Other Worldly Sticky Buns Recipes

STICKY BUNS RECIPE

Steps:

• Cream together the sugar, butter, and salt on medium-high speed in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Whip in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Then add the flour, yeast, and milk. Mix on low speed until the dough forms a ball. Switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes (or knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes), or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. You may have to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.
• Meanwhile, make the Caramel Glaze: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt, and cream together for 2 minutes on high speed with the paddle attachment. Add the corn syrup and vanilla extract, and continue to cream for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
• Transfer the dough to the counter. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top of the dough with flour to keep it from sticking to the pin. Roll it into a rectangle 18 inches wide by 9 inches long. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough (use it all!), and roll the dough up with the long side facing you, creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. With the seam side down, cut the dough into 12 even pieces.
• Coat the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish with the caramel glaze, then sprinkle the pecans evenly over the surface. Lay the pieces of dough cut-side-up on top of the caramel glaze, evenly spaced throughout the pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size.
• Make-Ahead Note: Instead of the second rise, you can place the shaped buns in the refrigerate for up to 2 days, pulling the pan out of the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours before baking to allow the dough to proof at room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and adjust the oven rack to the lowest shelf.
• Bake the sticky buns for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool the buns in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove them by flipping them over onto another pan or serving platter. Carefully scoop any run-off glaze back over the buns with a spatula. Wait at least 20 minutes before serving. The sticky buns are best eaten the day of baking but can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 2 days (see notes below on reheating).

OTHER WORLDLY STICKY BUNS

Steps:

• For the dough: Add the yeast into 1/2 cup of the warm water (think bathtub temperature) and give it a nice stir. It needs to foam up. If it doesn't, it means it's not active, it's dead and your bread won't rise. Add a pinch of sugar to help the yeast grow. Let sit 5 minutes or so.
• Add the butter to your mixer, turn on to begin creaming and add the 1 cup sugar. When it's light and fluffy, add the milk powder and salt. Add your eggs, incorporating 1 before adding the other. Turn off and scrape down the bowl, making sure to get any batter off the bottom and that there are no lumps. Add the remaining 1 cup warm water and then the yeast. Add the flour in stages, it should start to look like dough. Beat for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off the mixer.
• Flour a work surface so the dough doesn't stick. Dump out the dough, adding more flour if sticky. Begin kneading by folding the dough in on itself, and keep pushing it out. Keep kneading until it's lump-free and no longer sticky. Put in a nicely greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put in a warm place until it doubles, 2 1/2 hours or so.
• While the dough is growing, make your glaze: Put your butter in a bowl. (Having the butter at room temperature means that the sugar will incorporate better and make easier to stir.) Add your honey, dark corn syrup and brown sugar. Give it a good stir and add 1/4 cup water. The butter might separate, and that's fine. It won't look pretty, but it will taste good when done baking!
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a deep pie plate with fluted edges.
• Pour the glaze in the bottom of your dish, sprinkle the pecans over top and set aside while you roll out the dough.
• Flour your work surface. Punch the dough down to deflate it and then cut in half. Put the first piece on the floured surface, adding more flour if it's still sticky. Flour your rolling pin as well and roll the dough out into a square about 10 inches.
• Combine your cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, brush with half the melted butter and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar. Take the long side and fold and roll it up in on itself. Cut the dough in half, then divide the halves into thirds, ending up with 6 pieces. Stick them right onto the glaze and nuts in your pan. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cover with plastic and let rise about 1 hour or so in a warm space. Bake until the buns are a nice golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Mix together the confectioners' sugar and water to desired consistency. Invert your cake stand or a plate on top of the buns, then flip the pan over. Tap the bottom of the pan to loosen the buns and lift the pan away. Drizzle your royal icing over the top in zig zags, cut and serve.

CHEF JOHN'S STICKY BUNS

Steps:

• Combine warm water and milk in a mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast over. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.
• Add sugar, egg, and melted butter for dough to the yeast mixture. Mix with a whisk before adding 75% of the flour with the salt. Mix, adding more flour, until a very soft and sticky dough is formed. Let knead in the mixer for about 5 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• While dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Generously butter a 9x13-inch metal baking pan.
• Combine brown sugar, white sugar, salt, melted butter, and water for topping in a bowl. Mix thoroughly until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom. Scatter pecans evenly over the top. Set aside until needed.
• Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl for filling; mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside until needed.
• Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour your hands and press and stretch the dough to form a 18x15-inch rectangle. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the dough to the edges, leaving a 2-inch border along the edges. Lightly press the sugar mixture into the dough with your hands.
• Roll the dough into a cylinder with lightly floured hands starting with the edge closest to you; try not to roll too tightly. Finish shaping the cylinder as uniformly as possible, seam-side down. Lightly score the roll with the edge of a knife to indicate 12 equal portions.
• Slide a piece of string or floss under the dough, lining it up at the first knife mark. Cross the ends of the string over the top and pull in opposite directions to cut through the dough. Continue with remaining dough.
• Transfer buns into the pan with topping, making 3 rows of 4 buns. If one side of a bun has more dough than another, place with the doughier side up in the pan. Tent the pan loosely with foil and let rise until buns have almost doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Save foil in case you need it towards the end of baking time.
• Bake in the preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun reaches 200 degrees F (93 degrees C), about 35 minutes. If the tops are getting too browned, loosely tent the pan with foil for the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking time.
• Remove from the oven onto a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Turn pan over carefully onto a serving platter. Use a spoon to transfer any sticky topping that has remained in the pan. Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

STICKY BUNS

Steps:

• Dough: Combine the milk, yeast and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and let rest for a few minutes to proof. Mix the eggs and salt into the yeast mixture. With a dough hook, blend in the flour. Then blend in the butter by the tablespoonful. With the dough hook, knead the dough for 7 minutes, or until springy and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 50 minutes.
• Filling: Punch down the dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll it out into an 8 by-18-inch rectangle. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon. Starting at a long side, roll the dough up into a log. Slice into 12 (1 1/2-inch-wide) rolls.
• Topping: Lightly butter the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking pan. In a small saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and cook, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the mixture into the pan and sprinkle the pecan pieces over it.
• Lay rolls, cut side down, in the cake pan with the topping, squeezing them in if necessary. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 50 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack set in the middle.
• Bake the rolls for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Carefully invert onto a serving platter and let cool for just a few minutes. Break into individual buns and serve warm, with the sticky topping, and ice cream.

FLOUR'S FAMOUS STICKY BUNS

Steps:

• First, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that's ok). Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt. Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar. Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature. You should have about 3 cups. (The mixture can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)
• Divide the dough in half. Use half for this recipe and reserve the other half for another use.
• On a floured work surface, roll out the brioche into rectangle about 12 by 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick. It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll. Position the rectangle so a short side is facing you.
• In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and half of the pecans. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll. Try to roll tightly, so you have a nice round spiral. Trim off about 1/4- inch from each end of the roll to make them even.
• Use a bench scraper or a chef's knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2-inches wide. (At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 1 week. When ready to bake, thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, then proceed as directed.)
• Pour the goo into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the surface. Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm spot to proof until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching-almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 350 degrees F.
• Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.
• The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes before serving.
• 1 3/8 cups (2 3/4 sticks; 310 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 10 to 12 pieces
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the all-purpose flour, bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and 5 of the eggs. Beat on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the ingredients are combined. Stop the mixer, as needed, to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients. Once the dough has come together, beat on low speed for another 3 to 4 minutes. The dough will be very stiff and seem quite dry.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, 1 piece at a time, mixing after each addition until it disappears into the dough. Continue mixing on low speed for about 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. It is important for all the butter to be thoroughly mixed into the dough. If necessary, stop the mixer occasionally and break up the dough with your hands to help mix in the butter.
• Once the butter is completely incorporated, turn up the speed to medium and beat until the dough becomes sticky, soft, and somewhat shiny, another 15 minutes. It will take some time to come together. It will look shaggy and questionable at the start and then eventually it will turn smooth and silky. Turn the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute. You should hear the dough make a slap-slap-slap sound as it hits the sides of the bowl. Test the dough by pulling at it; it should stretch a bit and have a little give. If it seems wet and loose and more like a batter than a dough, add a few tablespoons of flour and mix until it comes together. If it breaks off into pieces when you pull at it, continue to mix on medium speed for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until it develops more strength and stretches when you grab it. It is ready when you can gather it all together and pick it up in 1 piece.
• Put the dough in a large bowl or plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the dough. Let the dough proof (that is, grow and develop flavor) in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or up to overnight At this point you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 1 week.