Reward Yourself With My Bakery-Style Orange Sweet Rolls!

The next time you buy those thick-skinned navel oranges, you might want to clean off the skins and pull out your grater.  Using the fine side, you should grate that aromatic orange essence for the orange-sugar topping of my delicate textured raised sweet rolls. 

Unlike typical raised dough that you need to grow first before shaping, this recipe is assembled immediately.

Once you shape your little balls, you will dip them into a tablespoon of the melted margarine and then roll them in the orange-sugar topping mix before placing them on your baking tray.  Make them as small or large as you like.  However, give them enough room on your greased round cake pans to grow because they do swell up. 

Cover and allow them to grow about an hour before baking. 

As these rolls bake, your house will smell so delicious with enticing aromas of orange and bread baking  that soon you will notice the family migrating toward the kitchen from out of nowhere to find out when they will be coming out of the oven.
 
My Bakery-Style Orange Sweet Rolls

1-3/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of finely grated orange peel
5-1/2 to 6-1/2 cups of sifted flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 cup of warm water (hotter than lukewarm but not scalding)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon of melted margarine (not spread)
1 teaspoon of sugar


Orange-Sugar Topping:

Mix the grated orange peel with the one cup of sugar.  Set aside. 
Melt one tablespoon of the margarine in a saucepan.  Set aside also.

Sweet Raised Dough:

Test the temperature of the water for the yeast on your wrist.  Make sure it is very warm water, but hot.  Add your teaspoon of sugar to the water and the three tablespoons of yeast.  The sugar will feed the yeast and speeds the growing process along.

Pour the yeast water mixture into a larger mixing bowl and add 1-1/4 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Beat with your electric mixer for about a minute or two until well combined before adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. 

Add 1/4 cup more of flour and beat thoroughly before gradually adding more flour until you form a soft dough.

Knead this on a floured surface or the lazy way, which also works in the same mixing bowl until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Divide the dough into three equal parts.  Divide one part into eight pieces of the same size.  Form each piece into a smooth ball and dip into the melted margarine and dunk into the topping mixture.  Cluster in a greased 8" round cake pan or any greased baking pan you desire, depending on the size.  The process is the same: dip and dunk.

Cover your finished rolls and let them grow for about an hour before baking at 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes-25 minutes (depending on your oven and size of your rolls).

Now Is the Perfect Time for My Sweet Orange Buns!

One of the best fragrances a home has comes when homemade bread is baking to fill it with a delicious aroma.  Yet you can intensify that joyful smell by making a raised sweet dough sprinkled with grated orange peel and sugar with My Sweet Orange Buns.  These are as light as feathers and the perfect way to brighten a winter day!

This recipe is wonderful to enjoy especially when you have oranges in the house.  Since we have the chemical free USDA certified organic oranges in the refrigerator from South Tex Organics, then I thought this is the perfect time to grate those peels and get a dual purpose from their healthier citrus.

Their organic oranges are extra sweet and contain more of their vitamin content than the commercial counterparts.  So I encourage you to seriously think about the benefits of organics and the amazing citrus that South Tex Organics sells and order some because you will be doing a good thing for your health and your tummy.

If you haven't entered the South Tex Organics Large Combo Box of Citrus Giveaway (the 13 grapefruits and 24 oranges) yet, then you can still do so until December 28, 2011.  Do enter and then you can hurry and make this recipe for your family as well!

My Sweet Orange Buns

1-3/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup grated orange peel
5-1/2 to 6-1/2 cups of unsifted flour
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons or packages of active dry yeast
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup of hot tap water (about 125 degrees)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of melted margarine

First you make the Orange Sugar Topping.  Mix 1 cup of the sugar with the 1/4 cup of the grated orange peel.  Set aside.

To make the dough the quick way, you put 1-1/4 cups of the flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, salt, vanilla, and undissolved yeast  in a large mixing bowl.  Now add your oil and gradually the hot tap water.  Beat with the electric mixer, adding eggs one at a time and 1/4 cup more flour.  Continue beating and then keep adding the rest of the flour until you get a soft dough.  Turn out on a floured surface and knead until smooth and workable.

If you prefer to make the dough the old-fashioned way, you need to test the temperature of the water on your wrist to make it sure it is not too hot to scald first.  It has to be hotter than just warm.  Add that water with a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast and set aside for five minutes to help it grow.  Then add the 1-1/4 cup of flour gradually with the oil, eggs, salt, and vanilla beating in with your electric mixture.  Stir in the rest of the flour until you form a soft dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead smooth.

From this stage with either way you start, you divide the dough into three equal portions.  Divide one portion into eight equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a smooth ball and dip into the melted margarine and then dipping into the Orange Sugar Topping Mixture to coat.  Do this procedure for each piece until it's gone.

Turn your coated buns into a greased 8" round cake pan.  Cluster them together and cover them tightly with a plastic wrap, then aluminum foil.  Do this the same way for an additional second pan.  You can either store in the freezer and unthaw at another time, one or both pans for three hours with the plastic wrap at room temperature.  Let rise in a warm spot until the buns double in size (about 2-1/2 hours). 

For same day use, you do the same thing of letting the buns that you covered with a dish towel grow in a warm place until they double in size (about 2-1/2 hours).

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly golden at the bottom.

Treat the Family to My Homemade Cinnamon Rolls and Raisin Bread!

My Cinnamon Rolls are light and delicious!

Warm up the family quickly with a little lovin' from your oven--Nuts style!  Today, I have my favorite recipe for making delicious cinnamon rolls and raisin bread from the same sweet raised dough.  You'll never miss those bakery shop ones again once you make these.  Trust me, you'll be nuts for this recipe just like I am!  


My Favorite Sweet Roll Dough (Cinnamon Rolls/Raisin Bread)

7 to 8 cups sifted flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup warm water
1 package of active dry yeast  (1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon of sugar
3/4 cup of sugar (to sprinkle inside the rolled dough)
cinnamon (sprinkle as much as you like inside the rolled dough)
1/3 cup raisins (to add to the rolled dough of piece(s) to be raisin bread)

Test the water on the back of your wrist for the temperature.   You want slightly warm water, but not hot like you would do for testing a baby bottle.  When the temperature feels right, add the teaspoon of sugar to your water and yeast.  The sugar will help the yeast to grow and bubble faster.

Add 7 cups of the sifted flour with all the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Mix and add the last cup of flour gradually until the dough doesn't feel sticky.   When it feels like the right consistency, take it to a floured surface and knead until it forms a soft dough ball. 

Place in a greased bowl and cover.  Let it rise near a warm spot until doubled (about 1-1/2 to 2 hours).  

Punch down, then divide into three balls.  Let rest 15 minutes more before rolling each piece on a lightly floured surface.  Grease two loaf pans (9" x 5")  and one small cake pan (11-1/2" x 8-1/2") or you can make all cinnamon rolls or two giant raisin breads (use a cookie sheet).

My secret is brushing the rolled dough lightly with water--not oil or butter!  Then sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon before rolling up, beginning with the narrow side.  Pinch together so nothing leaks out, then place the seam side down on the greased pan.

Roll out the same way for cinnamon rolls but this time skip the raisins.  Shape the roll and then slice into pieces.  When I make the two loaves and small cake pan of rolls, I get 12 rolls.  Let them rise and double for about 45-60 minutes.  

No one can resist overindulging when I bake these.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned.   Drizzle my Simple Glaze Nuts Style on your cooled rolls and bread.


Simple Glaze Nuts Style

1 cup of confectioners sugar (sift if lumpy)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla or maple or lemon flavoring
Milk (About a 1 tablespoon)

Put everything together in your mixing bowl and beat until it's the spreading consistency you like.  If you want a thinner glaze add a bit more milk.  When rolls and bread are cool just drizzle the glaze on.

Raisin bread is just as yummy from my sweet roll dough.