sweet dough creations

How To Make sweet dough creations

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  HAMBURGER BUNS: Take a bench scraper or knife and cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Round them out, making sure the 'skin' of the bun is tight. Set on an oiled or parchment baking pan (or two pans) making sure they have room to grow. Brush with oil and cover with plastic. Turn on the oven to 375. Let the buns rise until poofy, about 45 minutes. You can brush the buns with an egg wash if you want a nice golden brown color and shine. (Mix up an egg and a little water in a bowl with a fork. Brush on with a pastry brush.) Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. If back buns are browning faster, turn the pans around front to back. Take out and let cool. Slice when ready to use. They make excellent burger buns, sandwich buns or even garlic bread. (Open the buns, spread with butter. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt, broil until golden brown in oven or toaster oven.)
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  MONKEY BREAD: On a floured board or counter, roll out the dough (or even half the dough), not real thin, just about a half inch thick. Using a knife or pizza cutter, slice the dough up into a bunch of little pieces. Prepare a pan. A monkey bread pan, a round coffeecake pan, a Bundt pan or a loaf pan all work. Oil the pan well to keep from sticking. Melt 1 cube of butter in a dish. You can microwave it or use a saucepan. In another bowl, mix about 1/3 cup white sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Whisk together. Take a piece of your dough, dunk it into the butter (using your fingers), then swirl it into the sugar and drop into the pan. Keep doing this, piling layer over layer in the pan. I usually get between 2-3 layers in any pan. You may need more sugar mixture, so just whisk up some more. If there is any melted butter left when you are done, drizzle it over the top of the monkey dough. Same with sugar, if there is a little left, sprinkle it over the top. If there is a lot left, save it in a baggie or bowl for another day. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 30-40 minutes, until it puffs and you can see cracks in the sugar coating. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Take out and let rest just a couple of minutes. Find a nice platter big enough for the pan. Lay it over the monkey bread pan and, using hot pads, invert or flip over the monkey bread onto the platter. Gently remove the pan.
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  SWEET PETALS: These are very similar to monkey bread. You make a cinnamon sugar mixture. You have some melted butter on hand. BUT you finely chop up some nuts, walnuts or pecans and add it to the sugar mixture. Instead of balls of dough, you take a small piece and roll it into a snake shape. Have a round pan ready. Oil it and put parchment in the bottom. That means you will have to cut out some parchment the shape of the pan. Lay the pan on the parchment, draw around it and cut it out. (unless you are using a stone pan, then you dont need it.) Roll out a piece of dough. Dip in butter and nutty sugar and curl it up in the middle of the pan. Now take another piece of dough, roll it thin and dip. Lay this one around the first one. Keep going, curving each new "petal" around the last one, going round and round until you either run out or just dont want any more. Let it rise for about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake the sweet petals until golden brown. Eat right from the pan. If you want to make it a little fancier, whisk together some powdered sugar with a few drops of water or milk until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over the petals after they have cooled a few minutes.
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  SNAILS: Here you take bits of the sweet dough and roll it into a longer snake. You roll them in cinnamon sugar, without the butter, so not as much will stick. Lay some parchment on a baking sheet. Twist the sugared snake by rolling each end in opposite directions. Now wind it around itself on the baking sheet, till it looks like a lolly pop. Tuck the end of it under. Let it rise about 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350. Now before baking, press your thumb into the center of the dough, making a nice indent, but not going through to the pan. Put a teaspoon of jam or nutella in the indent. Now bake for about 20 minutes or until it starts browning around the edges. You can sprinkle streusel on top before baking or drizzle with glaze after baking if you want to fancy it up.
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  CINNAMON ROLLS: Sweet dough is perfect for cinnamon rolls. You will need space to roll the dough out to about 15 x 18 inches or so. Have a bowl of cinnamon sugar on hand and some soft butter. Have a 9x13 baking pan on the ready. Oil the pan. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Check once in a while to make sure it is not sticking on the bottom. Add more flour if it is. If it keeps springing back and doesn't want to roll, cover it with plastic for about 5 minutes and let it rest. Then keep rolling. You can roll it bigger or smaller as you like. Once rolled out, use a small spatula or knife and spread butter all over the surface. I think it is less than a whole cube. Then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar until it is covered. If you want, you can add raisins or dried cranberries here. Now start from the short end, closest to you, and start rolling. Carefully roll up the starting edge and, going from side to side, keep rolling. Try to keep it kind of tight, but not too tight. Once rolled into a log, take a sharp serrated knife and slice it right through the middle. Now slice each half in half again. Then slice each of those pieces into 3 equal pieces. You now have 12 cinnamon rolls. Lay them in the pan, 3 in a row, leaving a bit of space between them to grow. Cover with plastic and let rise about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350. Once the rolls are touching and look puffy, bake them until golden brown. The outside ones will brown faster than the middle ones. Make sure the middles are at least done before removing from oven. Take out, let cool and ice them. See icing recipe.
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