Sticky Buns

For the longest time, I have wanted to make sticky buns. Sticky buns are a close relative to cinnamon buns but better. Who can resist a cinnamon bun coated in sticky goo? This past week, I had a strong urge to knead some bread dough. (I'm weird, what can I say?) It was too early to bake challot for Shabbat but I reaaaally wanted to make dough. Then it hit me- I was going to make sticky buns. When my mom came about a month or so back she brought my copy of Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day and I thought it a good opportunity to try out a recipe. The dough was really easy to make. I loved the fact that the recipe called for vegetable oil and didnt have any eggs- this was a leaner, more virtuous dough, but no less good. I left the dough in the fridge for three days, I figured I'd just bring them for dessert on Shabbat and that's just what I did. Reinhart offers three sticky bun toppings and I chose the simplest one. I expected it to be more sticky and drippy but that could be that I made them the night before I served them and it just melted into the dough. Next time, these babies gotta be served fresh. Anyway, we heated them up on Friday night and dug in. They were super cinnamony and doughy and delicious. I think that's all I have to say on these. Make them. These buns are being sent to Yeastspotting!

Sticky Buns
adapted from Artisan Breads Every Day

Dough:
794 grams flour
2 tsp salt
85 grams sugar
5 tsp instant yeast
482 grams milk
113 grams vegetable oil

Filling:
2 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
vegetable oil

Topping:
113 grams sugar
113 grams dark brown sugar
113 grams margarine, room temperature
43 grams light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt

For the dough, place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add the liquid ingredients and stir to make a shaggy dough. Allow the dough to rest for fifteen minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly dusted surface and knead until a smooth, supple and tacky dough is formed. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to rise overnight or for up to 4 days. This was my risen dough which I let sit for three days.
On the day you're ready to bake, remove the dough two hours before assembly.
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.

For the sticky goo topping, beat all of the ingredients together. Divide the mixture among two 8 or 9 inch pans. It'll be hard to make it cover all the edges, but that's okay.

Turn your dough out on to a lightly dusted surface. Gently deflate it. Separate the dough into two halves.

Roll out one half of the dough into a large rectangle. Liberally brush with vegetable oil and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll up, jelly roll style and cut into one inch pieces.

Place in to the prepared pan. Repeat with the remaining dough half. Set aside to proof until doubled in size.

Here are my sticky buns nicely proofed. Towards the end of proofing, preheat the oven to 350.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, rotating as needed. Mine got quite a bit wonky, but mmm do they look good.

Allow them to cool for two or three minutes and then turn them out onto a platter to cool completely. Scrape the goo that's still in the pan and spread it over the top. Enjoy these ooey gooey bites of yumminess!