Next week I am going to bake some of my moms cinnamon rolls that I grew up on. They were delicious except the cooking of them was never perfected. Sometimes the bottom would be over cooked while the top looked perfect.
By cooking small batches of maybe 2 at a time I hope to perfect the time and temp by experimenting with successive batches until I get it right.
I am looking here for suggestions on how to most efficiently narrowing it down by making the proper adjustments after each batch. I will be mostly looking at time and temp but also possibly something under the pan if needed.
I will preheat oven to a stable temp. I will carefully weigh the amount of doe going into each roll and make them the same dimensions.
My question mostly centers around when do I lower or raise temp as opposed to decreasing or increasing time?? I feel like this is one of those cases where intuitive guesses might lead me astray. I want to pay careful attention to getting a medium brown on the outside top and bottom while keeping the inside just slightly north of under cooked.
An oven thermometer - one of those metal ones you can buy online or at a kitchen store. Do some tests and see how your oven temp registers compares to the temp that you set. Next set the oven thermometer in a few different places and see if the temp is regularly distributed throughout your oven. Ideally, you’ll find that there isn’t much variance. If you do find variance, you’ll want to take note of what and where, so you can avoid hot spots and burned bottoms.
Do some research on the normal temp for cooking the type of dough you’re making. Use that as your starting point. I will often use a cookie sheet underneath (a rack or two underneath NOT directly underneath) my cinnamon rolls to catch any drips.
Follow the original recipe for the cooking time, if you have it, then make adjustments from there. If the bottom is overcooked, then either you’ve cooked it too long or you’ve placed it too close to the heat. Do you know how to test the dough to tell if it’s cooked enough?
You shouldn’t need to fuss with weighing the dough and making each roll identical. I don’t know if cooking only two at a time will get you optimal results, since the rolls will be rising against each other in the pan. Fewer rolls may change the results. (Actually, I am assuming this is a yeast dough - is it?)
You might also want to PM Baker and ask her for some tips.
Yes it is a simple white yeast bread. The biggest problem I have had in the past was controlling the bottom from cooking too deeply, not bad enough to ruin anything but bad enough for me to easily notice it. I do plan to cook these less done in the center than my mothers. I usually leave quite a bit of room between rolls and biscuits type things.
If you perfect the time to bake 2 rolls, that will not be the perfect time for 12 rolls. The larger mass is going to take a longer time since it will affect the temperature (on the down side).
Yep, check the accuracy if your oven first with a good thermometer. The temperature knob on most ovens has a calibration set screw on the back of it, you can adjust it so it will again coincide with the actual temperature, or near enough.
When I bake cinnamon rolls at work they are not seperated on a sheet but in a half deep pan used on steam tables.We do mean for them to “frow together”. If rolls are not close enough to do this they tend to bake faster and the sides will be drier. I have at work a convection oven. I bake most things at 300 degrees, which is about the same as 350 in a regular oven. As for times in a recipe, if you haven’t done it befoe I’d start checking closely when the time is about 75% along. Temps are more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule, in most cases anyway.
The dough I use is a soft, rather sweet dough also used for dinner rolls and hamburger buns. Now those I keep seperate. I bake on a heavy metal sheet pan line with parchment paper.
-cook all of the rolls touching (I do mine in a round cake pan, Baker uses a rectangular pan)
-cook at 350 for a regular oven or 300 for a convection oven
-start with the time specified for the recipe and start checking for done-ness about 75% of the way through
-keep cooking until done
-also make sure your pan is in the center or higher in the oven, so the bottom doesn’t get too hot while cooking
It sounds like you don’t know how to check for doneness. It’s not smell. If you are not practiced at it, the best way is going to be using an instant read thermometer. Here is a short article from Cook’s Illustrated. You want to reach an internal temp of 195-200 degrees. I would go for 195 on a soft dough like this.
When to start actually poking? When the top starts to turn golden and begins to feel firm to the touch.
Start checking at 75% of the recipe’s called for time. Keep visually checking every 2 minutes. Start poking when it’s golden and firm. Take it out when it’s done.
Make adjustments to the cook time based on whether you feel it was too done or not done enough when you pull it out at a temp that registers 195. If 195 is too done, then adjust your recipe to say, “done at 190”, etc.
Anytime you bake you should be doing these “done checks”. It’s one reason why cook times are shown as ranges. Don’t expect that any batch you cook will have the same cook time. Instead, expect the range, and use the done check to be sure.
That was great, I really want to perfect the baking on these rolls, they are too good not to have perfect. One thing I might change from Moms recipe is that I may use a sweet dough. I am not 100% certain she baked with the coconut on from the very beginning or not but I believe she did. Coconut ideally comes out about the same color as the dough.