Wolfberries are like chinese raisins. But they are red, more sour, and less sweeter than raisins. My mum loves them, and my brother used to snack on them when he was younger. Nowadays, baking is my escape, from the horrible reality I’n stuck in, so that the frustrations of life won’t get into me.

Running low on raisins today, I decided to substitute wolfberries in this recipe besides changing it a little. The soury taste of the wolfberries really reflects my mood today. I’m not really good at baking. At bit careless too I must say. I only realised the yeast I was using were dead after I baked this. By pure luck though, I had added some baking powder as a precaution during the mixing process.

Giant Wolfberry Cinnamon Roll

(Makes 12- 16 servings)

 

Ingredients

(Dough)

Instant yeast	2 ¼  tsp
Warm water	¼  cup
Sugar	½  tsp
Fat free Milk	1/3 cup
Vanilla	1 tsp
Baking powder	½  tsp
Baking soda	½  tsp
Applesauce	3 tbs
Large egg	1
All purpose flour	1 ½ cup
Whole wheat flour	1 ¼ cup
Sugar	1/3 cup
Salt	¾ tsp

 

 

 

 

 

Method:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1/2 tsp. sugar in the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Stir milk, 1 tsp. vanilla and egg into the yeast mixture. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl (or a food processor), mix remaining dry ingredients and applesauce.

4. Slowly pour in yeast mixture and stir (or process) until dough forms into a ball.

(Note: Mine was pretty dry so I added a bit more milk until it formed a ball.)

5. Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly 4-5 times.

6. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (29°C) for 1 hour or until almost doubled in size.

(Filling)

Wolfberries	1 cup
Raisins	½ cup
Cinnamon	2 tsp
Fat- free Yogurt (Skim milk is fine too)	½ cup
Brown sugar	2 tbs
Vanilla	1 tsp

 .

Instructions:

Soak the wolfberries in warm water for 5 minutes and squeeze them dry. In a blender or food processor, place all ingredients. Blend until the wolfberries and raisins are chopped up but the mixture is still thick and chunky, about 1-2 minutes. You can add in a little bit more yogurt/milk if it gets hard to blend. Set aside.

To finish

7. Punch dough down, cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

9. On a floured surface, roll dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.

10. Spread the filling evenly across the dough but leave a 1 inch space across the top (long) edge.

11. Roll up the dough tightly starting at the bottom (long) edge. Pinch the seam to seal well. (For detailed method click here)

12. Roll over so the seam is down. With a serrated knife cut the dough in half, lengthwise. (For detailed method click here)

13. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray. Take one half of your dough and coil it around itself with the cut side up. Then take the other half, making sure the cut side it up, join the end with the end of the first half and continue coiling it around to create one big swirl. Cover with wet cloth and left rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

14. Preheat oven to 180°C. Remove wet cloth and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and put on a plate.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

* Do NOT glaze the bread with egg yolk. It will end up looking yellowish like mine.