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I mentioned my newer acquisition, "Mennonite Community Cookbook" a few months ago. Since I did, I think I should tell people about a huge variation I found in the cookbook. I made Butterhorn Rolls (should butterhorn be one word or two?) from this cookbook. Probably, as a novice baker, I should not have, but I did.
First problem was the yeast. It called for 1 cake compressed yeast, which I didn't feel like trying to find in the store. I called KAF and a baker asked me what weight the cake yeast was cited in the recipe. No weight. Off the top of her head, she said 1 tablespoon. I decided to search for a yeast website conversion. I found one by Red Star Yeast: https://redstaryeast.com/yeast-baking-lessons/yeast-conversion-table/ Based on that, I used 4-1/2 teaspoons instant yeast. That worked out okay, I think.
The recipe doesn't say how many circles come out of the dough. I guessed at 4, which I now believe is wrong. Should have been 3, I think. By doing 4, the rolled out circles were only 10 inches, and I now think too thin. The result was that the recipe is stated to make 3-1/2 dozen small rolls, but I ended up with 60! They're quite small.
The real problem was the oven temperature. Recipe calls for 425 degrees for 20 minutes. I foolishly agreed to that and burned the first batch of 20 rolls. But hubby rescued them, put in a plastic bag and has been eating them as snacks. I baked the others at 350 degrees, and ended up with good-looking rolls. I'm now thinking that old-timey stoves heated much differently than modern ones.
I have a question for you experienced bakers. The recipe says to let dough rise until it is "light." I have no idea whether "light" means proofed, or if it is to go beyond the finger-poke test for proofed. I only let it rise for 30 minutes, and at that time, the finger indentation stayed, so I divided and used the dough. Thanks!
(Edited to correct amount of yeast used.)
It's good to hear from you, again, Italian Cook. You have been missed.
I've not used cake yeast and doubt that I ever will. However, I have a similar recipe for Swedish Cinnamon Butterhorns. It's in Beatrice Ojakangas' The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. These are also spread with butter before rolling them up, but they are also sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.
This recipe uses 6 cups of flour and one package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp.). You didn't mention how much flour your recipe uses or how much liquid. Ojakangas refrigerates the dough after mixing, for 2-24 hours. She divides the dough into four parts and rolls each to a 12-inch circle. She cuts each circle into 8 wedges. I've baked the recipe once, and it was a VERY sticky dough with 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup butter, 3 eggs, and 1/4 cup water. (Some swearing may have occurred while shaping 🙁 ) She baked at 375F for 13-15 minutes.
You didn't say how much flour was in your recipe, but I'm thinking that 5 1/2 tsp. may have been too much, which is why there was such a fast rise. However, if the recipe has a higher sugar content (this one has 1/2 cup sugar), the higher amount of yeast would allow it to rise faster than it might otherwise, hence the refrigerator rest. Another possibility would be to use the special Gold yeast.
One reason for not using too much yeast is that it seems to contribute to the baked product drying out faster. (I have a hazy memory of a Cook's Illustrated discussion on this point.) A lot of older recipes use higher amounts of yeast than we would today because our modern yeast works more efficiently. I find that I can cut back on yeast from recipes from the 19870s and 1980s and they work fine.
One other suggestion--You might want to post questions like these in their own thread under baking. That would make it easier for the community to refer back to them. Discussions in the "What are You Baking" threads tend to be hard to locate. On a couple of occasions now, I've thought, "I KNOW we discussed this matter," but I could not find it easily, and sometimes not at all.
Kudos to your husband for eating that first batch!
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