Saturday, December 16, 2017

Rosie Makes Sticky Buns.



 
 This is the way to start out your morning -
with a delicious sticky bun, a cup of coffee, and a view.

Doesn't get much better than this.

I make these on a lazy Saturday afternoon so I can enjoy them on a leisurely Sunday morning.

Now, let's get down to business.  The pecan sticky buns start out with a basic sweet dough, then a caramel glaze that goes on the bottom of the baking pan (which becomes the top of the buns), a cinnamon and sugar filling that gets rolled up in the dough, and finally a pecan caramel mixture that gets poured on top.

 Pecan Sticky Buns















For the dough:
3 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature



1/4 sugar

1 tsp kosher salt
1 package yeast
4 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour plus more for dusting the work surface (I use King Arthur.)
6 TB unsalted butter, melted (I prefer Plugrá butter.  And the only place on the Outer Banks I can find Plugrá  is at Fresh Market.)

In a stand mixer:
Whisk eggs.  Whisk in buttermilk, then sugar, salt, and yeast to combine.  Add in 2 cups of flour and the butter, stirring slowly until evenly combined.  Add all but 1/4 cup of flour and knead with the dough hook at low speed for about 5 minutes.  The dough should be soft and pliable.  If it's wet and sticky, add more flour.  Knead another 5 minutes.  The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl but stick slightly to the bottom.  Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for a minute or so to ensure the dough is uniform.  If it sticks to the work surface, add flour a tablespoon at a time.

Transfer dough to a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled.  About 2 hours.

Before dough.

After dough.

For the caramel glaze:
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
6 TB unsalted butter
3 TB light corn syrup 
2 TB heavy cream
pinch kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and cook over medium low heat, whisking occasionally, until butter and sugar melt and mixture is thoroughly combined.  Pour mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and spread evenly.

For the cinnamon-sugar filling:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch kosher salt
1 TB unsalted butter, melted

For the filling, combine all ingredients.



Now, for the assembly.
 
 To assemble:
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface.

Shape and roll it into a 12 x 16-inch rectangle. 
 Brush the surface with 1/4 cup melted butter.

Sprinkle the filling mixture over the buttered rectangle.

Pat the cinnamon mixture into the dough.

Roll the dough into a tight cylinder.
Pinch the seam to seal and place seam side down.
Gently stretch the cylinder to form an 18-inch length with even thickness.

Slice into fourths.

Slice each quarter into thirds.

Place buns into prepared baking dish.
Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise - about 2 hours.

Like this.

Place baking dish in a 350° oven and bake buns about 25 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 180°.

Let cool slightly on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a rimmed platter.

While cooling, prepare the pecan topping.
 
For the pecan topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 TB light corn syrup
3 TB unsalted butter
pinch kosher salt
3/4 cup pecans, lightly toasted and chopped
1 tsp vanilla

Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking to thoroughly combine.  Remove from heat and stir in toasted pecans and vanilla, evenly coating the nuts.  Ladle a spoonful of the topping over each sticky bun.  

Let cool in pan on wire racks about 10 minutes while you prepare the topping.
Invert onto rimmed platter.

Ooooh.   Look at that syrupy goodness.

Spoon the nutty caramel topping over each bun.



And serve!


Bon appétit, indeed!

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