A Bite and a Butterfly

I had a taste for cinnamon a few weeks ago and I decided to make an old favorite that some call Monkey Bread but I call it Cinna-Bites. I am very picky about the cinnamon I use and so far my favorite is Penzey's Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia. One might think that because the Vietnamese Cassia is a potent cinnamon I would use less, but NOOooooo, I use a little bit more. I buy Vietnamese Cinnamon by the pound. Love it!

A friend, Lou, gave me his recipe for Sweet Dough and to tell you the truth I've not found one better! It is a gorgeous dough that rises to the heavens, super easy to work with but it's a huge recipe. I've not tried to cut down the recipe, I just bake more..yep it's that good!

First I made my Cinna-Bites and then with the remaining dough I made some Butterfly Rolls. The Butterflies were so fun to make and they turned out so pretty.





Sweet Dough
Recipe adapted from my friend Lou

1/3 c. water, tepid
1/2 tsp sugar
2 pkgs of yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
2 cups of milk, room temperature
1 1/3 cup of Sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature and slightly whipped
1 tsp Vanilla (I usually skip the vanilla)
1/2 tsp Salt
3 c. flour to start (6-7 total ) enough to knead into a non-sticky soft ball

2-3 TBL oil to oil the rising bowl (I use EVOO, Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Option: 1 c. WW flour can be subbed to make the dough more tender

Bread:

Stir the yeast in a 1/3 cup of warm water w. ½ tsp of sugar, for proofing.

In a large mixing bowl, or (KA mixer) place the milk and add the sugar, vanilla, salt and eggs.

Beat until the sugar is dissolved and add the Yeast and mix well.

Add 3 cups of flour and mix with either KA with dough hook or by hand.

Add additional 3-4 cups of flour until you make a soft ball of dough but not stiff. The dough should not stick to your hands. Sprinkle some flour on counter or pastry cloth and knead until smooth.

Put 2 TBL of Oil in the bottom of your largest mixing bowl. Take a paper towel and dip it in the oil and thoroughly oil the sides of the bowl. Put dough ball into bowl and then flip the ball over to make sure that the entire dough ball is covered with oil. Let rise until at least doubled in size.

Instead of putting a towel on top I put the entire bowl in a large plastic bag. Make sure that the bag is not too tight on the bowl and you give the dough ample room to rise.






Cinna-bites
Recipe developed by Big-Black-Dog

1 recipe of Lou's Sweet Dough
1 c. sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 c. chopped pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Grease a bundt pan.

Melt butter in the microwave. Add the brown sugar to the melted butter and stir until sugar is completely dissolved and then add chopped pecans.

Pour about 1/3 of the brown sugar mixture into the bottom of the bundt pan.

Now cut off a piece of dough, smaller then a golf ball, and roll it in the sugar cinnamon mix. Place it in the bottom of the bundt pan on top of the brown sugar mix. Keep making the small balls and rolling them in the cinnamon sugar until you've completely covered the bottom of the bundt pan. Repeat to make a second layer of cinnamon balls.

Let the dough rise until it has doubled for a second time.

Pour the rest of the brown sugar mix over the top.

Place the bundt pan in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes.

Place a serving platter near the bundt pan. While the bundt pan is still warm turn it over onto the platter to release Cinna-Bites.

Now doesn't that look delicious!






Butterfly Rolls
Recipe developed by Big-Black-Dog

Remainder of Lou's Sweet Dough Recipe
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar

Topping:
1/2 c. sliced almonds
Coarse sugar
1 egg
1 TBL water

Toast Almonds: Keep a very close eye on the almonds because nuts burn very easily. Put almonds in a small frying pan over low heat. Every 15 seconds or so shake the pan to redistribute the nuts. As soon as they start changing color, remove the almonds to a small bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a pastry cloth or kitchen counter and roll out dough into a rectangle 10" by 14", 1/4" thick.

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in the microwave. With a pastry brush, brush butter over top of dough.



Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar completely covering the dough. (Picture only shows 1/2 dough with cinnamon/sugar mixture)



Carefully start rolling up the dough from the longest side. Careful to not press down when you are rolling up the dough.



With a sharp knife, cut the dough into squared-off triangular pieces about 1" on the shortest side by 3" on the longest side.



To form the butterfly wings: Place the handle of a long wooden spoon in the middle of the roll and firmly press down. You may have to press down several times to get the ends to open up.



Whip egg with water. With a clean pastry brush brush egg mixture over top of each roll.

Sprinkle with coarse sugar and toasted sliced almonds. Gently press the almonds into the dough.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment. Place each roll on the baking sheet leaving about 2" in between each roll.

Cover and let rise until doubled about 30-40 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.







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