A Yeast Starter Is Timeless It Seems

I recently posted about a yeast starter and Amish Friendship Bread.  Who would guess that shortly after, I would be watching Paula Deen and learn a little bit more.

Paula had a friend of hers, Edie Eason, visit and bake with her during Paula’s Best Dishes.  Her friend brought with her a starter that she has literally been taking care of for 42 years.  No, that is not a typo.  Her starter has been with her for over four decades.

Starters are alive and as long as you feed them and care for them, they will continue to grow and you can continue to use it.  She bakes a lot and started when she was 12 years old.  Her parents were in Europe and brought a small starter in a jar for her and she has had it and baked with it ever since.  As long as you care for it and not let it die the aging process is a good thing.  Almost like a fine liqueur, the flavors are enhanced and your baking products enjoy the benefit.

She shared the Cinnamon Roll Recipe below and said that you can use starters to make any type of bread product.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, you end up using only a portion of the starter so you can experiment to your hearts desire.  The recipe is rather involved, but looked incredible.  This recipe is not written for you to grow the starter, but simply age it for some time and then use it all.

Cinnamon Buns

Courtesy of Edie Eason

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Difficult
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 16 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 24 cinnamon rolls
 

Starter:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Idaho potato flakes
1 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm-hot tap water Cinnamon Buns:
Nonstick oil spray
1 cup starter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cups vegetable oil (recommended: Mazola)
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 cups hot tap water
1 (1 tablespoon) package dry active yeast
6 cups all-purpose flour (recommended: Pillsbury)Filling:
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, plus more if needed
1/2 cup ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins

Glaze/Icing:
4 cups 10x powdered sugar
3/4 cup half-and-half

Starter: One day before you plan on baking the cinnamon buns combine the starter ingredients. Stir this mixture occasionally with a rubber spatula and your starter should soon start bubbling within 12 hours. Cook’s Note: You will know this because you will see bubbles along the side of the glass container and you may possibly see bubbling on the top of the mixture as well. Let this mixture sit bubbling, uncovered, until you are ready to make bread the next day. You might want to stir it occasionally. Remember this is a living culture and you will need to take care of it in order to keep it alive.Buns: When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170 degrees F. Prepare 2 (9 by 12-inch) rectangular baking dishes by spraying with nonstick oil spray.

In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together starter, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, salt, water, yeast and flour.

After mixing the dough for about 2 minutes, remove the dough to a bowl sprayed with nonstick oil.

Cook’s Note: If the dough mix is too loose, add more flour.

Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled in size. The rising process will take 1 to 4 hours, depending on the altitude and weather at the time and place you are making the buns.

When doubled, dump the whole pile of dough onto a well-floured surface and with a rolling pin manipulate the dough to make a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.

Filling: Melt 2 sticks of butter to where it is creamy and spreadable. Spread the butter onto the dough triangle making sure you spread thoroughly to all corners. Sprinkle brown sugar and then cinnamon over the butter making sure that the whole triangle is covered, corner to corner. Top with chopped pecans and raisins.

Roll the dough into a tight roll. Cut with a serrated knife into 2-inch long rolls and place into the baking dishes.

Cook’s Note: If using the rectangle baking dish, snuggle the buns together as if they were trying to keep each other very warm. You might want to manipulate the size of the pan to make sure that the buns are very snug in the pan.

You do not have to cover the rolls, but you need to let them rise in an oven set at 170 degrees F to proof until you see that they are almost but not quite doubled in size, about 40 to 50 minutes. When you see that they are at that point, turn the oven up to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 minutes until you see that they are truly golden on the top.

Cook’s Note: A good test is when you take them out of the oven and push on the very center of a bun; if it sinks inward easily and feels doughy, they will need 5 to 10 minutes more cooking time.

Glaze/Icing: In a mixer beat powdered sugar and half-and-half until smooth and without lumps. Take the buns out of the oven and put them on a wire rack. Immediately glaze them with a pastry brush. After glazing all of the buns, go back over and glaze once again.

Cook’s Note: If you desire, you can melt more butter on the top before serving. If warming buns after they are cool, 20 minutes in the microwave revives that incredible hot-out-of-the-oven taste. However, even cold, they are awesome.

A viewer, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe and therefore, we cannot make representation as to the results.