Makes 2 round pans of 8 sticky buns

This dough recipe can be halved if you just want to make 8 rolls. I usually make the whole dough recipe and save half the dough for another day. If you are halving the recipe, a handy recipe converter can be found here:

http://www.fruitfromwashington.com/Recipes/scale/recipeconversions.php
(you’ll want to bookmark this site!)

Caramel Sticky Buns

Dough recipe:

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour (if you use another brand, you may have to increase your flour to 3 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons. If increasing flour, do so a little at a time.)

In a stand mixer, mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water with paddle attachment. Change stand mixer attachment to dough hook and add flour until flour is incorporated. No need to knead! Yes, you read that right! No kneading!

At this point, dough can be refrigerated in a lidded (but not air tight) container and used over the next 5 days. If going to use beyond 5 days, then you can freeze it in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. Just defrost overnight in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it. If you are using the dough right away, I recommend refrigerating it for about an hour because it's easier to handle cold.

The following topping and filling ingredients make 1 9-inch pan of 8 rolls. If you are using all of your dough at the same time, be sure to double this part of the recipe and then divide the topping and filling mixture into 2 9-inch pans.

Caramel Topping:

9 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
(if you like, you can add halved or chopped pecans to suit your taste… I usually don’t add these)

Roll Filling:

4 TBSP salted butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of ground black pepper

To mix together the topping, cream the butter, salt and brown sugar. Spread evenly in the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. If you like, sprinkle your pecans over the topping mixture. S et pan aside.

Now mix the filling by creaming together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and ground pepper. Set aside.

Dust the surface of your work area with flour. Using half of your dough, quickly shape dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball in a quarter-turn as you go. This only takes a few seconds… don’t overwork your dough. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thick rectangle. As you roll, if dough starts to stick to rolling pin or work surface, sprinkle with a little more flour but not too much to make the dough dry.

Spread filling mixture evenly over dough. Start with the long side, and roll the dough into a log. Be careful not to roll too tight, or the middles will pop out. With a very sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 8 equal pieces. Arrange rolls in pan with the swirled edge facing up. If you haven’t cut them evenly, pat down the tops so they are about the same height. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest and rise for about 1 hour if using refrigerated dough or 40 minutes if using unrefrigerated dough. Note: rising time was in the original recipe so I’ve included it here. But I’ve found that you don’t really need to do this… they’ll still rise during the baking process… so if you really can’t wait for those hot caramel sticky buns.. go ahead and bake ‘em! ;o)

Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. While still hot, run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the caramel rolls. Invert immediately onto a serving dish. Don’t let them sit too long or you’ll have trouble getting them out of the pan. If needed, spread out the caramel topping evenly over all the rolls while caramel is still hot. Sometimes mine oozes to the middle and the outside rolls need more covering (as in the picture) and sometimes it oozes more over the outside rolls.

God Bless,




For more recipes, visit my blog at:
http://whatscookinginmykitchen.blogspot.com/