Horno de Leña (recipe)

I love to cook. I love to bake. And because of its matron-like culture I am often presented with interesting culinary experiences, opportunities to learn from the expert females themselves! 
Sometimes, I become the teacher. And sometimes, it goes both ways.

An horno de leña is a traditional wood fired oven. 
It is an outdoor oven that is dome-shaped. Wood is burned to form coals, which are pushed to one side and heat the oven. The dome shape of the oven allows the heat to circulate and evenly cook whatever you put in the oven (you can cook everything from chicken to pork to bread).

When my husband's Godmother and her family requested cinnamon rolls, I had the opportunity to bake in this exact oven! 

I had the help of a handful of women, all who wanted to learn how to make the "pan" (bread) as they kept calling it. I had to laugh and explained that this is more of a dessert or sweet treat than bread, but we stuck with the "pan de canela" name in Spanish. We made a quadruple batch.

First we mixed our dough (the part of the recipe below that says FOR THE DOUGH). It took two women holding the bowl and one stirring with a wooden spoon to get it evenly mixed. We laughed a lot!

All combined dough ingredients in the mixing bowl

Mixing our dough with a wooden spoon

What our dough looked like when it was thoroughly mixed

Because we were having lunch first we set the dough in the fridge for several hours (exactly as pictured above, but covered with a clean towel).

In the mean time we took advantage of the time (and that fact that other people were watching our children) to prep the filling and the icing.

The filling (if you were to use pecans they would go in here)

The icing (we cooked it early and put a lid on it which worked just fine)

When we were ready to bake the rolls we pulled the dough out of the fridge, divided it in to 4 pieces, rolled each piece out, slathered melted butter on them, added the filling, rolled, and sliced! The recipe comments that you should be patient in the rolling process. This is true! Also, I find it helpful to lighly flour my knife before each roll you slice. 

Butter smearing....

Our rolls ready to go in the oven!

We baked them for about 25 minutes each sheet at an altitude of around 2,000 meters above sea level, in a traditional wood fired, outdoor oven.

Margarita making sure the coals in the oven are properly placed before putting in the rolls

My lovely husband manning the oven

The first tin as it came out of the oven

Getting ready to serve them up warm!

Frosted and being nibbled on (more like devoured!)

Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Sourcing...

The recipe I used came from Pinterest (of course), but here is the link to the direct site for the actual recipe: http://www.bakingdom.com/2011/11/maple-pecan-cinnamon-rolls.html. I have also copied the recipe directly from the Bakingdom site and pasted it below. It is word for word. The changes I personally made when preparing this recipe are listed two sections below this one.

Personal testimonial...

I have made this recipe a total of 3 times now (once at sea level, the other times at altitude). It has turned out marvelously each time! The recipe claims it makes 8 rolls. I found this to hold true (even when I quadrupled the recipe). 

Ch ch ch changes...

Pecans are very expensive here, so I omitted them. 

I also substituted brown sugar for the local "panela" (an unrefined cane sugar that still has vitamins and minerals in it) and it also worked wonderfully. 

Baking soda is hard to get here, so I omitted it as well, and the recipe still worked just fine. 

Buttermilk is not common here, so we squeezed one large lime in to each cup of milk and let it rest for a few minutes. This seemed to be an adequate substitute. 

Lastly, when baking at altitude you always need to add extra flour (no, I don't know why). I have no idea how much extra flour I added. You also have to bake things a bit longer, which for this recipe I cannot advise on since I've never made it at altitude in a conventional oven. 

And finally, the recipe...

Ingredients

FOR THE FILLING

3/4 cup (191 grams) brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar

3/4 cup chopped pecans

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE DOUGH

3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons (38 grams) sugar

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup (83 ml) maple syrup

FOR THE ICING

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons (45 ml) maple syrup

1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 ml) milk

1 cup (125 grams) confectioners' sugar

To make the filling: Combine all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture looks like wet sand. Set aside.

To make the dough: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (220 C). Brush a 9-inch cake pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the buttermilk, syrup, and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, and stir until just combined. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth (it will still be very soft and a little sticky, but will be smoother and less lumpy). Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover, and chill for 20 minutes.

Once chilled, flatten the dough into a rectangle about 12 X 8 inches. Pour 2 tablespoons of the melted butter on and spread around with your fingers. Pour the filling over the dough and spread it evenly over the top, leaving about a 1/2 inch or so border around the outside edge. Press the filling down to pack it on top of the dough.

Starting on the long side of the dough, roll the side up, pressing as you go, to create a tightly rolled log (be gentle, as this will likely stick to the counter a bit). Pinch the seam closed and lay the log seam side down. Cut into 8 even pieces, and transfer each roll to the prepared cake pan. Brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Bake for 20 to 23minutes, until golden brown.

To make the icing: In a medium bowl, cream the butter and add the sugar. Mix until the sugar and butter start to come together a bit. Add the syrup and whisk well, until the mixture is smooth. If it is too thick, add a teaspoon or so of milk to loosen it up.

Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Pour the icing over the rolls. Serve warm.

These will keep in an airtight container for about 3 days.

Recipe by Darla (THANK YOU DARLA!)