Cinnamon rolls...

Remember my lesson on yeast I had planned for today? Well, it happened, but it took all day!

We always start school with science at 9 am. We went over our material and then talked with the girls about yeast.  Megan had decided the night before that she wanted to make cinnamon rolls (which I had NEVER made before, but I'm willing to learn.)

I found a cinnamon roll recipe that we had all the ingredients for and about 9:45, we started mixing the ingredients.  About three steps down, it said to put the mixture in a bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.  I assumed that the mix would rise, so after 15 minutes and it still looked the same, I declared that it wasn't working and went on to other school work. 

I left the bowl on the counter and about an hour later (11 am), I looked at it and realized that the yeast had risen! I didn't expect this at all. I had already thrown in the towel and called it done.

I called Megan back over (Courtney wasn't interested) and told her that we should keep following the recipe and make them now! So we went on with the recipe. We finished the next 3 or 4 steps, but then got to where it said, "Put plastic over the mix and let it sit on the counter for rise for about an hour." Uh-oh. My mix had already risen...hmmmm, now what?

So again, I declared it a lost. Maybe I should've read the directions completely threw before making the rolls in the first place!

I knew they had already risen, so I put this bowl on the counter and thought a little bit, maybe I DID do it right the first time.  This is about noon now. 

So after lunch, we start round 2. Yes, I started completely over. I took the first batch and baked them so it looked like bread. 

I did the first 3 or 4 steps and let the dough sit for 15 minutes, just like I did the first time, but when the time was up, I went on. I got through the next couple of steps and to the part where it said to cover it for an hour.  Ok, got it. I covered it and put it on the back of my stove, but an hour passed and still it wasn't rising. Great, I messed up again!

But during the afternoon, I had bread in the oven (from the 1st batch), so within 2-3 hours, my dough actually rose!

By about 5 pm, it was ready! I rolled it out on the counter, put the cinnamon on it, and cut it apart and got one pan ready to go in the oven.  I then had to let it sit on the counter because I had to teach piano lessons for an hour. Wow, when I got back at 6:30, they rose some more! These cinnamon rolls were huge. I then put the first pan in the oven at about 6:45.  By 7:15, they were done. I put the next pan in and got those out about 7:45. 

We now have about 10 cinnamon rolls that need to be iced...tomorrow!!

I feel like I have spent my entire day making cinnamon rolls all to learn about yeast!

And the bad thing is that I can't even eat one. :(