When you make bread, make a little more dough (a pound or so) than you need for your loaves and turn it into an astonishingly delicious cinnamon-nut sweet roll the Germans call schnecken (snails) because of the spiral shape they have.
The amount of the ingredients given in the recipe is approximate because making schnecken is typically done by eye: a coating of butter, a layer of brown sugar, a dusting of cinnamon, a good sprinkling of chopped nuts.
1/4 cup melted butter or 1:1 melted butter: canola oil blend
2/3rds-3/4ths cup brown sugar
cinnamon
1 cup of chopped pecans (should taste fresh with no trace of rancidity)
Supplies
7 inch round pan
rolling pin
knife
oven preheated to 360 F
Directions, in Stages
Stage 1
Prepare the pan with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts.
Ingredients for schnecken: pan melted butter rolled out dough brown sugar chopped nuts cinnamon
Generously coat the inside of the baking pan with melted butter (if you are trying to redue cholesterol, you can use 1:1 butter canola oil blend).
cover the bottom of the buttered pan with a layer of brown sugar
shake cinnamon on top of brown sugar layer to desired intensity.
Sprinkle on chopped nuts
pan ready to receive the schnecken.
Stage 2
“Dress” the rolled out dough, roll into a log and cut into slices.
Similar to the treatment of the pan: Butter the surface of the rolled out dough
Coat buttered dough with brown sugar
Dust well with cinnamon
Distribute chopped nuts over brown sugar layer.
Roll up the dough tightly by pulling on the roll as you roll it over.
Pinch the end of the dough to the log to seal.
Cut log into 3/4th inch pieces. Seven pieces fit perfectly into a round pan.
Place cut pieces of the log into the prepared pan. Snug together if necessary
Stage 3
Let rise and bake.
Pieces loaded, ready to rise.
Cover with a damp towel, place in a warm spot to rise, about an hour at 70 F (21 C). Bread is rising as well (outside on our cistern wall, in this case.)
The bread and schnecken are ready to bake. Transport VERY gently to the preheated oven
Distribute evenly in a 360 F oven. Bake about 25-30 minutes for schnecken, 30-35 for the bread.
After 30 minutes, the top is firm and shows signs of toasting. It sounds hollow when you tap the bread surface.
While still very hot, invert on a plate and tap to release the schnecken.
The bread and the schnecken are cooling on a rack to allow the steamy moisture to dissapate.
David Fankhauser 