’s close to being fully mixed. The sure fire way of knowing if you have developed enough gluten in your dough is the “window pane” test. Grab a small amount of dough and hold it up to the light. Gently stretch it, if the dough is elastic and can be stretched out thinly without tearing easily then it’s ready to go! Remove the dough from the bowl and knead gently into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface and cover with a dampened towel and rest for 10 minutes.
4. While the dough is resting, make the filling! Using the same mixing bowl combine your sugars, butter, spices, and zest. Using the paddle attachment, start on low and work up to a medium-high speed beating the butter mixture until it is very fluffy and light in color. Set aside.
5. Take your dough and gently press down, forming a rectangular shape. Grab your rolling pin and roll out to 1/4 to 1/2″ thick maintaining a rectangular shape. (Don’t be afraid to tug gently on the corners and work with the dough. Get a feel for it’s movement and elasticity). If the dough is not rolling out easily, it needs to rest more because the gluten was overworked in the mixing process. If it is not recoiling, it may be sticking to your work surface, simply fold it back on itself and add more flour to the surface.
6. When you have achieved the desired thickness and shape for your dough, slap on the filling all at once and if you have an off set spatula spread out evenly, spreading out all the way to the edges (if you do not have and off set spatula, a rubber spatula works just fine).
7. Make one last adjustment on your dough making sure it is rectangular and begin the rolling process. Keep it tight and uniform. Feel free to pinch, and stretch the dough as needed. You want to keep this uniform so the rolls proof and bake evenly! When you are finished you should have a nice looooong log on your work surface.
8. Using the sharpest knife you have, cut the log in half, then halve those halves, then repeat once more. This will give you 8 large rolls. If you are a more petite eater, feel free to halve once more.
9. Generously spray your baking dishes. Be sure not to over crowd the rolls, the ones in the center will not get the heat that they need resulting in an under baked doughball. Tightly wrap the dishes with plastic wrap and place in your refrigerator to slowly rise overnight.
10. The next morning warm your oven up to the lowest setting for 15 minutes then turn off. Remove the plastic wrap and place the cinnamon rolls in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the rolls have doubled in size. Remove from the oven and preheat to 350F (if you want a darker, more crisp exterior on the roll bump up the temperature to 375-400F, but watch them closely). Place the baking dishes on a sheet pan as added security to catch any overflowing sugar and bake for 18-30 minutes (this greatly depends on how large you cut your rolls).
11. When the rolls are dark around the edges and very bubbly remove from the oven and immediately spread on your Tangerine Glaze then Bon Appetite!

Quick Tips:

• If in the mixing process your dough is stiff add a little bit of water or buttermilk, inversely if it is too wet and sticky add a bit of flour. This dough when it is finished mixing should not be sticky at all, but workable and billowy.
• Be gentle with your dough, it didn’t do anything to harm you so treat it with love. No punching, no overworking, get a feel for it’s nuances and character. If you want instructions for hand kneading I will gladly send those along to you!
• I have reduced the sweetness of the filling to make room for a very sweet glaze, if you desire a sweeter more traditional roll, up the Brown Sugar by 1/2 cup.
• Let the tangerines be the star of the rolls. The way to get more flavor is more zest, be careful to only add the sweet, orange part of the peel and not the white pith, this is bitter.
• Be patient and be watchful. Love the process and do not hurry it. That is when things will go south for the winter.

Again special thanks to Loraine for her feedback! Her biggest  comments were that she was surprised by the lack of sweetness, she loved the texture of the dough, and that she LOVED the glaze! Thank you so much my dear for helping me be a better baker!