Friday, July 31, 2009

The Bookmark Project: Sweet Sticky Rolls

Sweet and sticky enough for ya?
July09_33


Wow- I'm getting better with my bookmarking behavior. I tried this recipe less than a week after bookmarking it! Bakers' Banter is one of my favorite baking blogs; written in a kind and encouraging tone and with well-tested recipes. I took one look at the excited faces of the kids making monkey bread (sweet rolls that you pull apart and gobble up) and wanted to try the recipe right away.

The recipe calls for a handful of simple pantry ingredients. Flour, oil, egg, salt, sugar, instant yeast and cinnamon. I've been baking bread a lot these days, and I finally got a big pack of instant yeast, much more economical than buying the single-use packets.

I made a quick dough, let it rise in a bowl, then divided it into 16 rolls, coated them in water and then cinnamon sugar and let them rise for a second time. The little rolls rose obligingly to fill up the pan.

July09_31


I thought these pull-apart rolls were really easy and a lot of fun to make. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who has either never worked with yeast before. Of if the yeasty beasties have not cooperated with you before and you need a confidence boost. It would also be a fun project to do with school-age kids. Here's what the bread looks like after baking.

July09_32


You get 16 fluffy rolls, crunchy and sugar on the outside, soft and airy on the inside when you pull them apart. I tasted one and sent the rest of the batch for V's co-workers, my obliging tasters for all sugary baked goods that are too dangerous to keep around the home.

I did think this recipe is a little bland, though. Next time, I will add a little vanilla into the dough. Or slather them with a cream cheese frosting. And I might let the rolls rise overnight in the refrigerator for tastier bread. This will also make it more convenient to make them for breakfast or take them in to work.

I'm sending these sweet rolls to Bread Baking Day #22: Sweet Breads.

Now I'm all excited about pull-apart breads. It is very silly to keep saying "yay" and picking bread apart but there you have it. Apart from this monkey bread variety, there's the pull-apart coffee cake and cloverleaf rolls which also fall in the same genre.

I fully intend to play around with this basic recipe, maybe adding whole wheat, stuffing the rolls, coating them with seeds etc. I do believe an excellent variation on the recipe is the one suggested by 'Dr. Lauren from Illinois' in the comments on the recipe page. She coated the rolls in herbs, garlic and parmesan to make savory garlic bread. Now that sounds very tempting!

PS: It turns out that clearing the bookmarks folder is a Sisyphean task, because minutes after I made this recipe, I saw the latest post on the same Bakers' Banter blog and promptly bookmarked it!

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Dalu


Dale wants you to follow his lead and get some good R & R this weekend!

27 comments:

  1. This will be perfect for our mother-daughter cooking/baking session this evening! Thanks, Nupur!

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  2. The only time I used yeast was for baking pizza dough and it has been gazillion years ago. I've some quick-rise yeast sachets, but never ventured to use them. I've to try either your sweet bread or the whole-wheat bread soon. Have a good weekend.

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  3. There is something irresistible about these rolls. And yours look gorgeous.
    True, everytime I do a bookmarked recipe I already seemed to have bookmarked abnother 4! :)

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  4. And now you just keep adding to my bookmark pile! Thanks :)

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  5. The rols look beautifully risen and perfectly baked!

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  6. looks yummy.. now i am tempted to make these..

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  7. I am a little afraid of dealing with yeast ... though am slowly venturing into baking with yeast. Am going to try this confidence boost dose definitely.:-)
    I like the way the rolls have stuck together in one whole circle! :-)

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  8. Okay, am doing this too! This is so much fun, I realized. Check this.

    http://reluctantchefs.blogspot.com/2009/07/pancakes-bookmarked-at-that.html

    - Next, something from your blog!

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  9. wow they look absolutely tempting..very moist n glazy..

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  10. wow, this looks so beautiful, i too am baking these days and i checked the other day when i baked a sweet bread about the kneading the window method and thanks a lot for that, i simply always worried about how much to knead, i have book marked this will try slowly as aparna has advised me !!

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  11. You're right, of course -- you will never clear the bookmarks, but that's lucky for us! I'm enjoying the eclectic selection of recipes and look forward to what's next.

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  12. Looks lovely Nupur..Must try this...you are adding to our bookmarked lists now :) I tried your dalimbay bhaat and kothimbir vadi - was a total hit !

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  13. Absolutely tempting,bookmarking it :)

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  14. I think your idea of letting the yeast develop overnight is a good one - after all, there are *wonderful* breads that have little more than flour, water, salt and yeast in them. I wonder too if the alcohol in the vanilla would present any problems for the yeast - maybe it's just a question of timing. I made some pull-apart rolls to bring into work eons ago that were similar to the ones you described (parmesan, garlic, seeds, etc) - they were really good (though a little too greasy, if I recall - it appears I didn't save the recipe) That recipe was an oatmeal bread I think, so that's another possibility.

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  15. Manisha- Your baking session sounds like a lot of fun- hope it went well!

    Pavani- Yeast is a lot of fun to work with! I am starting to get obsessed with it :)

    The Food Hunter- Thank you!

    Aparna- I know, so many recipes, so little time. Sigh :)

    Manasi- Well, that's the circle of bookmarking among food bloggers!

    Divya Vikram- Thanks!

    Sandhya- They are very easy to make.

    Sharmila- That's how I started, one easy recipe at a time.

    A_and_N- That's great! Good luck with your own bookmark project.

    Prathibha- Thanks :)

    Jayasri- This is definitely an easy and fool-proof recipe.

    Lydia- I'm really enjoying this project too :) and eclectic is right!!

    Arch- Thanks for the feedback... so glad those recipes worked for you!

    Varunavi- Hope the recipe works for you!

    Cathy- So true- the flavor of bread needs time to develop and not additional ingredients really.
    I did not think of the vanilla extract interfering with the yeast, you are so right, it could be an issue.
    Oatmeal bread is something I have not tried yet. Should put that on the list!

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  16. I am glad that u keep adding to ur bookmark folder!!!

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  17. Your bread looks delicious! I would love to have a pice of it!
    My grandma use to made this kind of pull apart breads, too. She call it "Goldknödel" and bake them in a gugelhupf pan.

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  18. Hi Nupur, those look great. I am so glad you started blogging again, I love reading your posts!

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  19. These look great. What a fantastic idea to make these with kids!

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  20. Those will go perfectly with coffee! With chatty, happy girl friends!

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  21. I LOVE gooey, sticky monkey bread and yours is no exception. Beautiful submission to the BBD, and a recipe I must try. Pulling apart Monkey bread is quite a finger licking hobby of mine..lol

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  22. I've seen recipes for this bread before but never seen it for real. Your description makes it sound both easy and tasty though (good for those yeastie beasties!)

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  23. I keep making savoury buns... must try the sweet variety more often :)

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  24. I just wanted to drop by and say that it was wonderful to read about you on stltoday!

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  25. Manasi- I am too, actually!

    Stefanie- Goldknodel and gugelhupf!! Those words sound like they came straight from a fairy tale!

    Radhika- Thank you so much :)

    Laura- Yes, this is messy and fun, just the way kids like it :) You have a great blog, I see many tasty recipes there!

    Saee Koranne-Khandekar- Very true!

    Lisa- LOL Pulling apart sweet breads is as good a hobby as any!

    Lysy- It really is very easy and tasty, give it a try!

    Raaga- I love the savory variety much more, but the sweet ones are a nice treat to share with others.

    veggie belly- oh, did you see the article? Thanks for dropping by! :)

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  26. I made it once and posted it on my blog too... and just loved it. Yours looks awesome!

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