Mango, Cinnamon and Raspberry Pull-Apart Rolls, and YBR

No beets to be found anywhere for this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, but here...here's another mango recipe. And I'm truly sorry about it. Isn't it odd, me apologizing for having too many mango recipes as a consequence of too many mangoes growing on our tree outside? Well, brace yourself this month, because I've scheduled several other mango posts, and you may start to get sick of this sweet, aromatic fruit. God forbid it, though.

You'll be glad to know that I've lightened up the mango overload by adding some raspberries into the mix. Growing up, we ate plenty of mangoes but not a single raspberry. Until I moved to study overseas, that is. Sad thing was, the taste of raspberries failed to enchant me as much as the sweetness of mangoes did. I guess there's a lot to be said about memory-associated eating... however, now that we have easy access to raspberries (albeit airflown ones), I have warmed up to the fruit a fair bit.

But how about pull-apart bread, hey? How about cinnamon-rolls style pull-apart bread, while we're here talking about it? As you can see, my obsession with yeasty items that can be ripped apart with abandon continues. Which is how this mango-filled, raspberry-glazed, pull-apart bread came into being today. If you've ever made cinnamon rolls before, then this will be an easy recipe and you're halfway there already. If you've ever made mango jam or any kind of fruit compote, you're on a home run, basically. And if you've ever made pull-apart bread, even just once...well, what are you still doing here, squinting away at the monitor? Go and make this bread now! ;-)

Originally, I had intended to bake these à la cinnamon rolls, but the mango jam kept oozing out of the rolls, making them slippery, hard to handle and out of shape. So, like a discipline master poised with a pair of sharp scissors (likening it to a long rod, by the way. I have no intention of cutting up human flesh...in any form or manner. Hmm, maybe this is just a bad analogy!), I proceeded to tame the mango jam. How I did this was to just keep it rolled up in the cylindrical dough, and once the dough was secured at both ends, I cut 3/4 ways into it to create vertical 'rolls' that can be pulled apart once cooked. The jam behaved and stayed within the rolls. And my triumphant heart hallelujah-ed...

I used frozen raspberries for the glaze as they were easier to press through a sieve for the juice extracting (and seed-removing) part. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention something...I used ghee or clarified butter in this recipe because I think it melds well with and brings a certain intensity to the mango and cinnamon flavors, pretty much like it does in many Indian sweets and dishes. You are of course welcome to substitute the ghee with butter, I've done it with both ingredients and both times, the bread came out well.

Wish I had more time to tell stories or sit around and chat a bit more, but we are in the process of moving house at the moment so while no one's looking, I'm stealing away to write this post! Hope you enjoy the rolls, they're really as moist and delicious as they look. This post goes off to Yeastspotting, to be shared with all the yeast-lovers lurking around in cyberspace...  :-).

Finally, a big shout-out to my gorgeous friend, Nancy of Spicie Foodie, who is currently hosting the Your Best Recipe event and for June, I submitted my instant (you-guessed-it) mango donuts below. Please show Nancy some blog love by hopping over to her site to ogle at her monthly round-up. There's soooo much good food in this month's YBR, you'll get hungry just staring at the screen!

Mango, Cinnamon and Raspberry Pull-Apart Rolls

Makes: 24 rolls
Ingredients:
Bread Dough
2 teaspoons dry, instant yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup ghee or butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
milk, for brushing

Mango-Cinnamon Filling
1 large, ripe mango flesh, cubed
1/4 cup Muscovado or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Raspberry Glaze
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon ghee or butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons raspberry purée

Method:

1. Filling: Place mango cubes, brown sugar and cinnamon in a pan and cook under low heat for 8-10 minutes until the mixture reaches the consistency of jam. Stir constantly. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool completely before spreading.

2. Dough: Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, ghee/butter, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball for about 5 minutes. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

3. After the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 2 equal portions, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

4. Roll each dough into a 10 x 14-inch rectangle. Spread top with mango-cinnamon filling.

5. Roll dough from the long edge into a cylinder. Take both ends of the cylinder and place one end on top of the other to form a circle. Brush a little water where the ends meet to seal.

6. Place carefully on a greased baking sheet and cut dough 3/4 way through into 10-12 parts using a pair of scissors.

7. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200C/400F.

8. Brush rolls with milk and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. While rolls are baking, make the raspberry glaze.

9. Glaze: Mix the ghee/butter with icing sugar. Gradually add the raspberry purée and stir well with a spoon until it forms a smooth glaze. Spread on slightly warm rolls and let it set before serving.