Brioche Dough Cinnamon Rolls

Alright, so, I know I said I’d be posting a bunch of savory, meat-related dishes that I learned in class – and I still intend to post the rest of them. But first, let’s take a break – a sweet, delicious break. Since I’m in the baking and pastry class now, I figured why not have a sugary interlude before diving back into the entrees? It doesn’t get much better than a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls.

One of the best kinds of dough I learned to make recently was brioche. The richness of it makes for the perfect cinnamon roll, and it’s relatively simple to make. Another thing to keep in mind is that for baking recipes, I’ll often be measuring out a lot of things in ounces now instead of teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups. Baking is like a precise science, especially when it comes to leavening agents like yeast, baking powder, and baking soda, so it is ultimately beneficial to measure things out this way instead. You can find a perfectly good scale for less then $30 at Target if you don’t have one – this is the one I’ve got, and it works like a charm.

Brown Butter Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

These days, my days start bright and early. Well, not really bright, since the sun is not out yet when I wake up at 4:15 am to start getting ready for school every day. My point is, I never have the time to sit and eat breakfast on weekdays, so I needed something I could make in advance and simply take with me. These muffins were just the ticket! They're very simple to make, and you really can't go wrong with the sweet, delicious combination of brown butter and cinnamon sugar.

Skyrim Sweet Rolls

If you’ve played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you’ve probably heard the line “Let me guess, somebody stole your sweet roll”. Well, if the sweet rolls could taste as good in game as they do in real life, I would not blame someone for attempting to do so. Those who know me are well aware that my other passion in life is video games. I’ve been working in that industry for years, and even write for a video game website in addition to maintaining this blog. So come with me as my worlds collide in this fairly labor intensive but still relatively easy and very tasty recipe.

Also, be sure to check the “Additional details” section at the bottom of this post, as there were a few extra steps I needed to take which may be of use to some of you.

The Many Faces of Shar-Pei Bread

My cinnamon pull apart bread recipe has been quite a hit amongst my friends and family. Based off the fact that I said that every loaf resembles a wrinkly Shar-Pei dog, most of them are now referring to this recipe as Shar-Pei Bread. So there you have it – pull apart bread is now Shar-Pei bread. I have spoken!

Since my original post, I’ve been tinkering with the cinnamon sugar version to the point where I have created what I feel can be called the “definitive” version of the recipe. Not content to make it the same way every time, however, I decided to test out the versatility of the Shar-Pei bread’s basic template to see if I could create some interesting variations. I’d say the results were a resounding success. So what we’ve got here is a trio of Shar-Pei Breads – cinnamon sugar, garlic parmesan, and honey herb. As always I’ve got detailed, step by step instructions for all 3 of them, so pick your favorite and get baking! These are just a few of the possible variations, and I’ll likely do other posts in the future as I experiment further.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

As this blog is titled Screw Your Diet, I figured I'd want to set a precedent for this nice and early. So to get things started, I've got a recipe for the delicious Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart bread you see above. Sometimes referred to as Monkey Bread and resembling a sweet, sugary Shar-Pei, it's actually fairly easy to put together so long as you have the time and patience to let your dough rise a bit. Head on past the page break to get the recipe, or just continue to ogle the picture. Your choice!