Chris’ infamous (to me at least) birthday present. I lifted this bad boy about a year or so back, from madame benoit’s ‘the new and complete encyclopedia of cooking’. She’s like the french-canadian version of Julie…? What was her last name? That movie, with the cooking and meryl streep?
Who knows, the point is, this is a monster of an orange cookbook that is my default if i can’t find the recipe I want in my mom’s index. Anyway, the story is that Cinn-zeo left st. vital centre, and BAM there goes my cinnamon bun hook-up. So, determined to overcome this trouble and save money, I hunted my mom’s recipe cabinet for anything resembling cinnamon rolls, and I came out with this. It’s not remotely a cinnamon roll, but is damn delicious.
Yeah. It has everything, including the method for rolling croissants (which is my next big project, now that i’ve mastered cinnamon buns). As you can see, it’s rather old! I think it was my grandmother’s, considering madame benoit was big in the 50’s, I’d say that isn’t unreasonable.
A few tips for reading my recipes: big T is for tablespoon, little t is for teaspoon. Tablespoon is 15 milliliters, teaspoon is 5 mls. A cup is 250mls, a litre is 4 cups and nutmeg can be poisonous if ingested, so don’t try to snort it.
But without further ado:
Madame Benoit’s Cinnamon Roll Raisin Bread ((With comments from Mia to help your journey)).
Bread:
1 package of active dry yeast (or, 2 and 1/4 tsp)
1 Tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 Cup warm water
3/4 Cup scalded milk
1/3 Cup soft butter (I’ve substituted margarine, and it worked out fine)
1/2 Cup sugar
1 egg, lightly-beaten
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups seedless raisins (OMG nut bread?! could I add chopped pecans?! I bet I could!!)
Filling:
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1. Stir the tablespoon sugar and ground ginger in the warm water, until dissolved. Stir in the yeast. Let stand ten minutes ((I screw up the yeast EVERY TIME and I have advice. Stand it in a covered and warm place, like a toaster over at 100F. Also, let the yeast warm to room temperature before use)). Stir well. To the scalded milk add the butter and the 1/2 cup sugar, stir until the butter is melted. Cool ((I like to use to use the fridge. Speeds up the process)). Add the yeast and the egg. Blend.
2. Sift Together the flour and the salt. Add half to the yeast mixture. Beat hard until smooth. Cover and left rise in a warm place, until double in bulk ((Don’t rush this. It needs like a half hour. But don’t leave it for longer than 40 minutes, even if it hasn’t doubled)). Add the rest of the flour, turn on a floured board, fold in raisins and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, oil the top of the dough. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk ((Don’t you love that step two takes an hour and 15 minimum? DO NOT RUSH THE RISE! Again with the min30/max40)).
3. Punch down ((I’ve honestly never beaten the crap out of this bread, so I think I might be misinterpretting this instruction…)) and roll on lightly floured board into a 7-by-18 rectangle. Brush on top with the melted butter ((Be liberal, even if you think it’s fatty and gross. Try to remember that if you add a half cup of butter and sugar to a piece of poo IT WILL BE YUMMY)), sprinkle with the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg mixture. Roll tight like a jelly roll. Place in a greased 9-by-5-by-3 bread pan. Covered and let rise in a warm place, until double in bulk ((Yup, min30/max40)). Bake in a 350F pven 45 to 50 minutes.
