Sticky Buns

mmmmm sticky buns... so, these would benefit from some milk in the dough, to make them slightly more cakey. Most recipes I was looking at used milk, or dry milk, including this one, but since I didn't have any milk, I left it out. This made for a slightly breadier bun, but there were no complaints. The other thing I might do, since I was using walnuts instead of pecans, would be to substitute some of the sugar for maple syrup, because maple and walnuts go together even better than coffee and chocolate. Anyway, this is the recipe as I used it. The original one replaced 2C of the white flour with whole wheat (again, I didn't have any on hand), and added 1/2C of dry milk after the first cup of flour.

Expect 10 minutes of letting the yeast do it's thing, 10 minutes of kneading + 1 hour of rising + 10 minutes of shaping + 45 minutes (or overnight) of rising + 45 minutes of cooking. = 3 hours total.

Ingredients
2 eggs
warm water to make 2C
1 tbs yeast (one packet)
1 tbs salt
2 tbs sugar
1 stick of butter
1/2C of dry milk (It worked out fine without this)
2C whole wheat flour
3C white flour
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1C walnuts or pecans

The Dough

Get your tap water running as hot as it'll go, then crack two eggs into a two cup measure and fill the remainder of the 2C with warm water. Mix this thoroughly in a big bowl, then add the sugar and one tablespoon (or one packet) of yeast. Let this sit for about 10 minutes, until it looks frothy.

Add one cup of flour and one tablespoon of melted butter. Add the dry milk and salt, stir well, then add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time. When the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, dump it out on a floured surface and start kneading. Continue to knead until the dough is tacky yet shiny, about 10 minutes. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise until its about doubled in size, about an hour.

The Filling/Topping
Melt 6 tbs of butter, and add 3/4-1C of brown sugar. This is where I would substitute part of it for maple syrup, but that could change the texture of things. Add the nuts and cinnamon, and make sure everything is thoroughly mixed up and the sugar looks syrupy.

Assembly
Once your dough has risen, dump it out on a lightly floured surface, and using a rolling pin, roll it into a ~1x2 foot rectangle. The sharper you can get the corners the better it will roll. Melt your last tablespoon of butter, and spread it evenly over the whole surface. Sprinkle on about 3/4 of your filling, adding more brown sugar if it looks too splotchy. Begin to roll from the wide side, trying to make it as tight as possible without mutilating the roll. You should end up with a 2-foot-long roll of dough that is maybe 4 inches in diameter.

Take a roasting pan (with high sides) and line it with tinfoil or parchment paper. Grease your tinfoil, then put down the rest of the topping, making sure its evenly spread. Cut your roll into 1 inch rounds, and place them cut-side down on the greased tinfoil. Ideally, you'll leave about an inch between each roll, but I packed mine on there very tightly because otherwise they wouldn't have fit on one pan, and they rose fine.

Place your pan of sticky buns either in the fridge overnight, or let them rise for another 45 minutes. Once they've sat for an hour, stick them in a cold oven, and turn the heat to 400F. This will supposedly allow them to rise to their fullest fullness. After 15 minutes at 400 degrees, turn down the heat to 350, and bake for 20-30 minutes. If the sugar smells like it is caramelizing, turn down the heat to 325 for the last 10 minutes.

While they're still warm, loosen the sides with a knife, and invert the pan on a tray or platter that can accommodate all the rolls. I used a piece of wax paper on the table, and that worked fine. Enjoy!



**The dough without milk makes an excellent dinner roll, fyi!