Best Pecan Sticky Buns EVAR!!

Okay, brace yourself: this is actually three recipes in one and I am going to add a bunch of (probably unnecessary) production details, so it ain't gonna be pretty. Hang in there, though, these buns are amazing.

For the dough:

Warm an oven by turning it on to it's lowest setting for one minute, then turn it off

• 1c lukewarm water (I like around 95 degrees, but anywhere between 85-105 is fine. Not over!! Yeast starts to die around there)

• 3 1/2tsp active dry yeast (notinstant) - about 1 and a half packets

• 3Tbsp honey or sugar (honey of course)

• 1/3c dry milk

• 1 egg (I like to use room temp eggs so it doesn't bring the water temperature down but it's not like, a REQUIREment. If I don't have any eggs at room temp, I immerse refrigerated ones in warmish water)

Like Zo!

• 1 1/2c unbleached white or whole wheat flour (I use 1c white, 1/2c whole wheat, because I find it gives the dough more depth. That's right, existentialist dough)

It should look kinda like this. Gross

1. Mix everything together carefully in a large-ish bowl, then stir in a clockwise direction for 100 strokes (that's not me, that's the recipe. And I do it).
   
2. Cover with a damp cloth (not terry cloth) or saran wrap and place in the slightly warmed TURNED OFF oven. Let rise for 30 minutes

Then fold in:

• 3 Tbsp melted butter or oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 c flour of your choice (I use 1/2 whole wheat to keep the dough mystical)

3.  Fold in the butter and salt first; then flour. To fold in ingredients, you want to start with your spoon (or rubber spatula) on the bottom and bring the dough up and over the new stuff. It's like layering. 

Still gross, but bigger

Fooolding

Now the flour

Once you have all added, flour a counter space and get ready to knead. Oil the bowl (of course I mean spray it with oil. Does anyone use actual oil for that anymore??) but no need to clean it yet. You will need 1/2 to 3/4 c more of flour; flour your hands, the counter, the dough, then knead like a mothersucker for at least 5 minutes. By kneading, I mean pick up the rear end of the dough and fold it over the front part, pushing with the heel of your hands, then pick up what squishes out the sides and try to fold them on top of each other. Repeat. At some point, you will want to be able to get a good push in, so try to make sure you aren't working on too high of a counter. New house not required.

Starting. Very sticky, use lots of flour on your hands

Starting to come together

Keep working it

Getting more elasticy-feeling

Almost there...

Done!

When it is no longer sticky and in a decently smooth ball, place it back in the bowl, spray the top and cover with a damp cloth again.

4.  Let rise for 40 minutes in the pre-warmed oven. Meanwhile, ready the pan by making the caramel sauce. You want to do this about 20 minutes after you set the dough to rise again, so that the sauce has a little bit of time to cool down before you put raw dough on it, but isn't so cool that it is hard and the dough can't really sink right in.

Caramel sauce:

1/4 c unsalted butter

2/3 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c corn syrup

2 tsp vanilla

5.  Mix in a small saucepan over med-low heat, cook until bubbling, about 2 minutes. 

Bubbling!

Pour / spread in the bottom of an 11"x 13" pan. Or a slightly bigger one, if you have one. Just keep it rectangular. Sprinkle the caramel sauce with:

• 1 1/2 c toasted pecans. TOASTED. Not raw ever. To toast pecans, spread them on a cookie sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, stirring every 5 minutes JUST until you can smell them. Take out and cool. The extra step it totally worth it, dude. Toadilly.

Double batch on the left (for monster buns), single on the right with parchment paper

6.  When the dough has risen, dump it out onto your lightly floured counter again and start rolling it out into a rectangle, approximately 18 x 6 inches. I don't know metric. I'm a bad Canadian. 

18x6. Ish

You then want to prepare your filling (resist the urge to prepare in advance, brown sugar gets crusty quickly and goes to no beuno in about 15 minutes):

Filling:

• 1/4 c softened butter (you can use melted but I find softened butter stays in place better)

• 3/4 c light brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp cinnamon (don't use more, there is a risk of over-cinnamoning these suckers), mix with the brown sugar before you sprinkle everything over the butter

• 1 c TOASTED pecans, chopped. Chopping nuts can be tricky (they tend to jump off the cutting board, but you can also put them in a sealed Ziploc-type baggie and smash them gently with your rolling pin. Repressed anger gone.

7.  Spread the butter ( I use an offset spatula to spread the butter because I am just not happy unless I've gotten everything in my kitchen dirty), then evenly distribute the combined sugar and cinnamon. Top with pecans.

Sorry, sort of blending in with the counter

8.  Starting at the bottom, at the edges, carefully roll the dough up towards the top, trying not to lose any of the filling. Good luck with that. Just toss everything that falls out into the pan after. Try pinching the edges together to see if that will help it stay together. Sometimes you get lucky. 

Rolling rolling rolling

Cut it into 12 equal pieces (yeah right) using this method: cut in half, line up together, cut in half again, line up two sets together then cut both sets into two sets of three pieces each. Sorry, that probably wasn't very helpful. Work it out! 12 pieces!

Zee log of joy

A serrated blade works awesome, as does a dough cutter

See? Easy peasy!

In the pan, bigguns in the corners and middles helps, I've found.

Cover the dough and let rise for 20 minutes

All bloated looking. No judgement.

9.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden-brown.

To serve the buns, you will have to invert them onto a platter. Place a slightly bigger cookie sheet or platter on top of the hot bun tray then flip relatively quickly while shouting "voila!!". If I don't think there is enough caramel, sometimes I do an extra batch and throw it on top. Because I am sadistic about other people's blood sugar levels like that.

Enjoy!!