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Sticky buns

It's been years since I last made sticky buns, and when I went looking for a recipe I discovered that most of them wanted me to use frozen bread dough. And I might have done that if I could have found any in the supermarket, but I couldn't. Most of the other recipes involved a daunting number of steps. So, I invented: I took the dough ingredients from one recipe and modified them; took the steps for making the dough from another recipe, and the filling and topping from a third. Even though I say it myself, these are really good! But — they are not low-anything.

What made them really easy is that I have a big KitchenAid mixer with dough hook. I did the entire dough preparation in the mixer bowl, including the first two risings.

  • 2 envelopes active dry yeast
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1/3 cup warm milk
  • 1/3 cup warm water

Combine in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook. Let stand for about 10 minutes until the yeast gets all bubbly and yeasty.

  • 4 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 2 sticks very soft or melted butter

Add to the yeast mixture and combine thoroughly.

  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt

Combine flour and salt. Add it to the wet ingredients a cup at a time. Allow the dough hook to knead the dough until it is satiny and smooth. Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl with a clean cloth, and let stand in a warm spot until the dough doubles in bulk. About 2 hours.

With fingers, punch down the dough, recover, and let rise a second time until double in bulk. About 1 hour.

While the dough is rising for the second time, prepare the pan and filling (below).

  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • …
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • …
  • 1/2 cup (at least) pecan pieces or halves

Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

In a medium or large saucepan*, combined brown sugar, butter, and honey. Stir and bring to boil over medium heat to melt the sugar.

Add the whiskey and boil for 1 minute, stirring continuously.

Remove from heat and stir in the pecans. Pour into the buttered baking pan and set aside.

*When the whiskey is added, the mixture will bubble up fiercely, and if the pan is too small it will boil over and make a terrible mess.

  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Combine sugar and spices and mix well.

  • Dough, twice risen

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Punch it down and roll it into a rectangle about 12 by 16 inches.

Sprinkle the sugar/spice mixture evenly over the dough.

Starting from the long side, roll the dough into a cylinder, pressing the edge to seal.

Cut into 12 slices, crosswise, and arrange the slices in the prepared baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap.

If doing ahead, put the pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight.

Let rise until double in bulk. If the dough is not chilled, this will take about an hour. If the dough has been chilled, allow at least 1 1/2 hours.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F. The buns will be golden and the syrup bubbly.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert onto a big platter or baking sheet. Serve warm.

Servings: 12

Credits: Emeril's dough for brioche; Caprial Pence's method for challah; Beth Bohmeyer's filling and topping for Titanic spiked pecan sticky buns