It is a fact of life that I am obsessed with making anything that resembles a cinnamon bun. All kitchen endeavors have their unique challenges but there's an exciting satisfaction in making a yeast based bread. Many mix-ups can be salvaged or masked thanks to a touch of spice or an awesome frosting. Not here.... no amount of cream cheese will hide a bad bread. It's merciless.
This, in turns, makes the task of cinnamon buns, pull-apart breads, and dinner rolls an emotional roller-coaster. If that d@mn dough doesn't rise- you just wasted a good hour and half of your life as well as precious resources. Rise bread, rise!!
Needless to say, when I stumbled upon a snippet about using potatoes in dough, I nearly fell out of my chair. Potatoes? Come on now. Is this some over zealous experiment led by a Leprechaun? As it turns out, the beauty of using potatoes is they add starch without the gluten. There's science involved.
I gave it a shot and was astounded by the results. This recipe yielded the biggest freaking cinnamon buns I have ever seen. Maybe I rolled it wrong but the husband and I were very excited to have monster cinnamon buns in the house. They rose beautifully and took over our counters. Everything smelt of cinnamon and heaven. Sinful sinnabuns.
So the big question remains: can you taste potato? Not at all. Think of it as eating dutch potato rolls- simply soft. The texture of this bread is the show stopper. Days after baking, the dough remained surprisingly soft without the need to be heated in the microwave. They were stuck being awesome- it's in their nature. Use the frosting of your choosing- a splash of coffee or a hint of lemon zest really defines the flavor. These are adorned with some toasted pecans to add dimension to the pillowy bread.
Now there are two itty bitty items that I would like to mention as a warning:
First, I attempted to halve the recipe because let's face it... hubby has a great appetite but he's not a bottomless pit. It's impossible to punish this much cinnamon bun without calling in the troops to share. Halving was a mistake because the rolls didn't come out nearly as good. Maybe you'll have better luck, but I totally bombed it.
Second, the filling seemed to be a bit skimpy in terms of the amount of sugar/cinnamon. I tried doubling it and the bottom of buns ended up super sticky and slightly burnt from the butter melting and the sugar caramelizing. It was a total mess and ruined the rolls. Bad idea. Stick to the directions!
For the recipe, check out Bon Appetit's post: Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls.
This, in turns, makes the task of cinnamon buns, pull-apart breads, and dinner rolls an emotional roller-coaster. If that d@mn dough doesn't rise- you just wasted a good hour and half of your life as well as precious resources. Rise bread, rise!!
Needless to say, when I stumbled upon a snippet about using potatoes in dough, I nearly fell out of my chair. Potatoes? Come on now. Is this some over zealous experiment led by a Leprechaun? As it turns out, the beauty of using potatoes is they add starch without the gluten. There's science involved.
I gave it a shot and was astounded by the results. This recipe yielded the biggest freaking cinnamon buns I have ever seen. Maybe I rolled it wrong but the husband and I were very excited to have monster cinnamon buns in the house. They rose beautifully and took over our counters. Everything smelt of cinnamon and heaven. Sinful sinnabuns.
So the big question remains: can you taste potato? Not at all. Think of it as eating dutch potato rolls- simply soft. The texture of this bread is the show stopper. Days after baking, the dough remained surprisingly soft without the need to be heated in the microwave. They were stuck being awesome- it's in their nature. Use the frosting of your choosing- a splash of coffee or a hint of lemon zest really defines the flavor. These are adorned with some toasted pecans to add dimension to the pillowy bread.
Now there are two itty bitty items that I would like to mention as a warning:
First, I attempted to halve the recipe because let's face it... hubby has a great appetite but he's not a bottomless pit. It's impossible to punish this much cinnamon bun without calling in the troops to share. Halving was a mistake because the rolls didn't come out nearly as good. Maybe you'll have better luck, but I totally bombed it.
Second, the filling seemed to be a bit skimpy in terms of the amount of sugar/cinnamon. I tried doubling it and the bottom of buns ended up super sticky and slightly burnt from the butter melting and the sugar caramelizing. It was a total mess and ruined the rolls. Bad idea. Stick to the directions!
For the recipe, check out Bon Appetit's post: Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls.
