Nettle Cinnamon Rolls

This is a bit of an advanced recipe requiring an active starter, poolish and about 24 hours total time, BUT if you put in the effort you'll be left with some amazing sourdough brioche cinnamon rolls you can feel real good about eating. I know you have some quarantine sourdough starter in the back of the fridge waiting to be refreshed! It's also worth mentioning that the nettle milk method I use here will work for any cinnamon roll recipe already in your arsenal.

100g fresh nettles (about 2 cups packed)

100g all-purpose flour

100g water

1g instant yeast

1 tablespoon active starter

110g all-purpose flour

110g water

500g bread flour

12g salt

60g sugar

3g instant yeast

5 eggs

120g nettle milk *see method*

150g leaven

200g poolish

225g unsalted butter

To make the poolish, mix the flour, water and yeast. Let stand for 3-4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. 

To make the leaven, place the active starter in a bowl and feed with the flour and water. This will take as long it usually takes for your particular starter to become active after being fed. Mine usually takes about 5 hours. If it floats, it's active! Prepare accordingly. 

To make the nettle milk, blanch the nettles in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute then remove from the pot and shock in ice water. Once cool enough to handle, wring out excess water and put in blender. (No nettles? Try it with kale!) Blend thoroughly with 100g milk. Measure out 120g of the green mixture and set aside. Excess can be drunk or reserved for the icing. 

About 30 minutes before you plan to mix the dough remove the butter and eggs from the fridge. To mix the dough, attach a dough hook to your stand mixer and place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the mixing bowl. On top of that add the eggs, nettle milk, leaven and poolish and mix on low speed for 3-5 minutes or until combined. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. 

After the dough has rested, mix it on medium speed until it releases from the sides of the bowl, about 6 minutes. This indicates the gluten is developed enough to begin adding the butter. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the bowl in 4 additions with the mixer on medium, making sure the previous butter is combined before adding more. After all the butter is mixed in the dough will be soft but silky smooth, not greasy. 

Transfer the dough to a greased container and let rest for 2 hours. Giving it a fold every 30 minutes. At this point, I like to spray a half sheet pan with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap. Dump the dough out onto the plastic wrap and pat out flat. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and let chill overnight. 

In the morning mix 1 cup of brown sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and set aside. On a floured surface, roll out your dough into a rectangle so the dough is about 1/2in in thickness, working quickly to keep the dough cold. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar. Roll it up and cut in half then each half in half and then each quarter into thirds for 12 rolls. Butter or parchment 2 9" cake pans and let proof at room temp for 2-3 hours before baking at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until it reaches an internal temp of 180 degrees. Glaze with a simple mixture of milk and powdered sugar or whip up your favorite cream cheese frosting! Enjoy!!!