Cherry Swirl Overnight Sweet Rolls #TwelveLoaves

This month, the intrepid band of bubbly bakers at #TwelveLoaves chose cherries as the challenge.

I love cherries.

But I waffled about this for a loooong time before I decided what to bake.

I had some dried cherries, but as much as I like them, they weren't calling out to me to bake them.

I thought I had some frozen cherries left, but if there actually was a package left in the freezer, those had been divvied up in pie-sized portions, which is way too much for bread.

Fresh cherries aren't in season yet, and I'm not fond of pitting them, anyway.

I could have bought pie filling.

And then...

Ooooh. I spied the open jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries in the fridge. They're a dark-red cherry, unlike the neon-red ones that are more common. They're a lot like Amareno cherries, actually. As soon as I thought of those cherries, the other half of the puzzle fell into place.

The bready part of the puzzle.

I decided to do swirled sweet rolls. And then I decided that almond extract would be good in the
dough.

And then I decided to do an overnight rise in the refrigerator. This isn't something I do all the time, but since it's the theme of my book, Make Ahead Bread, it's something I do when the mood strikes.

For something like sweet rolls it makes a lot of sense, since you can pop them in the oven in the
morning and have them at a reasonable hour.

If you don't have Luxardo or Amareno cherries, use what you have or what you like. Even a thick cherry jam would be good.

Since this is a rich dough, I used the Red Star platinum yeast, but if you don't have that, their active dry would be my next choice. Instant is a distant third, but would probably be fine.

If you use a different brand of active dry yeast, let it mingle with the water for a few minutes to soften before you start the mixing. If you don't, you risk having small pellets of yeast embedded in your dough.

Cherry Swirl Overnight Sweet Rolls
co-starring almond extract
Makes 12 rolls

1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons Red Star Platinum yeast
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup Luxardo Maraschino cherries or Amarena cherries, chopped
Powdered sugar drizzle (optional)

Combine the water, sugar, yeast, flour, buttermilk powder, salt, and extracts in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. (In theory, you can knead this by hand, but kneading a half-stick of butter into dough by hand isn't really fun. But, you can do it if it's your only choice.)

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add the butter and continue kneading until it is completely incorporated and the dough is smooth and shiny.

Cover the bowl and set aside until doubled in size, about an hour.

Flour your work surface and spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray. Or, you can smear it with some softened butter, if you like.

Turn the dough out and roll it to a 12x12-inch square. Spread the chopped cherries onto the dough, leaving a inch uncovered on the far end.

Roll the dough - not too tightly - jellyroll style toward that uncovered end. Pinch the seam to seal that uncovered end to the roll you've created.

Cut the roll into 12 equal slices (I cut it half, cut the halves in half, then cut three pieces from each section.)

Place the slices, with a cut side upward, in the pan. There will be some space between them. Cover the pan with plastic wrap (I have a 9x13 baking pan with a plastic cover - this is one of my favorite pieces of baking equipment - highly recommended) and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake, take the rolls out of the refrigerator and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

At this point, the buns should be fully risen, but if they're slacking, you can let them sit around at room temperature for a while to finish rising. I noticed that some of the juice had leaked out of the cherries and had created a little puddle in the bottom of the pan. To keep that from burning - which would have made me really mad - I put the pan on a baking sheet for a little more bottom insulation, and I also baked the buns in the upper portion of the oven.

Bake until the buns are nicely browned and - if you're not sure if they're done - they reach an internal temperature - in the bread, not the cherries - of 195 degrees. Figure that this will take about 35 minutes, but check them sooner and allow for a few extra minutes, if required.

Remove the pan from the oven and remove the buns from the pan to cool on rack.

When the buns are cool, you can drizzle them with a powdered sugar icing drizzle - just mix powdered sugar with a small amount of water, milk, or cream, until it's a pourable consistency. It doesn't take a lot of water, so start with a little and add more as needed.

Drizzle the buns with the icing and serve.

#TwelveLoaves June: Cherries

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess and it runs smoothly with the help of our friends. Thanks to the wonderful Renee Dobbs and Liz Berg for their help this month!

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do:

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme! 
2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme. 
3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this June, 2014, and posted on your blog by June 30, 2014. 

Check out these great recipes from the #TwelveLoaves Bloggers!

Buns with Cherries and Beetroot wrapped in Bacon from Luisa of Rise of the Sourdough Preacher
Cherry-Almond Focaccia from Lora of Cake Duchess
Cherry Almond Sweet Rolls from Renee of Magnolia Days
Cherry Almond Twists from Dionne of Try Anything Once Culinary
Cherry English Muffins from Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories
Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins from Alice of Hip Foodie Mom
Cherry Cream Cheese Danish from Heather of girlichef
Cherry Oatmeal Muffins from Kathya of Basic N Delicious
Cherry Quick Bread from Holly of A Baker's House
Cherry Sweet Bread Twist from Stacy of Food Lust People Love
Cherry Swirl Overnight Sweet Rolls from Donna of Cookistry
Double Cherry Muffins from Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Gluten Free Cherry Almond Muffins with Streusel Topping from Sherron of Simply Gourmet
Dried Cherry and Mahlab Scones from Felice of All That's Left Are the Crumbs
Sweet Cherry Rolls with Almond Cream Cheese Glaze from Renee of Kudos Kitchen by Reneé

Onion and Fennel Rye #TwelveLoaves

#TwelveLoaves May: Onions

The best part about being in food "challenge" groups (and also working with sponsors) is that it often motivates me to make things I might not otherwise think of.

Case in point is this loaf of bread. I mean, I've put onions in bread before. I've put onions in rye bread before.

But since this wasn't just for me, I decided that I'd better twist it a little bit. For some reason, fennel sprang to mind. At first I considered adding the vegetable version of fennel, but then decided to use fennel seeds, in place of the more usual caraway.

The onions I used were the slow-cooker version, so I just grabbed some from the freezer. If you don't happen to have any on hand, you can start with this recipe, or just caramelize some onions on the stove until they're brown and soft.

This bread is soft and very aromatic. It's a little sweet from the onions, with that whiff of licorice-y fennel seed. You want this. You really do.

Onion and Fennel Rye

1 cup water
2 1/4 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 cup dark rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup darkly caramelized onions
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons fennel seeds

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until smooth and elastic. (You can also knead by hand, if you like). The dough should be a little wet and sticky, but not sloppy. Depending on how wet your onions were, you might need a tad more flour. But don't get carried away - it's shouldn't be stiff.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm location until doubled in size, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal. Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Form the dough into your preferred shape - I suggest a log or an oval. Place the loaf on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

When the loaf has doubled, slash as desired. Bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is nicely browned and it has reached an interior temperature of 200 degrees.

Let the loaf cool completely on a rack before slicing.

About #TwelveLoaves

The month of April was filled with gorgeous orange breads from #TwelveLoaves, and now for May, we chose onions.

Here are the rules: Choose a recipe including onions (red, white, yellow), scallions (green onions, spring onions); leeks, shallots, garlic, pearl onion, cipollini, chives. Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc.) have fun and let’s have a delicious month of bread with onions. Let’s get baking!

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

• When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!
• Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.
• Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this May, 2014, and posted on your blog by May 31, 2014.

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess and runs smoothly with the help of our friend Renee from Magnolia Days.

You can find more onion-inspired goodness at these wonderful blogs:

• Caramelized Leek and Onion Focaccia by Renee at Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Caramelized Onions Muffins by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Caramelized Vidalia Onion Rolls by Lora at Cake Duchess
• Crusty Cheese and Onion Bread by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Leek Bread with Red Curry by Rossella at Ma che ti sei mangiato
• Onion and Fennel Rye by Donna at Cookistry
• Onion Cheddar Bread by Dionne at Try Anything Once Culinary
• Onion Rolls by Holly at A Baker's House
• Rustic French Onion Focaccia by Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Sausage, Onion and Cheese Muffins by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Spicy Onion Paratha by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Spinach Onion Braid by Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake

It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls #TwelveLoaves

Wow, how thyme flies. The deadline is here to make another bready recipe with the group #TwelveLoaves.

The theme for April is oranges and my first instinct was to make something sweet. It would have been easy, since I've got a few jars of orange marmalade left from a previous orange frenzy.

But then I thought, no, I really don't feel like sweet rolls.

But what?

I love citrus, but I was stumped for just a little while. I didn't want to just toss some orange juice into a bread recipe and leave it at that. I wanted to add something else.

Then it hit me. (ouch!) Lemon thyme is one of my favorite herbs. So why not use plain thyme with some orange. Makes sense, yes?

That's exactly what I did. And then I made dinner rolls.

It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls

Zest of 1/2 orange
Juice of 1/2 orange, plus water to make 1 cup
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast*
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dry thyme

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead with the dough hook until the dough is shiny and elastic. It won't be smooth because of the bits of orange and thyme mixed in, but the dough itself should be smooth and silky.

Or, if you're so inclined, mix in a bowl, then knead by hand. If you're hand-kneading, reserve some of the flour for dusting your work surface during kneading - you don't want to add more flour. Return the dough to the bowl when you're done kneading.

Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled, about an hour.

When the dough has risen, flour your work surface very lightly and turn out the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces. For a tip on how to divide dough into thirds, look here.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray. Or you can use a baking sheet lined with parchment or sprinkled with cornmeal. I like the 9x13 pan because I have one with a cover, which is convenient for rising. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Form each lump of dough into a ball and place them in the prepared baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap (see how that covered pan is handy?) and set aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

When the buns have risen, remove the cover and bake the buns at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 25 minutes.

Remove the buns from the pan and let them cool completely on a rack.

*If you're using Red Star active dry yeast, you can mix it directly into the dough - the pellet size is small enough so it dissolves. If you're using a different brand that has larger-grained yeast, combine it with the water and let it sit for a few minutes to soften, before you continue with the mixing and kneading.

About #TwelveLoaves

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess. #TwelveLoaves runs so smoothly thanks to the help of the lovely Renee from Magnolia Days and Heather from girlichef.

April's theme is oranges, following the gorgeous strawberry breads featured in March.

If you want to play along, choose a recipe that includes oranges in the recipe itself (not a jam that's alongside, for example). You can use oranges, orange marmalade, or orange zest in the dough or as a glaze, drizzle, or frosting. Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc) have fun and let's have a delicious month of bread with oranges. Let's get baking!

Want more ORANGE? Check out these other lovely bloggers who participated this month:

• Blueberry Dreamsicle Orange Lower-Fat Quick Bread from Shockingly Delicious
• Brith with candied orange from Ma che ti sei mangiato
• It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls from Cookistry
• Orange Biscuits from Magnolia Days
• Orange-Fennel Cake Doughnuts from girlichef
• Orange Marmalade Filled Sweet Rolls from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Orange Marmalade Scones from A Baker's House
• Orange Pull-Apart Bread from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Orange Pull Apart Bread with Orange Cream Cheese Glaze from Bakingyummies
• Orange Rolls from Basic N Delicious
• Orange Rosemary Boule from Food Lust People Love
• Orange You Delicious Honey Crescent Rolls from Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Pizza di Pasqua from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rye and fennel seeds snails with blood oranges and red onion chutney from Rise of the sourdough preacher 
• Sicilian Orange Sweet Bread from Cake Duchess
• Strawberry and Orange Quick Bread with Candied Orange Marmalade from Hip Foodie Mom

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool, below, for this month, here’s what you need to do!

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this April, 2014, and posted on your blog by April 30, 2014.