Breads..breads..breads

Who doesn't lurve bread right..some people like their breads soft whilst others love the hard artisan bread type. Well for me I love all kinds of bread. It's a staple in my household especially my kids. As such I made it my mission to gain whatever knowledge I could about bread. I have a number of bread books..oh I love Reinhart...his recipe for artisan type bread works all the time and his knowledge about bread is speechless.

As a Malaysian,  I grew up with the soft kind of bread..I love splashing butter and sugar on top whilst my kids just can't get enough of Nutella. For this kind of bread I had dedicated my time (and money....) to attend bread making classes whenever I could. I have to say that the fees spent to attend these classes were worth every penny. We could get free recipes easily nowdays but the techniques taught by these chefs were invaluable. Now days I am proud to say that I could bake good quality (comparable to factory made or even better I must say..blush..blush) breads for my family. The breads that I bake could not last long in my house...its that good (blushing again here :) ).

Anyway, just to let you peeps out there know that breads are now officially part of our menu..and who knows..you will soon see our bread selling at your local grocery stores (wink..wink :) ). Oh! Before I forget,  we only use unbleached flour and no preservatives in our breads ya folks! :)

Cinnamon buns

I've always wanted to try my hand at baking bread or buns and so yesterday, I decided to give it a try. I decided to bake cinnamon buns/rolls and was quite surprised that its quite easy. I did both cinnamon buns and rolls but decided not to top them with the cheese frosting since my kids and hubby love them without frosting. It was really fantastic and delicious eating them hot out of the oven :)

I'm happy with my first attempt and will definitely do this again in the future. For the next round, I will definitely try topping some of the buns with cheese frosting, just like those at cinnabon. Yummy! For those who are interested in baking their own cinnamon buns, here's the recipe. It's a fairly quick and easy recipe as far as cinnamon buns go, and you definitely DON'T NEED A BREAD MACHINE to make them. Happy Baking!

Ingredients

for the bun
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 packet (around 8g) of yeast

for cinnamon sprinkle
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

for the frosting
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk. Leave the mixture until the mixture becomes foamy at the top (around 10 mins)
2. Mix all wet ingredient incld the yeast mixture in a mixing bowl.
3. Add dry ingredient cup at a time and knead in the mixture using dough hook until mix.
4. Cover them in a bowl with damp cloth.
5. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
8. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. For those who wish to spread cream cheese frosting on the rolls, while rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.