The plans of mice and men

I ended up making those cinnamon rolls today, and as promised I'm back to let you know how they turned out.

As it turned out, a bit more flour was needed to get a workable dough (by a bit, I mean I kept adding until I had nearly 4 cups total in there). Go figure. Maybe this is why I'm not a baking and pastry student.

If (and when) I do it again, I'll start with 3 cups and add if necessary. Dough can be fickle when it comes to environmental changes (humidity and such). Not that I'd expect a massive change making the recipe in the same apartment, but I'd be wary of starting off with a full 4 cups.

To make matters worse (at least, less professional) the oven here has been acting up (ie, instead of the 375 I wanted I was probably baking at 250 or so). They did end up nice and fluffy, but they didn't brown as nicely as I believe they would given proper oven temp (I threw the heat up to 500 or so for a few minutes to get a little color, and a bit did come out, but I was balancing on a thin rope between brown and burnt with that high heat).

As far as a yield, it's hard to say given that I didn't measure.. so let's estimate that a sheet of dough 1'x2', rolled up and sliced into roughly 1" rolls, will give you around a dozen. Ish. It was my first go, so cut me a little slack. I'll try to be more exact next time. In any case, it makes plenty for one to be snacking on them most of the day and to have a bag left over.

Be sure to get a good amount of filling in the middle, too. Sadly I was down to the last bit of brown sugar, so mine are a tad lacking in that department, however the mix did melt down a bit and form a delcious sort of crust on the bottom of the rolls (quite possibly my favorite part).

So, the official word on the matter?

Start with 3 cups of flour, and be ready to add more. Just go for a nice ball of dough that you can work with your hands.

I have to say, though, all this talking has gotten me a bit hungry... good thing I still have that bag of leftovers.