Cinnamon Rolls teach a lesson in cooking

This is a lesson in cooking with yeast that I will never forget.

I had big plans for this morning.

I was going to make a double batch of my favorite cinnamon rolls and freeze the second batch of dough for breakfast next week.

But I didn't read the directions.

I've made these cinnamon rolls once before, and they turned out great that time. The recipe was easy to follow, and since I had a package of yeast on hand, I used the package of yeast to make the cinnamon rolls.

Unfortunately, this time the only yeast I had on hand was in a jar that I had in my fridge. I'm new to baking with yeast, having baked with it only a handful of times, so I'm not up-to-speed on how to use it properly.

Which is all the more reason why I should have read the directions.

But I didn't.

I went through the same steps for the cinnamon rolls as last time, following the recipe in detail, but the rolls took twice as long to bake, they didn't rise, and they were dense and doughy in the middle when I took them out of the oven.

I had ruined them—but I didn't know how.

Until I read the directions on the jar of yeast:

FOR BEST RESULTS: REFRIGERATE and then use within 6 months after opening.

YEAST TEMPERATURE: Use dry spoon to measure only the portion of yeast required in recipe; bring to room temperature prior to use. Tightly close jar and return to refrigerator.

Can you guess what I did? Or rather didn't do?

I took pictures throughout my failed attempt at making these cinnamon rolls, and since I have successfully made these in the past (with room-temperature yeast), I thought it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and post my pictures, even though the end result was a bust.

Thankfully Jeff had already planned to make his own breakfast of fried eggs and bacon, so he didn't miss out on anything.

I did run into a couple other problems in the midst of everything. First, I ran out of cinnamon, having only 2 of the 3 required tablespoons. Then I ran out of plastic wrap which I was going to use to wrap the dough for the freezer. I ended up improvising and cutting up a gallon zipper bag to wrap the dough in.

But all that was for nothing since I had to throw the yeastless dough away. *sniff*

Oh well, live and learn! I teach my kids to be life long learners and I am teaching by example!

Make sure you head on over to Kate’s and Toni’s blogs. I'm sure they had better luck in the kitchen today than I had!