Tips for Better Sweet Rolls

When I was growing up, my Aunt Jo would make a lot of sweet and dinner rolls and bring them to our house to eat.  She must have had a small family at the time and needed someone to bake for (She did have 7 children but they are all younger than me). Oh, how I loved it when she would bring her baked goods.

When I grew older she gave me her recipes and I have been using at least one of them ever since - Caramel Twists.

Now I've learned a couple of tips to make them even better. 

 Sweet dough recipes are basically all the same.  Mine uses a little more butter and less sugar than my friend's, but other than that there's no difference.  I like the idea of more butter.  To me, that means more flavor.  It just depends what you like.

 
Tip #1.  Don't add too much flour when mixing the dough.  The more flour, the heavier and drier the dough.  I mix mine in a Kitchenaid.  I don't add all the flour at once that the recipe calls for but add  and mix some at a time.  Humidity makes a difference in how much flour you need.  I add it until it starts pulling away from the edge of the bowl, but still is quite sticky.  That makes for easy raising and soft dough.

 

Tip #2  This is a French tip from Julia Child that I just learned.  Let the dough take its time in raising.  Don't use a fast method, like a little heat from the oven.  Keep the temp at 70 or 72 degrees and let the dough take 3-4 hours to triple in size.  If your dough is soft and sticky, it will raise that high. Time adds flavor to yeasted dough.  It's not more work to raise it slower, it just takes planning.

My Caramel Twists sit in a pan of butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and nuts.  That makes them so scrumptious!

 I bake my cinnamon rolls and add some cream cheese frosting.

 These are some of my favorite treats to eat.