Charles Lyde Cinnamon Rolls

How Does the Resting Time Affect the Texture and Size of Cinnamon Roll Dough?

           

Charles Lyde

December 7th 2019

Background Information

Cinnamon rolls were invented in 1999. It is commonly served in Northern Europe and North America.  A cinnamon roll a rolled pastry with cinnamon and sugar inside. Cinnamon rolls are a delicious pastry with very interesting chemistry involved.

Creating the pastry is relatively simple, and for the most part doesn’t have much chemical change. All the chemical changes that take place happens in the resting period. The has  two ingredients that react with one another, Sugar and yeast. The sugar used in the dough is the common table sugar that is very well known. The scientific name of this sugar is sucrose. Sucrose is a man made sugar that is a combination of both fructose and glucose. The chemical formula for Sucrose is C12H22O11. Yeast is a live organism that remains dormant until it is awakened by warm water. Yeast contains an enzyme that breaks down sucrose(C12H22O11) and turns it into Carbon Dioxide(CO2) and Ethanol(C2H5OH).

Hypothesis

The longer the dough rests, the more it will rise and the softer the dough will become.

Procedure

In the experiment all ingredients and measurements were kept constant. Temperatures and cook times were also kept constant . The rest time was the only variable changed throughout the experiment. The rest time is increased by 100% for every sample.

Resting Times: 

Sample One	Sample Two	Sample Three
15 Minutes	30 Minutes	60 Minutes

1. Prepare dough by mixing together 1 Cup of milk, A packet of yeast, 4 ½ Cups of Bread flour, 1 Cup of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt.

2. Knead dough for 10 minutes.
3. Separate the dough into 3 equal pieces 
4. Place dough into individual bowls and cover for desired time. ( seen in the table above ) 
5. Roll out dough and place in cinnamon sugar filling using butter as an adhesive.
6. Place dough into baking pan and allow to rest for another 15 minutes.
7. Place dough into 400 Degree F for 12 minutes.

(Sample 1,2, and 3 respectively)

Sample	Sample One	Sample Two	Sample Three
Pre-Cook notes	The dough is rather firm The dough was very hard to roll out The dough size had little to no change and remained roughly the same No smell of yeast	The dough was slightly softer than before. The dough size increased. The change was noticeable but not drastic. There is a slight smell of yeast when uncovering	The dough is a lot softer The dough is roughly double its size The dough is a lot easier to roll out The dough is considerable softer than previous samples.
Post-Cook results	The cinnamon roll after completion was rather small. It was very chippy and felt hard. When tearing apart, it wasn’t flaky at all.	The batch after completion was slightly bigger. It was semi-soft but not really fluffy. When tearing it was flaky but didn’t really have the thickness to accompany it.	The batch after completion was noticeably bigger. It was fluffy and soft. When tearing it was flaky and thick.

Throughout all the samples, the ending taste was roughly the same. To avoid bias and untrustworthy data, four family members were given a sample of each, and asked to compare the flavor. According to all the participants the flavor remained roughly the same, but the texture was different. Here are their accounts:

Participant One	Participant Two	Participant Three	Participant Four
The flavors remained the same with all of them, but the texture in the first one felt thinner and not as soft.	The last sample was considerably softer than the rest. They all taste the same.	They all taste the same, but the last one seemed to be more pleasing. It was a lot softer than the rest and  fluffier when biting into it.	The first one was really unpleasing to it. It doesn’t feel like a cinnamon roll, rather just a stale piece of bread with sugar on it.

Conclusion

The longer the dough rests, the more softer and fluffier the cinnamon roll becomes. After all the samples were cooked and tasted, it was obvious what the resting time did to the dough.  The only noticeable changes throughout the experiments was the dough’s texture, smell, and size. Throughout all trials, the flavor remained the same, and this was reinforced by giving the trials to multiple participants. As time passes, the yeast will break down more sugar causing it to release more CO2. This CO2 causes the dough to expand as it is literally filling with gas.