Great Aunt Florence's Easter Orange Roll

Happy Almost Easter everyone!  Eating these orange rolls warm out of the oven on Easter morning has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember.

Basically it takes the idea of monkey bread and replaces brown sugar and cinnamon with white sugar and orange peel.  I use this homemade dough recipe for the bread, but you could easily just use a package of Rhodes unbaked dinner rolls.  My dough can be completely formed and finished the day before, you can wait 24 hours before you finally bake it, a nice plus for a busy morning.

4 & 1/2 cups flour (you may need closer to 5 cups)
4 tsp. active yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 & 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk, warmed to about 125 degrees F
6 TB. butter, room temp
3 large eggs, room temp
Pam for greasing the bundt pan

1 cup white sugar, in a small bowl
1 stick butter, melted, in another small bowl
the zest from a large orange

In a heavy duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 2 cups flour, the yeast, the 1/3 cup sugar and salt.  Add the hot milk and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Add the butter, eggs, and 1/4 cup of the flour; beat for 1 minute.  Switch to a dough hook.  Beat in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl's sides.  Knead on low speed until soft, smooth, and springy, about 5 minutes.

Scrap the dough away from the sides of the mixing bowl, cover with a dish towel and allow to rise at room temp until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours.

Melt the butter in the bowl.  Add the orange zest to the sugar and mix well, until thoroughly combined and the sugar smells deliciously orange-y.  Spray a bundt pan well with Pam or grease well with butter.

Tear off walnut sized pieces of dough, roll it into a ball and roll it quickly through the butter, then the orange sugar.  Layer the round pieces evenly throughout the pan until you run out of dough.  Cover really well with plastic wrap and allow it to finish rising in the fridge, up to 24 hours.  Or, if you want it the same day, let it finish rising at room temp for another hour or two, until doubled yet again in size.

Pull it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking and allow the dough to come to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 25-30 min.  Keep a close eye on it and cover with tin foil if it browns too fast.

Loosen the rolls from the mold when done and flip gently onto a plate, rounded side up.  Serve with butter or the good old Betty Crocker orange frosting.  (1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 TB. softened butter, 2 TB. fresh orange juice, 1 TB. orange zest, a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt-- cream together until smooth)

Amy from our Bible Study gives them two thumbs up!