Why spend all morning in the kitchen making homemade sticky buns, when you can mix the dough and shape the rolls the day before?
In addition to offering a convenient alternative when you have overnight guests or early breakfast plans, the slow rise of the dough in the refrigerator makes the already mouthwatering buns even more moist, tender and flavorful.
Overnight sticky buns are made exactly like those baked the same day. The only difference is that the prepared rolls are stored in the refrigerator up to 24 hours before baking.
Just remove the pan from the refrigerator the next morning and allow the buns to warm to room temperature.
Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, it takes one to two hours.
There’s another way to streamline the production of sticky buns to satisfy sweet cravings or unexpected guests, says Marc Haymon, lecturing instructor at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
“Freeze the prepared rolls instead of placing them in the refrigerator overnight,” Haymon said. “Stored in airtight containers between sheets of waxed paper, unbaked sticky buns will retain their quality for about one month.
“The day before you’d like to serve them, place the frozen rolls in prepared pans, store in the refrigerator to thaw, and bring them up to room temperature the following morning before baking.”
The recipe is from The Culinary Institute of America’s “Breakfasts and Brunches” cookbook ($35).
Note: A candy thermometer is essential.
21/4teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4cup milk, warmed to 110 degrees
4cups bread flour
1/4cup sugar
1/4cup butter, softened
2large eggs, lightly beaten
1teaspoon salt
Egg wash (1 egg whisked with 2 tablespoons cream or milk)
1/2cup pecans
2cups pan smear (recipe follows)
1cup cinnamon smear (recipe follows)
Place the yeast and warm milk in the bowl of a mixer and stir to dissolve; let stand about 5 minutes. Combine 21/2 cups of the flour with the sugar, butter, eggs and salt. Mix on low speed using the dough hook just until the dough comes together. Add as much of the remaining flour to the mixture as needed so dough is no longer sticky. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until dough is soft, smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Fold the dough gently over on itself in three or four places. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. While dough rises, toast and chop the pecans, and set aside; prepare pan smear and cinnamon smear, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch square baking pans by pouring 1 cup of Pan Smear into each of them; sprinkle with the toasted, chopped pecans. Roll dough into a rectangle 8-by-14 inches and about 1/4 inch thick. Dust dough and rolling pin with flour to prevent dough from sticking. Brush a 1-inch-wide strip of egg wash along the long side of the dough closest to you.
Spread the cinnamon smear evenly over the remaining dough. Roll the dough to form a log, starting with the edge opposite the egg-washed strip. Pinch the dough together to seal the seam. Slice into 12 equal pieces. Place six rolls in each of the prepared pans.
(You can refrigerate the rolls at this point for up to 24 hours, or freeze up to 1 month.) Cover the rolls and let them rise until they have nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Brush lightly with egg wash.
If sticky buns have been prepared in advance, remove them from the refrigerator and allow them to warm to room temperature before baking. Bake rolls until baked through and crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
As soon as you remove the pans from the oven, turn each pan over onto a plate. Lift the pan away and cool rolls before serving.
Makes 12 sticky buns. Per bun: 470 cal., 9 g pro., 79 g carbo., 15 g fat, 280 mg sodium, 40 mg chol., 2 g fiber.
1cup light brown sugar
3/4cup dark corn syrup
1cup heavy cream
Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and heavy cream in a saucepan and heat to 220 degrees, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Cool to room temperature before using. The smear will be caramel-colored and syrupy.
Makes 2 cups.
Cinnamon smear
1/2cup bread flour
1/3cup sugar
2teaspoons ground cinnamon
3tablespoons butter
3large egg whites
Mix together flour, sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a mixer. Add the butter. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 1 minute, or until it looks like coarse meal and there are no visible chunks of butter.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg whites one at a time. Continue to mix until fully combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary. The smear will be a kind of granular paste.
Makes 1 cup.
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