“We are a cinnamon roll people.”

Out of the mouths of babes. That was the proclamation of my four-year-old daughter mid-morning after recently making, and consuming, a large number of these indulgent cinnamon rolls.

For some time I have been wondering about putting this recipe up on the blog, since we already have a recipe for buttermilk potato cinnamon rolls and another one for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. But if you’re part of a “cinnamon roll people,” clearly you can’t have too many.

Based on that paragraph above, it would seem we have a strong preference for starch-enriched cinnamon roll dough…russet potatoes, pumpkins, yukon gold potatoes… Why exactly would that be? Well, tuber- and squash-enrichments bake up into the most luscious, tender dough.

But these types of enriched doughs can also be a beast to work with.

Dealing with enriched dough: when to tell it’s done?

When you are kneading an uber-enriched dough like this one, you basically need the arms of a sailor or the patience of a saint. You want the dough to become smooth and elastic and hold it’s shape somewhat, but the high levels of fat and liquid and sugar and added starch are going to work against you. Adding more flour is the easiest way out, but the tenderness of the finished dough will suffer if you add too much of it.

Many years ago, when I visited Sophie in her first apartment, she taught me the ways of enriched dough: the arms of a sailor. She would pull and stretch and thwack that dough against the counter for a near eternity until the gluten developed enough to give the dough structure she could work with.

I don’t have those forearms, so I’ve developed another approach: the patience of a saint. Along these lines, you dump your dough in a stand mixer and you turn it on with the dough hook attached and you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and pray your mixer doesn’t overheat and wait and wait for it all to come together. And you may sneak in a tablespoon of flour every once in a while to speed that process along.

Sophie’s method undoubtedly requires more virtue, but we get similar results.

This recipe is adapted from one I fell in love with years ago, which printed in Bon Appetit March 2009. Even though I love this recipe every time I revisit it, I often find it difficult to get right (see notes about uber-enriched doughs above). Part of the problem lay in the slight inaccuracy (lack of scientific measurement?) of the recipe itself. The recipe asks you to boil one pound of yukon gold potatoes in two cups of water until the potatoes are tender, and then mash the potatoes without draining. Depending on how high the heat is, and the size of the pan being used, more or less water evaporates in this process. If there’s too much, which often seemed the case, the resulting dough is gloopy and batter-like. I address this issue, and bring new takes to the original, in what follows below.

overnight yukon gold cinnamon rolls with brown butter icing

makes 12 large cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

[for the dough]

• 1 pound yukon gold potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

• 1 scant tablespoon coarse salt

• 2 cups cold water

• 1 stick (4 oz) salted butter

• 3 large eggs

• 4 1/2-5 cups flour, divided

• 1/2 cup warm water

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons yeast

[for the filling]

• 1 1/3 cup brown sugar (can reduce to 1 cup)

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

• 1 stick (4 oz) salted butter, melted

[for the brown butter icing]

• 1/2 stick (2 oz) salted butter

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1-2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Make the dough. Place peeled and cubed potatoes in a saucepan with 2 cups cold water and t tablespoon coarse salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and continue to cook until potatoes are very soft and water virtually disappears, 15-20 minutes. It’s okay if the bottoms of the potatoes begins to turn golden a little because all the water is evaporating—just make sure to catch it before it starts to burn! You can leave the brown bits in the pan—they will get picked up and incorporated in the next step.

2. Mash potatoes directly in pan. (A handheld potato masher is very nearly a kitchen essential.) Add 1 stick of butter, allow to melt, and then stir/mash well. Whisk in eggs and 1 cup flour and stir/mash well. Set aside to cool.

3. Combine sugar and yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast mixture, lukewarm potato mixture, and 3 cups flour. Stir to combine, and then use dough hook to begin kneading dough to a smooth elastic consistency for 10-15 minutes, adding additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, up to about 1/2 cup more. The dough will be quite sticky, but it should be smooth and stretchy and NOT soupy. If it is soupy or batter-like, keep kneading, adding only as much flour as you absolutely need. (See recipe headnotes above.)

4. Scrape dough into a lightly-greased large mixing bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight, about 8-12 hours. (If you want to go ahead and make these the same day, see note below.)

5. In the morning, pull the dough out of the fridge. It should have doubled in size. Scrape onto a clean, lightly floured, surface, and roll out into a roughly 16x24-inch rectangle.

6. Make the filling. In a small mixing bowl combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spread mixture evenly over rolled-out dough, leaving a 1-inch border along the two longer sides. Roll dough, long side to long side, and pinch seam to seal. You should now have a roughly 24-inch log. Use a serrated knife to cut into 12 spiraled rounds.

7. Place rounds on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, cover with a towel or lightly greased plastic wrap, and let rise until slightly puffy, about 20-40 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. When ready, bake rolls until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

8. Make glaze. While the rolls are baking, place 1/2 stick of butter in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until it stops bubbling and begins to turn a beautiful golden-amber color. Remove browned butter from the stove and whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk until smooth, adding more milk to reach an icing consistency. When the rolls are done baking, drizzle/pour/spread icing evenly on each roll. Serve warm.

notes

• Make & bake same day: if you don’t want to have these cinnamon rolls rest overnight, you can make them the same day. Instead of an overnight bulk rise in the fridge, let the dough bulk rise on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until doubled. Proceed with recipe.