I'm 76 and I have been baking cinnamon rolls for 61 years- my mother owned a bakery in a village in Wisconsin and I began working there when I was 15, learning and helping the bakers.
The bakery was not mechanized, all the dough was scaled by hand on the balance-beam scales (I still have one).
Cinnamon rolls were a cinch, once I learned the basics and we made four kinds - the regular plain, with raisins and with raisins and nuts. The fourth kind was the "Danish" a bit more complicated but a favorite with the German folks in the area.
When I was 17 my mom sent me for a basic course at Dunwoodie school in Minneapolis - only 5 women in the class of 40.
I have always enjoyed baking, never a chore, although I do much less nowadays, I still bake cinnamon rolls at least twice a month, more often in the winter. In fact, I have a batch that just came out of the oven.
I don't moisten the Baker's Cinnamon Filling. After rolling out the dough into a rectangle, I dot the surface with butter (leaving about 2" bare at the top edge) and sprinkle it with the dry mix and then with the "plumped" raisins - (I steam the raisins or other dried fruits for about 8 minutes the day prior to using them in baking).
I roll backwards from your method because that is more comfortable for me, habit of years.
Cut the segments with a sharp bench knife and arrange them on a baking sheet.
I have a proofing box and proof them for about 35-40 minutes, then bake.
Very satisfying.
December 26, 2015 at 2:26pm