Verdict on Cinnamon Rolls

We have a winner! Baking the rolls in the pyrex dish definitely worked - the bottom of the buns weren't burned - nice and soft. I did drizzle some icing on the top of the rolls. The brown sugar/cinnamon sugar mixture was very good - I was afraid the brown sugar would melt and run, but that didn't seem to be a problem at all. Overall, very pleased with the end product.

Cinnamon Rolls Revisited

I am trying the cinnamon rolls again but this time I am using my good friend, Old Camp Cook, suggestions. Instead of granulated sugar and cinnamon, I am using 6 T brown sugar mixed with 1 T cinnamon. I rolled out the dough, spread some soft butter on the dough (not a lot), sprinkled the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and spread raisins. The dough is rolled up and I cut 1 inch slices. Instead of putting them on a baking sheet with parchment paper, I sprayed two pyrex baking dishes with PAM and placed the slices in the dishes to rise. I sprinkled each slice with a cinnamon sugar mixture. I will leave them to rise for 2 hours and bake them at 325 for 30 - 35 minutes. So we will see what happens!

Update on No-Knead Sourdough Bread

I was not very pleased with the final results of this recipe. I didn't get much rise when baking. The crust was very hard - not much taste either. I talked to Eric at Breadtopia and he had several suggestions on how to make it better. First, reduce the first proofing time from 18 hours to 12 hours. Use more flour particularly when handling the dough. I don't think I will try this recipe again. I have too many other recipes that I like better.

Rustic Bread Recipe

I have been looking for a good "Rustic" bread recipe. I finally find a recipe on the Fresh Loaf website. I must admit, at first, I was very skeptical. I made the sponge the night before and set it in the cold oven with the oven light on. The next morning it had grown and was very bubbly, but very watery. Maybe I should have let it ferment on the counter instead of the oven. But, the house is so cold, I was afraid it wasn't warm enough.

I combined the necessary ingredients to make the final dough and added the sponge. The dough was very wet. So kneaded in extra flour to make it more manageable. I was very pleasantly surprised by the bread - nice firm crust, soft interior with a lot of holes - very tasty. This is definitely a keeper. The only thing I would change is baking time. The top of the bread was a little darker than I normally like. Maybe next time, I will cover them with aluminum foil.

Verdict on Sour Rye

Oh my, I have FINALLY found a good rye bread recipe. The bread is excellent. The crust is just right, the texture is good and it tastes wonderful. I used a light rye flour, dark rye gives more flavor. I know I can't buy dark rye flour locally, so I will search my Internet resources.

The only problem I had was with rising. The recipe makes 3 loaves. Three loaves were too big for my baking sheet. So either I do two bakings or maybe put the loaves into bread pans.

Unfortunately, my camera needs batteries so I wasn't able to take a picture.

Very pleased with how this turned out.

Sour Rye Bread

Today I am going to try the Sour Rye Bread recipe I got from Bob Packer (Old Camp Cook).

Last night I made the sponge (rye sourdough starter, rye flour and water). I checked on it this morning and it is nicely and bubbly. So a good start!!! I am really curious to see how this bread turns out. I have tried Sourdough Rye before but the loaves turned out very hard (probably make good doorstops!).

I was not very pleased with the No-Knead Sourdough bread. First, it was extremely hard to work with - a very wet dough. And I didn't get much of a rise when baking it. I talked with Eric at Breadtopia and he had a few suggestions for me to try next time - add more flour and shorten the proofing time from 18 hours to 12. Not sure I will give it a try or not.