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I make my own caramel sauce for this recipe. It can be a little tricky though, so if you want to do a brown sugar caramel sauce, I promise it will still be good. I didn't photograph the caramel-making process this time, so instead I'll link to a couple great posts to show you the ropes. You can even buy jarred caramel sauce for this, but if you are going to the trouble of making scratch dough, why not make the caramel too?

Scratch Caramel from Simply Recipes
Note: You will need to double that recipe for enough sauce for all these caramel rolls.

Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce Recipe from Kittencal over at food.com
Note: Also double this one for these caramel rolls.

This will make 4-5 round pans of rolls. I love buying the tinfoil pans at the dollar store for this. Perfect for giving away to friends and neighbors without worrying about your pie plates or cake pans getting back to you. :)

Start your dough by heating the milk up to warm. Not hot...just warm. You don't want to kill your yeast. Put the warm milk in your mixer with the dough hook attached and add the yeast, egg, sugar, and salt. Mix until the egg is beaten. Start adding the flour until a wet dough is formed. After about half of the flour is incorporated, slowly pour in melted (but not too hot!) butter while them mixer is running. After the butter is mixed well into the dough, start adding more flour in until a soft dough forms and the sides of your mixer are clean. Mix for about 4 minutes, until an elastic, smooth dough is formed into a ball. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel and allow to rise until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free place.

When the dough has risen, punch down, grab 1/2 of it, and roll it out on a well-floured surface into a rectangular shape and its about 1/4 inch thick. Pour enough melted butter over the dough to cover it well, and then top with cinnamon and brown sugar. Leave the back edge butter and topping-free.

Roll the dough from the side closest to you towards the back, and seal the seam. It helps to use a bit of water on your fingers and dampen slightly the edges so they will seal well. Slice the dough with a serrated knife (I find a long bread knife works best) into pieces 2 inches thick.

Repeat this with the rest of the dough and place into buttered pans. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top. Make sure the middle roll is done. If they are packed too tight into the pans the middle roll can stay a little doughy.

Top with your caramel sauce and enjoy!

Caramel Roll Dough

Gooey, sweet, delicious caramel rolls for a special weekend breakfast!

Ingredients
3 cups warm milk
2.5 tbsp, or 3 packets yeast
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
8-10 cups bread flour

Instructions
1. Place warm milk, yeast, egg, sugar, and salt into a mixer. Beat until egg is incorporated. Add approximately 1/2 of flour in batches. Mix until incorporated. Slowly drizzle in melted, but cooled, butter into dough and mix until combined. Add in more flour until a soft dough forms and cleans the sides of your mixer.
2. Let rise, covered, until doubled.

Details
Prep time: 1 hour 10 mins
Cook time:
Total time:
Yield: 5 pans of rolls

Caramel Rolls...assembly.

Instructions for assembly of caramel rolls...

Ingredients
1 batch Caramel roll dough
2-3 sticks Butter, melted
enough to sprinkle on dough Cinnamon
2-3 cups Brown sugar
Double batch Caramel Sauce

Instructions
1. Roll out 1/2 of dough into a rectangle approximately 1/4 inch thick.
2. Spread enough melted butter over rolls to cover well fairly thickly. Cover with sprinkling of cinnamon, and brown sugar. (see photo).
3. Roll up and seal seams well. Cut into 2 inch sections, place in buttered 9" pans. Cover and let rise until doubled.
4. Bake in 350 degree oven until lightly golden brown. Cover with caramel sauce and enjoy!

Details
Prep time: 2 hour 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 2 hour 25 mins
Yield: 5 pans rolls