Whole Wheat and Hot Cereal Cinnamon Buns

This is NOT my typical, easy-to-make healthy meal idea post. This is a guilty pleasure with a hint of goodness that makes you feel slightly less guilty about eating it :)

I pinned a recipe for Multi-Grain Bread that starts with hot cereal a while back, and this week decided it was time to try it. Then, lo and behold, a neighborhood party was announced, and our name fell under the "dessert" category. So...being on a limited budget this month, I had to come up with something to make using only what I have, which isn't much. Basically I can make bread. I figured I'd make zucchini bread, but the recipe I pinned for yeast zucchini bread looks like it would be more healthy than sugary :) Richard said I should make cinnamon rolls, and then later that idea evolved into making cinnamon rolls from this bread recipe. Genius!

I found a recipe for Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls, which I figured I would be able to combine with my Multi-Grain Bread recipe to come up with something yummy. Turns out experimenting with bread is pretty easy, as long as you get the important parts right :)

Here's what I did:
1. Combine 1 1/4 c hot cereal (7-grain was suggested, but I ended up using Red River for its sheer awesomeness. I think anything that has to cook down for at least 15 minutes would work.) with 2 1/2 c boiling water, and let sit for about an hour, until all the liquid has soaked into the cereal, making a porridge.

2. Combine 1/2 c milk with 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter in a saucepan, and heat until the butter melts.
3. Sponge up 2 1/2 tsp yeast (I found out this week that you can use rapid-rise and regular yeast interchangeably, so use whatever you have) in the milk mixture, once it's between 110-115 degrees F. Add 1/4 c honey to make the sponge so the yeast has some yummy food to make it happy. Let it sponge for about 10 minutes.

4. Combine 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour (which you may or may not have ground yourself in your Blendtec) with 1 egg and 2 egg yolks, plus 1/2 Tbsp salt. Then add this to your porridge that's been sitting, along with the sponge. Mix it all up into a wet dough.

5. Slowly add all-purpose white flour to your dough until it reaches bread dough consistency. If you are wise and are using a Kitchenaid, just keep mixing it until the dough pulls completely away from the sides. You can check its consistency by stopping and poking it from time to time. If it's sticky, keep adding the flour. I added about 3-4 c of white flour (but I wasn't really counting).

6. Once the dough is no longer sticky, dump it on the counter and knead it for about 10-15 minutes. You can check the elasticity by poking it again, and watching the dent your finger makes bounce back. When it reforms its shape after being poked, it's glutenized and you can let it rise.
7. Put your dough in a bowl with some oil, and roll it around in the bowl a bit to coat the entire ball.

Cover, and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs. It should at least double in size.

8. Once the dough has risen, roll it out onto a BIG cookie sheet so it's about 1/4 inch thick and fills the whole sheet.

Then top it with your filling: 3/4 c brown sugar combined with 3 Tbsp cinnamon.

Spread out the filling so it evenly coats the dough.

9. Roll it up! This is probably the trickiest part, but do your best. Try to keep it super tight as you go so your rolls don't fall apart as you're slicing them.

10. When you get to the end, you can seal the dough to itself by wetting the last 1/4 inch before it's rolled shut.
11. Slice your huge roll into 1/4 - 1/2 inch rolls. I'd recommend closer to 1/2 inch, but you'll get fewer rolls that way. Separate the rolls AS YOU SLICE THEM or they'll just stick back together. Pack them onto the cookie sheet so they'll rise up instead of out, and let them rise for another 1 - 1 1/2 hrs.

12. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
13. Top with your frosting. This is what I used, but I added cinnamon to it :) (scroll down to the cream cheese frosting recipe).

Enjoy!