Luckily rain doesn't matter when you are making bread and cinnamon buns! Turns out the heat and humidity is just what they need. Myself on the other hand..heat and humidity makes me look like I was just put through a car wash. Not a pretty sight.
So as I mentioned before we made yeast dough and cinnamon buns (which are a none yeast dough). We made the dough for the bread first which is called milk bread. We also got to use something that I have never used before - fresh yeast. Not the stuff that comes in those little packets thats all hard, this is a big cold brick of active yeast. Very cool! And making the dough was super simple. The method we used was called the 'straight dough method'. Its where you put everything you are using in to your bowl all at once and using one hand mix it up and once its pulled together enough thats when the fun really starts! He told us that a lot of people over flour their dough. Your bread dough is suppose to be sticky, its not until you work it that the gluten starts forming and the stickiness goes away. You need to knead it back and forth and then slam it on the table! I LOVED rolling out this dough. Knead, stretch, SLAM, knead, stretch, slam! You keep doing this until you are able to rip off a little test piece and stretch it out thin without it ripping. Very fun. Then you wrap it up and let it sit for an hour or so until It doubles in size. I was giddy with excitement when mine was filling up my bowl! Its like you created life and its growing and it just wants you to love it. mmmm...ahem. okay. moving on. Thanks for letting me have my moment there.
So while that was rising we moved on to the cinnamon buns! The dough we use for cinnamon buns is a quick bread which means no yeast and no fermentation process. And I also learned that you do not want to use warm liquids with baking powder because it starts the reaction, you want the reaction to happen with the heat of the oven, not while its in the bowl. And see faithful readers, I'm helping to make you all better bakers at home with my newly learned tips! Enjoy!
I have no trouble making the dough, I have trouble rolling my dough to make a certain shape. You would think that rolling something in a circle or a rectangle wouldn't be hard- but it is. I know the way I have to go - up-down-left-right. Make.A.rectangle! And I also have a little trouble moving my dough around without ruining it to get more flour under it. I (and by "I" I mean my dough) got a little stuck to the table so Chef had to come and bail me out. He makes everything look so damn easy. But I eventually got everything rolled out, brushed with butter, sprinkled with my cinnamon and sugar mixture and rolled in to a nice a log. He caught me using a "sawing motion" to cut my log and corrected me. One quick slice so I don't rip the dough. Good tip! Its funny, Im always worried that Im mixing something wrong but Its usually the little things like moving your knife back and forth while cutting cinnamon buns thats wrong. You don't even think about it..but he has an eagle eye. He'll catch ya.
So we got them cut and in the oven and baked and then we put a "flat icing glaze" on the top. simply icing sugar and water. We got to keep one and man oh man they were goooooooood!! They were big though, I couldn't eat it all and it made me sad to throw it away.
Side note..I thought I burned myself on a tray today, it hurt then it stopped and I forgot about it. I just flexed my fingers and noticed a big hard blister on the side of my finger. Will I ever have a day in the kitchen when I don't come home with an injury?
Anyways! Now that the cafeteria has like 200 cinnamon buns to sell we were going to make them bread! haha
So we got our milk dough out and pounded it down to release all the carbon monoxide thats built up then we break it in to two and roll out two "snakes" as i call them. Then we made a two braid..loaf?....bread?...huh i don't know. I was confused while I was watching him make this because when you think of braiding something you think of laying it down on the table and braiding it towards you. no. This you braid up, sort of like a knot. Then you stretch it and lay it out. Its really neat and hard. Mine pulled a little while baking but I still think it looks really good! Very proud of it :)
Then came the time to come home, tell Davin alllllll about my day make a vegetable sandwich and fall asleep. OH! I will also be signing up for the skills competition! Lets see If I've made enough of an impression on chef to get picked for it! Fingers crossed!
Here are some cinnamon buns to enjoy. Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for the saliva damage on your computer screen when you start licking it.
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| Buns Rolled, Cut, pressed and ready for the oven! |
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| mmmmmmmm! |
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| Just glazed and ready for sale! |
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| My braid! |
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