i'm a believer

okay, okay. i believe you now, serrated knife. i believe in you, too. who knew that a serrated knife would cut so easily through dough? assuming that the serrations would just rip the dough instead of cutting through it, i used my trusty pastry...scraper? (the name of this object escapes me at the moment; all i can think of is its woodworking brethren, the bench scraper.) that is - i did that the first time i made these overnight cinnabuns. unfortunately, cutting the cinnabun roll into buns with my pastry scraper gave them these pinched edges. pinched edges that became all the more offensive - and permanent - when it turned out that the yeast that i used was not particularly active. i kicked myself - this recipe consumes 5 eggs, 4 cups of flour, buttermilk (which i don't usually have on hand), and a not insignificant amount of brown sugar - so it's not the most economical food item to make. nor are they particularly easy to put together the night before - you still have to wait for the first rising of the dough. the payoff, though, is huge, if you can get it right. the dough is fabulous - so good (buttery, rich...) that that first batch was still edible, if not the right texture.

and this is what i did: i went out and bought new yeast, proofed the yeast before adding it to the dough, let the dough rise in the oven after i turned it off the warm cycle (it's cold!), and cut the roll with a serrated knife. and now i've got those babies (see above photo) in the fridge. i'm going to bake them tomorrow, and you better believe that they will obey my need for cinnamon buns. yeah, cinnamon buns, i'm looking at you, i've coddled you enough; now it's time for you to give back.

i'll report back on them tomorrow, with a recipe.