Posted on Wednesday, 22nd February 2012 by Grace
My sister, Connie, brought me not one, not two, but three delicious Italian treats in the past week, Lasagna, Cicerchiata (Italian Honey Balls) and these amazing Sweet Rolls, Pagnottini.
Connie met me at the fabric store on one of my endless food prop shopping trips. I was very happily surprised when she handed me a large pan of freshly made lasagna and a bowl of Cicerchiata to take home. I’m embarrassed to admit the bowl of honey balls disappeared on the ride home. What can I say? I couldn’t resist and I bet you couldn’t either, light and puffy pastry balls dripping in honey – yum! And then Connie stopped by a few days later with Pagnottini, how did I get so lucky?
I was surprised to learn that this dough is not kneaded and rolled like your typical sweet dough used for Cinnamon Rolls. The sweet dough is prepared with oil and a generous amount of eggs and the texture of the dough is quite soft and sticky. The technique for forming the pagnottini is quite similar to that of a danish. The dough is rolled into ropes and then winded around to form a spiral. Unexpectedly after the rise the look of a danish quickly disappears.
These breakfast rolls can be enjoyed with typical breakfast spreads like jam, cream cheese, honey and Nutella but I quite enjoyed them on their own with fresh fruit. The rolls were rich and flavourful and the perfect accompaniment to my morning coffee, afternoon coffee and evening coffee. I really have to stop drinking so much coffee!
Connie prepared these rolls plain but dried fruit, nuts or chocolate can easily be folded into the dough. And if you prefer the flavour of a cinnamon roll the ropes can be rolled in cinnamon sugar prior to winding into rolls. In fact my nephew is coming in for a visit from Ottawa this weekend and I plan on preparing the rolls this way for an extra special weekend treat. Now that I’m thinking about it cinnamon sticks sound awfully good.
If you plan on preparing the rolls with dried fruit, I would rehydrate the fruit first to make it plump and moist. I’ve provided instructions below in the recipe.
This recipe yields quite a few rolls; take my sister’s lead and share with family and friends. There’s nothing better than being on the receiving end of homemade treats like these Pagnottini (Sweet Rolls).
Connie’s Pagnottini Dolci {Italian Sweet Rolls}
Recipe from my sister, Connie DiNucci
Makes about 40 rolls
To rehydrate dried fruit, in a small saucepan, bring fruit, water or juice and liqueur to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat to low and simmer, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand until cooled completely, drain any liquid and fold into the dough. (For every cup of dried fruit use 120 ml (½ cup) liquid (juice or water) and 15 to 30 ml (1 to 2 tablespoons) liqueur (liqueur is optional). If you prefer a cinnamon type roll, roll ropes in cinnamon sugar before winding the ropes into spiral shape rolls (dough is sticky but if necessary very lightly brush ropes with milk before rolling in cinnamon sugar). One important tip, the rolls brown quickly on the underside. Bake in the top rack of your oven and begin monitoring the colour of the surface and underside of the rolls after the first 10 minutes of baking time.
If preparing dough without any additions I like to serve the Pagnottini with fresh fruit, or typical breakfast spreads like jam, honey, cream cheese or Nutella.
- 1125 grams (9 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 60 ml (¼ cup) water, warmed to between 40°C and 43°C (105° F and 110° F)
- 16 g (2 packages) active dry yeast
- 12 large eggs, room temperature
- 450 grams (2 cups) caster (superfine) sugar
- 240 ml (1 cup vegetable) (Crisco is recommended)
- 475 ml (2 cups) whole milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon or orange, finely grated
- 30 ml (2 tablespoons) liqueur of your choice, i.e. Rum
- Line 4 rimmed baking sheets with non-stick baking paper and set-aside. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper, set-aside.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand, 10 minutes.
- In bowl of electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar and oil at medium speed until combined well and pale in colour, about 10 minutes.
- Add the bloomed yeast (yeast should appear foamy), milk, vanilla, zest and liqueur and beat at medium speed until combined, about 1 minute.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour beating to combine well. (At any point in time if you’re having difficulty beating in the flour, remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in any remaining flour.) (Dough will be rough and sticky.) If you are adding fruit, nuts or chocolate, fold into the dough. Cover bowl first with a sheet of non-stick baking paper and then with a slightly damp tea towel. (I also cover the bowl with a large folded bath towel.) Set bowl in a warm spot away from drafts and allow dough to rise, undisturbed, until doubled in volume, about 3 hours.
- Evenly divide dough into 70 g (2½-ounce) pieces (about 40) and place on a lightly floured work surface (cover dough with a tea towel). To prepare the rolls, work with one piece of dough at-a-time and keep the remaining pieces of dough covered at all times.
- To create the spiral shaped rolls, first, roll each piece of dough into a rope about 26-cm (10¼-inches) long and about 1¼-cm (½-inch) in diameter. Second, hold one end of each rope down with your thumb and forefinger and with your opposite hand tightly wind the dough continuously around this centre point to form a spiral about 4-cm (1½-inches) in diameter. Carefully transfer each roll to prepared baking sheet, spacing 4-cm (1½-inches) apart. Do not place more than 12 rolls per baking sheet. Lightly spritz the surface of the rolls with water (to keep the surface of the rolls moist) and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Place rolls in a warm place away from drafts and allow rolls to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. (I prefer to strategically place upside down shot glasses on the baking sheet draping the plastic wrap overtop the glasses to prevent the plastic from touching the surface of the rolls. I then place a tea towel over the plastic to cover. And for good measure, I also wrap covered rolls with a large towel. This practice eliminates oiling the plastic wrap and I also find the rolls rise much better.)
- Adjust oven rack to top position. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
- Bake one sheet of rolls at-a-time until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, making sure to begin monitoring the browning on the surface and underside of the rolls after the first 10 minutes of baking time. Remove from oven and using tongs transfer rolls to a wire rack to cool.
- Dust warm rolls with confectioners’ sugar. Pagnottini can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days at room temperature or up to 1 month in the freezer.
- Buon Appetito!
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Tags: after school treat, afternoon tea, breakfast, brunch, cookies, dessert, desserts, food, food photography, food photos, Italian dessert, Italian desserts, Italian Pastries, Italian pastry, Italian recipes, pastries
Posted in Baking & Pastry, Baking Mise en Place, Pastry Doughs & Batter, Recipes, Yeast Breads & Pizza Dough
Comments (20)
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February 22nd, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Yummy! those rolls look so good! Buzzed this!
February 22nd, 2012 at 3:03 pm
These look delicious!
February 22nd, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Thanks Maggie!
February 22nd, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Thanks Ilan, I’ve been trying to find your guest spot on Rogers TV did the program air yet?
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Yeah it already aired Grace. I should get a DVD soon.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:29 pm
I love the idea of adding chocolate to these!
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:51 pm
What a sweet sister Connie is.
I bet it was all delicious. Would love one of these for breakfast tomorrow:)
February 23rd, 2012 at 6:23 am
Again as all of your recipes, I love these rolls! Loving the idea of Nutella smooshed all over. YUM!
February 24th, 2012 at 8:49 am
Grace, love everything about these – the color and shape is amazing and the rum and zest sounds delicious. I have featured this post in today’s Friday Food Fetish roundup. Let me know if you have any objections and thanks as ever for the inspiration…
February 24th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Wow these look great!!! I’ve never heard of them Pagnottini
Thanks for introducing it to me ~~ Congrats for making Top 9 in Foodbuzz!
February 24th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Thanks Daisy, hope you’ll try them.
February 24th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Thank you so much, wonderful to be featured again so soon!
February 25th, 2012 at 3:20 am
Can the dough be frozen before baked? If so, how long will it keep for and how would one go about baking them from a frozen state?
Thanks!! They look delicious!!
February 26th, 2012 at 10:02 am
Hi Kristina I normally don’t freeze yeast dough I’ve always been concerned about killing the yeast. I’ve had this question come up twice in the last week so I’ve done a little research and although freezing the dough doesn’t kill off the yeast it does slow down the action. If you do plan on freezing keep this in mind and I would shape the rolls first then freeze in airtight containers. When allowing time for the rise keep in mind it may require a little more time.
February 27th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Grace, your rolls look yummy. I’ve never tried it. Thanks for posting.
March 5th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Hi Grace, Hope you had great weekend. I tried to make it yesterday but have problems with the dough. The dough was rised after 3 hrs but it versy sticky so i have to put lots of flour in in order to shape it. I covered and let it rise again after 1 hr and bake it. My breads came out good but i don’t think if soft since I put lost of flour in. I divided the ingredients by 3 and follow your steps. Please let me know what i did wrong. Thank you.
March 5th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Lyly the dough should be sticky, did you add flour to the dough after the first rise? Or did you roll the pieces of dough in flour to shape? I’ve never made part of the recipe and I’m wondering if dividing the ingredients caused the problems. When I shape the buns, the dough is sticky but when I’m rolling into ropes on a lightly floured surface it’s enough to form the buns. Adding too much flour will definitely affect the texture, they won’t be light and airy.
March 7th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Hi Grace, thank you for your reply. I did add flour after first rise since it’s very sticky that i can’t roll it. I think may be I divided the ingredients caused problems. I may try it again and let you know. Wish you hava a great week !!!
March 7th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Thank you Lyly you too!
March 8th, 2012 at 9:43 pm
These are perfection and I would like one to have with my morning cappuccino.