My mother-in-law makes wonderful cinnamon rolls, which I haven’t been able to eat for 17 years. We have both tried the recipe with gluten-free flours, and tried gluten-free recipes, but it just isn’t the same. So next on my list of “things I want to bake” with heritage wheat (I am using Sunrise Flour Mill’s Heritage Bread Blend), was her overnight cinnamon rolls.

I did use my dough hook and my stand mixer to prep the recipe, and I only made one pan of rolls instead of two, but otherwise followed the instructions! Rolling out dough with developed gluten takes a little more effort than gluten-free types, but it held well and made such lovely spirals of cinnamon. (Spirals and cinnamon are also two of my favorite things.)

The next morning I took off the foil and baked the cinnamon rolls. I even made the browned butter frosting! And they were good. So good that even my youngest ate them! With frosting! My GI tract also has had no complaints with this blend of wheat so far. As much as I love cinnamon rolls, and these were definitely the best I’ve had since going modern wheat free, it is the ability to make family recipes again that is even more meaningful.

I tried knot rolls this time, using the same simple bread recipe that Paul Hollywood uses for his eight strand plaited loaf. They tasted really good; chewy crust with a soft center! The knot was a simple overhand knot with the end tucked in. However my sizes were all over place, so I’m giving you a picture of the best roll, both before and after baking. Know though, that this was not typical. I’m not trying to prove myself; it’s a knotty problem to share but also to keep it real, so I will try to rise to the occasion in words, but not provide photographic proof. (I’m on a roll with these puns! And I’m done now.)

Oh for crying in the mud. Sometimes, when following instructions and the product is just not coming out right, it is worth it to step back, walk away, and come back to it another day. That happened to me with the 8-strand plait bread. For my last loaf I abandoned the idea of eight strands and went with four. I tried again, this time armed first with eight strands of paracord. When step 6 says to repeat steps 2-5, but you repeat 1-5, things are bound to get wonky. With paracord (or any other rope), you can undo and try again much easier than with dough. After a few attempts, then some more practice, I was ready to give it a go in dough.

For my next attempt I think I need to stretch the strands out more at the beginning and as I go to get a longer, thinner loaf (more crust, yum!) I’m still following Paul Hollywood’s recipe.

I am fascinated with braided bread. I don’t know why this is on my “I want to be able to do this” list, maybe because it is a mix of baking and textiles, which are two of my favorite things. In the interest of showing the real, I shall share my first plaited loaf. Well, sort of plaited. I attempted Paul Hollywood’s 8-strand loaf, but I need to practice with rope first because I’m not getting it. So I defaulted to a four strand since have that down pat. Then during the second rise it just became a loaf. A lumpy loaf. Hmm. This is something I’m going to have to practice some more, which is not honestly a hardship!