They say good things come in three, and that’s certainly true for language. Consider some wonderful trios of words: I love you is the obvious one. But also it’s snowing outside, come December, or a package arrived or let’s get ice cream. Oh wait. That’s four words.
Language is so powerful, and also so completely limiting. Finding the perfectly apt word to describe a situation is extremely satisfying. But grasping at sentences to explain an abstract pang of loneliness in a crowd of friends, or to find something to say the first time someone makes you actually weak in the knees when they kiss you (even though you thought that was just a turn of phrase, not a real sensation you could feel) is deeply restrictive.
Words can slice cleanly through you—the right poem, for example, can make you draw in a sharp intake of breath, shocked by the precise beauty of the words laid out next to each other. And that someone chose to place them—tick tick tick—neatly in a row like that, to such great effect. And that the rest of us didn’t think to do so, even though we all have the same exact words at our disposal.
Like this one by Ada Limon:
What’s the word for someone who stares long
into the morning, unable to even fix tea
some days, the kettle steaming over
loud like a train whistle, she who cries
in the mornings,
the one who wants to love you, but often
isn’t good at even that, the one who
doesn’t want to be diminished
by how much she wants to be yours.
Or this one called The Niagara River by Kay Ryan:
As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversation.
As it moves along,
we notice—as
calmly as though
dining room paintings
were being replaced—
the changing scenes
along the shore. We
do know, we do
know this is the
Niagara River, but
it is hard to remember
what that means.
The final line of that poem surprised me in a way I haven’t been surprised in some time. I love it, but it makes me feel deeply uneasy. How’s that for a deluge of emotion for your morning?
Let’s turn our attention to surprises of a less unsettling kind, shall we?
Here’s a good one, and it’s a sort of a master technique for freestyle baking that’s absolutely worth experimenting with until you’re comfortable enough to create your own “recipes”: sweet rolls!
The most ubiquitous sweet roll is, of course, a cinnamon roll. And that’s the fundamental concept: start with a great base recipe for a sweet roll dough, learn how to shape it and slice it, and then you can fill it with pretty much anything.
There are a few helpful tips for success here. One, the dough recipe is super important. The one I’ve written up here is my favorite as it’s enriched enough with butter and eggs that you don’t need to flour the work surface when you roll it out, and you don’t need to worry about it sticking. It’s a very mellow, pliable dough—in fact, I rarely use a rolling pin, I just press it out into a rectangle with my hands and it keeps its shape instead of shrinking and fighting back.
Secondly, once you’ve pressed the dough out onto a rectangle and spread your filling on top, you’ll roll it into a log and pinch it closed. Then you need to slice it into rounds, and here it is EXTREMELY HELPFUL to use unwaxed, unflavored dental floss instead of a knife. A knife squishes the log down, and causes the dough to tear, and presses the filling out. Dental floss cuts cleanly through the dough with little pressure and yields the cleanest slices.
Thirdly, think wisely about fillings. The main factor is consistency: you don’t want your filling to be too chunky (hard to slice) or too liquidy (too messy). Aim for a texture like Nutella, if you’re using something “loose”. If you want to add ingredients that aren’t already in a liquid or paste form (like tahini, almond butter, etc.), you'll need to treat them like cinnamon rolls: spread melted butter on the dough and sprinkle the ingredients on top (this holds true for items like chopped nuts, spices, flavored sugars, chopped chocolate, and so on).
Using this template, I’ve made all sorts of sweet rolls, from toasted coconut and marzipan to chocolate hazelnut to today’s spectacular creation: black sesame tahini sweet rolls.
Let’s do it!
Black Sesame Tahini Sweet Rolls
For the dough
1/4 cup warm water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry or instant yeast
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (170g) buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups (420g) all-purpose flour
For the filling
1 cup (256g) tahini
1/2 cup (71g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup (71g) black sesame seeds
To make the dough: Add the yeast to the warm water in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Let sit for 5 minutes to proof.
Melt the butter. Add the buttermilk to the melted butter and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and the sugar. Add the butter and buttermilk and mix well, then add the yeast and whisk to combine.
Separately, add the salt to the flour and whisk together. Add the flour to the liquid ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.
Use your hands (or a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook) to knead the dough until it comes together into a soft, smooth ball. The dough is on the soft side, so don’t worry if it doesn’t feel as firm and elastic as other yeast bread doughs.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Let it rise in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours, or until it has nearly doubled in size.
While the dough rises, make the filling by whisking together all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds. If your tahini is very thick, you may need to add a bit of water to get it to a smooth consistency. It should be a paste, but not as thick as say, peanut butter, and should be easily spreadable.
Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle (about 13” by 9”). It’s okay if it’s more like an oval.
Using a spatula or spoon, spread the filling over the dough, making sure to go almost to the edges. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the filling.
Starting with the long edge closest to you, roll the rectangle into a long log. Using a serrated knife or dental floss (dental floss is the best here), slice the dough into 2-inch rounds (or a little thinner).
Place the rolls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (or you can use a greased 9-inch round cake pan or 9” x 13” baking pan). Make sure to smoosh them up next to each other! They like to spoon.
Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let rise for about 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 30 minutes (less time if your rolls are thinner, more if they are thicker). Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.