Berry Spring Sweet Rolls

Your first thought may be “why would I spend THIS MUCH time making sweet rolls when I can just pick up a can at the grocery store.

I’d like to gently challenge you to reframe how we look at cooking and nourishing our bodies. Somehow its become “normal” to travel for hours for travel sports but if something in the kitchen takes more than 20 minutes we close out of the recipe.

I encourage you to read through this recipe and see how you can incorporate slower cooking and slower living into your life. And how you can incorporate bringing your children into the kitchen. I LOVE when my daughter says “mommy I want to help you” when I’m in the kitchen. And trust me when I say even the worst messes only take a few minutes to clean up.

Dough Ingredients

• ½ cup (100 g) active sourdough starter

• 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter (cold)

• 4 cups (480 g) all-purpose flour

• 1 cup (240 g) milk

• 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar

• 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt

Berry Filling

• 2 ½ cups (387.5 g) strawberries chopped into small pieces

• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

• zest of one lemon

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Glaze

• 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon (14 g) melted butter

• 1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla extract 

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon (30 g) milk

NIGHT BEFORE: 

Make the dough and first rise

• Use a cheese grater to grate the cold butter into a mixing bowl. Add the flour and use a fork to toss with the butter. Add the active sourdough starter, milk, sugar and salt. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are well incorporated and there are no dry bits in the bowl. Use your hands to help bring the dough together. Cover the bowl and let rest on the counter for 1 hour.
  

• Knead the dough on the counter for 1 minute or until it is smooth. Cover the bowl and let rest on the counter for 8-10 hours. The dough should double in size.

• FIRST THING THE NEXT MORNING (fun to do with your littles) :
  

Shape and second rise

• Place the sugar, flour, lemon zest and cinnamon in a bowl. Use a spatula to mix and set the bowl aside.
  

• Flour your work surface and turn the dough onto it. Flour the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 12" x 18" rectangle.
  

• Spoon the sugar mixture evenly over the surface, leaving a half inch bare along the edges. Sprinkle the berries over the top. Starting on one side, roll the dough into a log shape. Use the bench-scraper to cut the log into 12 pieces (approximately 1.5 inches). Arrange the portions in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish.
  

• Cover the rolls with a clean kitchen towel and allow them to come to room temperature and the berries to release their juices. This should take about 2 hours. (this is a great time to clean up, knock out some laundry, or sit down with a magazine).
  

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 400°F .Bake the cinnamon rolls for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove and allow them to cool while you make the lemon glaze.
  

Make the lemon glaze

• Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, melted butter and milk in a bowl. If the glaze is too thick, add a teaspoon of milk at a time to avoid over-thinning of the glaze. (If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken it.)
  

• Pour the glaze evenly over the top of the sweet rolls and serve warm.

NOTES:

The dough can be made 1 to 2 days in advanced and kept in the fridge until you are ready to bake. 

*Inspired by Little Spoon Farm with my notes and suggestions on timing.