I'll be honest, these aren't the sticky buns that Mom always made. This is a recipe that Maggie sent me a few years ago, and I've been making them ever since. They always turn out pretty incredibly in my humble opinion. I love the lemon zest in the buns! You can't skip that. Enjoy!
Sticky Buns
6 1/2 Tbsp (3.25 oz) granulated sugar
1 tsp (.25 oz) salt
5 1/2 Tbsp (2.75 oz) shortening or unsalted butter or margarine (I use butter)
1 large (1.65 oz) egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp (.1 oz) grated zest of 1 lemon
3 1/2 c (16 oz) unbleached bread or all-purpose flour
2 tsp (.22 oz) instant yeast
1 1/8 c to 1 1/4 c (9 to 10 oz) whole milk or buttermilk OR 3 Tbsp (1oz) powdered milk and 1 cup (8 oz) water
1/2 c (4 oz) cinnamon sugar (6 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar plus 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon)
Caramel Glaze for Sticky Buns
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb unsalted butter
1/2 c corn syrup
1 tsp lemon, orange, or vanilla extract (I always use vanilla)
For Sticky Buns
Cream the butter, salt, and sugar. Mix in egg and lemon zest. Beat in flour, yeast, and milk and beat or knead until dough is tacky, but not sticky, has an internal temp of 77-81 degrees, and passes the windowpane test (hold a small piece of dough up, and gently stretch it. It should become very thin and translucent without breaking.) Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with an oiled piece of plastic wrap until it doubles in size - approximately 2 hours. Punch dough down, role into a rectangle 12 X 14 inches sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll up and slice.
For glaze
Beat together all ingredients until light and fluffy. Spread in the bottom of a 9X13 inch pan.
Assembly
Place cinnamon roles on top of glaze, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise at room temp for 75-90 minutes (or let rise, then place in refrigerator overnight. Let sit out for an hour before baking.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.
Happy baking,
Molly
Yup, this is the recipe to use! I always use butter, not shortening, and the buttermilk adds a nice flavor. The acidity of the buttermilk is not necessary to get a good rise (like in buttermilk pancakes), so subbing milk is fine.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about high altitude bread baking. It seems like the problem is too little pressure, causing everything to rise to far and fast, so it then collapses? Maybe try putting the dough to rise in the fridge, which will slow it down and give more time for flavors to develop. I think properly developing the surface tension on the dough may also be important. It's hard to describe how to do that, but you essentially have to stretch the top of the dough by pulling on it as you shape it, so that it gets "tight". Sort of like if you make the sheets on your bed really well, you can bounce a quarter off of them. Beyond that, I don't know - can you make a "rising box" where you artificially increase the air pressure? You could try to rig something up to the steamer on an espresso machine, and pump some nice warm air into an otherwise sealed box. Not sure how you would handle the baking then - maybe if you have a convection oven there might be an area to set pressure. beyond that, I would google, "baking at high altitude"