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Big Black Dog: A Bite and a Butterfly

May 17, 2009

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.


cinna1



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.



cinna2



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!



butterfly6



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.



butterfly7




All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

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30 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Holy cow!! those look incredible! I love "monkey" bread!!! I've never tried making the dough from scratch though. Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm sure its 150 times better than pillsbury dough rolls! LOL. btw...I'm a huge huge Rotty fan :) (miss my Bruno)

May 17, 2009 at 9:47 PM  
Blogger Elyse said...

Wow! Two treats for the price of one! I can't wait to make this dough. Everything looks so great, Michelle. I love the cinna-bites. In fact, cinna-bites is one of my favs. And then, the butterfly rolls are just stunning. Magnificent job! Sorry that I’ve been an absent commenter; I just finished up my law school exams and am finally getting around to my google reader.

May 17, 2009 at 10:49 PM  
Blogger Manuela said...

Congratulations! I found you through blogger's "Blog of Note". I love this recipe. Looks very delicious, and I love making dough! :)

May 17, 2009 at 11:40 PM  
Blogger Nancy/n.o.e said...

That's a lot of cinnamony goodness you've got going on! Looks delicious and decadent.
Nancy

May 18, 2009 at 12:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my! Oh my! Would love to eat them while drinking my coffee. Oh how I wish I can coo and bake too. There's so may delicious foods to try :-)

May 18, 2009 at 3:24 AM  
Blogger Keetha Broyles said...

One more name for the monkey bread - - - pinch-me cake!!!

May 18, 2009 at 3:37 AM  
Blogger Miss Mapp said...

Talk about mouth watering. You are obviously a fantastic chef - I think I would be a little scared to try this as the dough alone looks tricky...but who knows,maybe give it a try. May I ask you a question: you have a stat meter and another counter - why both - do they offer different things for you?
Thanks, MM

May 18, 2009 at 4:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Same as someone above, I found you from Bloggers of Note and wow, what a nice find. Those Butterfly Rolls look right up my street - definitely on my cooking to-do list!

When you say 2 packs of yeast I assume you mean the dried variety? Or do you use live yeast.

May 18, 2009 at 5:14 AM  
Blogger Barb said...

Michelle, I must say those pictures are killing me as I sip my coffee checking out your blog. Have a great day ;)

May 18, 2009 at 8:05 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Miss Mapp, I have both Statcounter and Sitemeter because every once in a while one is not working. For instance a few months ago Sitemeter was down for 3 days. So I just installed another counter as a backup.

May 18, 2009 at 8:49 AM  
Anonymous malki objavi said...

nice blog

May 18, 2009 at 9:00 AM  
Blogger Miss Mapp said...

Thanks 4 the reply Michelle,sorry to persist, which one do you find better?

May 18, 2009 at 9:04 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Wonk, I use the Red Star Active Dry Yeast found in most grocery stores. But I buy it at my bulk store.

2 pkgs = 4 1/2 tsp dry yeast

May 18, 2009 at 9:06 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Miss Mapp,

Both are about the same and neither are accurate. But it's a free service so I can't complain.

If your looking for something new I would suggest installing several counters and test them out. It does not interfere with stats to have more then 1 counter running at any given time.

May 18, 2009 at 9:13 AM  
Blogger Debbie said...

Oh those butterfly rolls look wonderful. I would love to try this when I've worked a little more with yeast...

May 18, 2009 at 11:10 AM  
Blogger K. said...

My God...I'm drooling now...like a big black dog might!

May 18, 2009 at 11:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Michelle.

I'm in the UK so we don't have Red Star here but thankfully you covered that and posted it in tsp too.

Many thanks!

May 18, 2009 at 11:21 AM  
Blogger wimpie said...

Looks delicious !! I new to blogging and glad I found yours. Send some to me in South Africa .....

May 18, 2009 at 11:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

congrats! found ya via blog of note... and what a lucky girl i am to find such yumminess staring at me!! thanks for sharing the recipe for the dough! will definitely be better than the canned biscuits we normally use.. hehe i'm a new fan!

blessings,
Tracie

May 18, 2009 at 2:16 PM  
Blogger Lora said...

Not really interested in making dough from scratch, but VERY interested in trying either bites or rolls if you care to send them to LA.

May 18, 2009 at 2:27 PM  
Blogger zhanglinnetwork said...

very good!

May 18, 2009 at 4:30 PM  
Blogger Megan said...

I love the butterfly rolls! Looks like a lovely dough with multi. uses. Best kind! Another recipe on the must make list!

May 18, 2009 at 7:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi again Michelle,

Thanks again for being so helpful and for the visit - the measurement/conversions were very useful!

May 19, 2009 at 8:46 AM  
Blogger Miss Mapp said...

Thanks for the suggestion, have done so and it's interesting to see the difference in style if nothing else.
Enjoy the blogging and wish I was nearer to come and try your fab looking cooking.MM

May 19, 2009 at 9:33 AM  
Blogger liisamarja said...

i just found your blog and was amazed how these look exactly like what we call korvapuusti (strait translation would be a slap in the ear) in finnish! the sweet dough is very similar, ours has less eggs and we add butter and ground cardamom to the dough. the same dough can be used, like you've found out, in many ways. my mom used to make a batch of sweet dough every other sunday. one part would become korvapuusti with cinnamon, another just plain round buns with a dob of butter and sugar on top (which will melt in the oven), third part she would braid like a challah bread. the smell of baking korvapuusti always takes me back to happy childhood.

ta

May 20, 2009 at 3:00 AM  
Blogger TeaLady said...

OH!!! I haven't made Monkey Bread in YEARS. Now I WANT SOME. Looks sooooo good. And the butterfly rolls. How cute. And tasty!!!!

May 20, 2009 at 6:46 PM  
Anonymous Kayte said...

I have to try these...all of these...very very soon...gorgeous, just gorgeous.

May 21, 2009 at 7:17 PM  
Blogger Di said...

I really want to try the butterfly rolls--what a neat shaping idea! And you can't go wrong with monkey bread/cinnabites, whatever the name. =)

May 21, 2009 at 8:42 PM  
Blogger Jenny said...

Lovely - all the recipes I've seen so far for monkey bread involve store bought biscuits, so this looks even better to me for being home made.

May 22, 2009 at 5:59 PM  
Blogger Judy's Bakery & Test Kitchen said...

Hi, That Monkey Bread looks beautiful. I can't help but wonder if can't make a sweet challah dough from AB5, or another dough, to make it. Do you think you could adapt the recipe?

February 4, 2010 at 3:35 PM  

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