My friend Danielle’s up in the north, visiting from NYC. She wanted to cook something with yeast, as it’s been giving her trouble at home. While making this we concluded she’s probably adding too much flour to doughs, which I’ve been working on not doing over the last year. We managed to avoid that here, and these sweet rolls came out delightfully!

Didn’t have a zester, did have a cheese grater.

Ingredients:

Dough:

•  3/4 cup buttermilk, warm
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons or one package instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Orange Filling:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• grated orange rind/zest from two large oranges (reserving 1/2 teaspoon zest for the glaze below)

Orange Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice from about 1 orange
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind/zest reserved from the filling above

To make the dough, whisk the warm buttermilk and the cooled butter together in a measuring cup or small bowl. (I just poured the still-hot butter in cool buttermilk and figured it would be pretty much the same.) Combine 4 cups of flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and stir together. Add the buttermilk mixture and the eggs and stir together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 15-18 minutes. If the dough remains sticky after several minutes of kneading, slowly add the remaining flour until the dough is no more than lightly tacky.

Lightly grease a large bowl and put your kneaded dough in it. Cover and let rise somewhere warm and draft-free until doubled, 2 – 2 1/2 hours.

When the dough is almost ready, stir together the filling ingredients, then set aside. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set that aside too.

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll/pat it into a 16X12″ rectangle.

Spread the filling over the dough, covering it all evenly except one of the long edges, where you should leave about an inch clear.

Roll from the coated long side towards the un-coated one, sealing closed by pressing the clear edge against the rest of the log.

Cut the log into 12 even pieces. Holding opposite sides of a roll and twist it into a figure 8 before placing on a baking sheet.

We should have pressed the ends of ours down onto the pan a bit, as most of them untwisted when they baked and a firmer grip on the pan might have helped stop that. Cover the rolls with saran wrap and let rise again until doubled, 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until lightly golden on top. While they bake, whisk the glaze ingredients together. Drizzle over the still-warm rolls. Scarf promptly, or store in a tupperware for a few days.

These were quite tasty! My mother’s not often into things that are even fruit flavored, but she liked these! I’ll be submitting this recipe to yeastspotting.

Orange Sweet Rolls

From Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

Dough:

•  3/4 cup buttermilk, warm
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons or one package instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Orange Filling:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• grated orange rind/zest from two large oranges (reserving 1/2 teaspoon zest for the glaze below)

Orange Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice from about 1 orange
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind/zest reserved from the filling above

To make the dough, whisk the warm buttermilk and the cooled butter together in a measuring cup or small bowl. Combine 4 cups of flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and stir together. Add the buttermilk mixture and the eggs and stir together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 15-18 minutes. If the dough remains sticky after several minutes of kneading, slowly add the remaining flour until the dough is no more than lightly tacky.

Lightly grease a large bowl and put your kneaded dough in it. Cover and let rise somewhere warm and draft-free until doubled, 2 – 2 1/2 hours.

When the dough is almost ready, stir together the filling ingredients, then set aside. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll/pat it into a 16X12″ rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving about an inch along one of the long sides clear. Roll from one long side towards the other, un-filling-covered long side and press seam closed.

Cut the log into 12 even pieces. Holding opposite sides of a roll and twist it into a figure 8 before placing on a baking sheet. Cover the rolls with saran wrap and let rise again until doubled, 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until lightly golden on top. While they bake, whisk the glaze ingredients together. Drizzle over the still-warm rolls.