This morning, Norma and I had coffee with two of our New York City peeps, Sylvia and Tamara – you haven’t met Tamara yet, but you will! – and their chicks, Catherine and Sam. It was a lively table of 6 women, having a great visit. Tamara was telling us about her daughter Nici (you know Nici, our guest blogger extraordinaire!) and her sour dough starter that she has named Charlotte. I confessed my fear of yeast to which Sam asked “WHY are you afraid of yeast?” You know, Chickens, this is my fear and today I conquered it!
After coffee with the peeps and chicks, Norma and I struck off to make Sticky Buns … yeast and all! Thanks to Dorothy Showalter of Broadway, Virginia for this recipe. I’m pleased to tell you that the final product were 12 pillowy and light sticky buns – we had success!
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Sticky Buns
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ¼ cups warm water (110F-115F)
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 ¼ cups bread flour (I used all-purpose)
Filling
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sauce
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup butter
¼ cup corn syrup
½ cup chopped pecans
1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar, milk powder, salt and 2 cups flour; beat on low speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface; roll into a 16”x10” rectangle. Spread with butter; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting from the long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices; set aside.
4. In a sauce pan, combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup; cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in pecans. Pour into a greased 13”x9”x2” baking pan. Place rolls cut side down over sauce. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
5. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 3 minutes. Invert onto a serving platter.
I don’t have a kitchen thermometer and so I guessed at how warm the water needed to be and the yeast did dissolve. Our house is old and so the sunny spot in the window was still too cool to proof the dough. Sylvia and Tamara told me they just proof in the oven with the light on. I’d gone online (I’m a Google master) and found a tip to put 3 cups of boiled water in the oven as well to keep the warmth up and to add some humidity. These twice-proofed buns rose beautifully.
As you know, my house of men don’t love nuts so I left out the pecans. They were delicious and with the right hint of cinnamon. You may want to add more cinnamon-sugar to the filling; the taste is quite mild but the brown sugar “goo” is to die for!
What does Norma say about the Sticky Buns? We came, we baked, we conquered! I’m nervous about yeast too so making these sticky buns was a good way to overcome my fear and were they ever worth it! Fluffy, soft and sticky with just the right amount of sweet sauce – sooo good and very straightforward to make. To be honest I mostly just watched the master at work!
TEMPTATION LEVEL out of 10: We just made the one pan and had to save some for the rest of the family, Booo 😀 Just kidding (sort of!) These little pillows of yeasty goodness were a definite 10 out of 10!
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