No-Knead Orange Rolls: The Breakfast Treat You’ve Been Craving

Move over, cinnamon rolls. Every day is a holiday when you put this orange version of classic cinnamon rolls on your breakfast table. Make an easy no-knead sweet dough the night before so it’s ready to roll and bake in the morning. 

The next morning, spread the dough with orange-infused sugar and just a hint of cinnamon and roll it into a cylinder. Slice the rolls and set them in a rectangular pan to rise for about 45 minutes. Bake, and glaze while still warm. You’ll have to serve them immediately since even the most hardwired sleepyheads won’t stay in bed when the scent of warm rolls wafts through the house.

Overnight Dough Will Rock Your World

You shouldn’t have to wait all day for a breakfast roll, right? That’s the beauty of overnight dough. It doesn’t have to be kneaded, and it rises in the fridge overnight instead of on a warm countertop, so it’s ready to shape, fill, and bake in the morning. How does that work? 

The relatively wet and sticky dough uses time in the fridge to align the dough’s gluten molecules to create elasticity and strength, so no kneading. But wait, there’s more! An overnight rise gives the dough time to develop even more flavor and the buttery dough is much easier to handle when it is cold.

Tips for Making Orange Rolls

• Rub finely grated orange zest into the sugar with your fingers. The oils in the orange zest permeate the sugar and bump up the orange essence.
• If your eggs are cold, immerse them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 5 minutes to bring them to room temperature.
• If your butter is cold, you’ll have to let it sit out for a while (45 minutes at least) to soften enough to add to the dough. To shorten the time, cut the butter into small cubes and spread them on a plate for about 15 minutes. Or use the same trick as for the eggs, above. Seal a stick of butter in a plastic baggie and submerge it in warm water for about 5 minutes.
• To give the dough extra strength and structure, stretch and fold it several times after mixing.
• Use a sheet of parchment to assist rolling the dough into a cylinder: Grasp the edges of the paper nearest you and roll away from your body. The parchment will help you roll the dough evenly.

More Cinnamon Roll Fun!

• Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
• Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
• Overnight Milk Bread Cinnamon Rolls
• Raspberry Jam Sweet Rolls
• Cinnamon Sticky Buns

Make the Dough

Mix the sugar and orange zest:

In a small bowl, mix the sugar and orange zest. Work the zest into the sugar with your fingers to release the orange oil and permeate the sugar.

Warm the milk, then combine with eggs:

In a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup or microwave-safe bowl, heat the milk for about 30 seconds to take the chill off. 

Add the eggs to the measuring cup and beat with a fork until combined.

Add the infused sugar:

Stir the infused sugar into the egg and milk mixture and set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients: 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed, mix the flour, dry yeast, and salt until combined.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients: 

Add the egg, milk, and sugar mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until blended.

Add the butter:

With the mixer on low speed, add the butter pieces, one piece at a time, mixing after each addition until the dough absorbs the butter. It will be sticky. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and form the mixture into a ball.

Set the dough aside to rest:

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough, then let it rest:

After 20 minutes, remove the plastic and slip your fingers underneath the dough on the edge of the bowl farthest away from you. Gently stretch the dough up and towards you and fold it over to the side closest to you. 

Rotate the bowl by a few inches and repeat the stretch and fold 5 to 6 times, rotating the bowl each time and stretching and folding the dough all around the bowl. Cover and let rest for another 20 minutes.

Knead again, then let rest overnight: 

Repeat, stretching and folding the dough 5 to 6 times and rotating the bowl each time.

Scrape dough out of mixer bowl into an oiled bowl. Form the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and warm slightly:

The next morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes while you make the filling.

Assemble and Bake

Make the filling:

In a small bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt until blended.

Prepare the baking pan:

Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Fit a 12 x 16-inch piece of parchment into the pan so the 2 long sides overhang by 1 1/2-inches.

Roll the dough into a rectangle:

Set a second 12 x 16-inch piece of parchment paper on a work surface and sprinkle with flour. Turn the dough onto the parchment paper, pat it into a rectangle, and roll it to the same size as the parchment, stretching the corners if necessary. 

The dough should be around 3/8-inch thick.

Fill, roll, and cut the dough:

With an offset spatula, evenly spread the filling over the dough, leaving a border of about 1-inch all around.

Position the dough so the long side is parallel to the edge of the counter. Lift the parchment paper and roll the dough away from your body to form a cylinder. 

Firmly pinch the seam and turn the log so the seam side is down.

Shape the rolls and let them rise:

With a paring knife, mark the log into 12 even pieces that are about 1 1/2 inches wide. Use a serrated knife or a bench scraper to cut the dough into rolls and place them in the pan. They should just fit into the pan and barely touch. 

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 to 60 minutes, or until they look puffy and have almost doubled in size.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Make the glaze:

In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioner’s sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, butter, and salt until smooth. The glaze should be pourable. If it is too thick, thin with more orange juice, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Bake the rolls then cool:

Bake the rolls for 33 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Check towards the end of the baking time and cover the pan loosely with foil if the rolls are browning too quickly. 

An instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a roll should register 195°F. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Glaze the rolls and serve:

Set a wire rack on a baking sheet. As soon as the rolls come out of the oven, set the pan on the rack and use a pastry brush to paint half the glaze over it. Let sit for 15 minutes. 

Using the parchment as handles, gently lift the rolls out of the pan and onto the rack. Slide the parchment out from under the rolls. Paint the remaining glaze over them, allowing the excess to drip onto the baking sheet. 

Serve warm.

Store leftovers tightly wrapped in foil at room temperature for up to 2 days.

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