Holidays and Cinnamon Shells

I've spent the last five days or so on a tropical beach holiday in Queensland. It's been all toes in the sand and wake boards and picnic lunches and castles and seashells and generally getting one last taste of summer before I settle into what is meant to be a rather wet Sydney winter. The trip was deliciously devoid of electronic connectivity, which is why this week's post is both a tad late and brief. All that relaxing, you see, didn't leave much time for writing. I did have plenty of time to lie about near the surf collecting miniature seashells with my two boys. As my regular readers will know, food is never far from my mind and the repeating patterns on our collection of shells got me thinking.



The majority of the shells we gathered once housed either tiny clams or snails and had imprinted upon their outer surfaces a perfect lattice which reminded me of the crusts of so many past cherry pies. Already primed to think of sweets, my son presented me with a brown and white spiral, the sight of which sent my stomach into fits. Cinnamon rolls. I must have cinnamon rolls.



I thought I'd wrap up my mini series on sourdough with an unusual recipe. I like to substitute sourdough for yeast in these otherwise straight-forward cinnamon rolls. It gives the fluffy rolls an extra dimension: a slightly savoury-sour tang beneath the multiple layers of sugar.

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Since most people I know like to make these rolls for breakfast, it's best to start them the day before, and allow the final rise to take place in the fridge overnight, so that they can be cooked more or less first thing when you wake. This makes half a dozen rolls.

80g starter
80ml milk, warm
40g butter, melted
1 egg
60g sugar
200g flour
½ tsp salt

Mix all of the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix all of the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle of the mix. Pour the wet ingredients into this well and mix until well combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead, adding as little flour as possible, until smooth and elastic; about 10 minutes. Transfer to a buttered bowl, cover, and allow the rise in a warm place until doubled. 3-4 hours.

When risen, punch down and rest 20 minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a floured board into a rectangle shape roughly 40cm x 25cm.

20g butter, room temperature
125g brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Spread the butter over the rolled out dough. Mix together the cinnamon and the brown sugar and sprinkle this mix evenly over the surface of the dough. Starting at one of the long ends of your rectangle, roll the dough into a long log. Using a sharp knife, cut into 6 rolls. Place the rolls, exposed spirals facing up, in a buttered baking dish – ideally one which has twice the volume of the un-risen rolls and is approximately as deep as the just-cut rolls are high. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes, until browned on top and just baked through – cinnamon rolls are best when slightly under-done.

Cool slightly and top with cream-cheese icing (below).

Cream Cheese Icing

60g butter, room temperature
80g cream cheese, room temperature
125g powdered sugar, sifted

Using a whisk or electric mixer, whip the butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.