Categories: BakingBreadBreakfastRecipe SwapThe Secret Recipe Club

August SRC & Recipe Swap

Starting this month, the Recipe Swap will be posting on the first Monday of the month, instead of the first Sunday as we did in the past. Which in turn means a clash with Group A’s Secret Recipe Club’s posting date- which is also the first Monday of the month. So I knew I had a problem. Either I did two posts in one day or see if there was something from my assigned blog that I could fit with the Recipe Swap’s chosen recipe. And the latter is what I chose. Mainly because I am lazy, but also because a lot was happening. And also because of a little mailing error I got to know of the Recipe swap recipe quite late. Not that that made a difference because I’m such a procrastinator, but I am also a Capricorn and I love to shift blame from myself wherever I can. 🙂

For SRC, my secret blog was Fake Ginger. I have seen other SRC members having her as their assigned blog for past reveals and always coming up with great recipes from her repertoire. SO I was very excited to have Amanda’s blog for this month. And I somehow found a recipe that fit in the Recipe swap framework, and also something I knew I would really like.

The swap recipe for August was a lemon sponge pie. After going through Amanda’s collection of recipes, I thought her lemon rolls would do justice to everything- the swap, SRC and my stomach. Unfortunately the latter did not happen. Not because of the recipe- they were great but because of the unfortunate incident that happened the day I decided to bake these rolls.

Now, I had set baking these rolls for Thursday. Thursday I also decided to make some lamb seekh kebab kathi rolls. V was supposed to come early that day for lunch, so I had almost everything ready and also the dough for the rolls was kneaded and left for its first rise. Things looked good. I had a good exercise week going on, which had left me pretty sore, but I was happy about that. So like I said things looked good and then….they turned for the worse. I put the kebabs in the oven with the broiler setting on and somewhere during the time they were cooking the foil that I had put the kebab sticks on caught fire! Its never happened to me before and the moment I saw it burning, I switched off the broiler. But I guess I was too late. The flames didn’t stop and the whole kitchen was in smoke. I tried opening the oven door, but the flames tried escaping everywhere and had to shut it. Fortunately we had a fire extinguisher in the house. After struggling with it a bit, trying to figure out how to use it, I managed to control the fire with the extinguisher. The kebabs of course were covered with the foam from the fire extinguisher and the whole kitchen was filled with so much smoke that I couldn’t see or breathe and had to run outside. The whole incident really shook me. I have been cooking for 2.5 years now and this was the first time something like this had happened. V got home 20 minutes later with no idea of the fire. The moment he stepped in he was like “ooh the kebabs smell so good” and I just greeted him with tears and told him the whole story. I had managed to make the paranthas before the whole incident, so I did have something to give V for lunch. I managed to eat a little too, though I had lost my appetite. Once V left I spent the next two hours cleaning the kitchen and the oven. The dough of course rose more than twice its size, but I couldn’t help it. Once clean, I shaped the rolls and let them rise.

I was scared to turn the oven on again, I was afraid of it blowing up on me. Call it paranoia. But I baked. I baked the rolls and made the frosting. And took the pictures. I was exhausted. Once frosted and ready, and photographed I took a bite of the rolls, but couldn’t eat more. I guess the combination of smoke, the whole shock of the incident, the crying, the sheer exhaustion of working the whole day, all of it gave me a headache. And when I get stress headaches, I get them bad. As soon as V entered the house after work, I had to rush to the bathroom and puked my heart out. And after that I did not stop. After the sixth time, and with nothing left to vomit out, I couldn’t take it. A trip to the urgent care and two IVs in, I was much better. But my stomach is still recovering, and I have been on a khichdi diet since then.

So, unfortunately I didn’t taste these rolls but I did send them to V’s office and V’s feedback was that they were devoured pretty quickly and one of his colleagues specially came to tell him how much she liked them. And while I was sitting on the bathroom floor hurling my heart out for the fourth (or fifth) time, V came in with a smile to tell me how tasty they are! SO I guess, these were pretty good.

Thanks Amanda for the recipe! Hopefully I will get to try them the next time I bake these!

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 3 hours 35 mins

Serves: 14-16

Adapted from here

Ingredients

For the lemon roll dough:

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100F (not too hot, just warm)
1/2 cup (113 gms) unsalted butter, very soft
1/4 cup (50 gms) white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups (600gms) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 lemons, zested
2 eggs

For the lemon filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 lemons, zested
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but cooled

For the lemon cream cheese glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar
1 lemon, zested

Instructions

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, till the mixture is frothy.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the yeast-milk mixture with the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.
Switch to the dough hook and knead on low for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable. (In case you choose to do this by hand, stir together the ingredients in a large bowl, then turn the soft dough out onto a lightly floured counter top. Knead the dough by hand for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, pliable, and stretchy.)
Spray the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled, about an hour.
In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the lemon zest with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles wet, soft sand. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon.
Lightly grease a 13 by 9 baking dish. I used two 9 inch round cake pans. Feel free to experiment. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large rectangle 10 by 15 inches, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread evenly with the melted butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls (or more depending on how big you want- I got about 16 rolls), and place them, cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.
Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour.)
Heat the oven to 350F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190F.