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(upbeat music)
All right, so the first and most optional part
of this recipe is making toasted sugar
which is basically just the process
of slowly caramelizing a whole bag of sugar in the oven.
We're just gonna dump a five pound bag of sugar
into a baking dish and place in a 300-degree-Fahrenheit oven
for about an hour,
after which time it should have picked up
a little tinge of caramel color.
At this point, we're gonna give it
a thorough tiny whiskin' or just stir it with a fork
and continue baking for another two to four hours,
stirring every 30 minutes.
This is both gonna give our sugar a nice golden color
and a decadent caramelized flavor.
This stuff has myriad uses in all manner of baked goods
but the idea to use it in sticky buns comes
from the one and only Stella Parks.
Just allow it to cool completely and store it
as you would plain old sugar.
The next idea we're incorporating in this recipe
is that of tangzhong,
or lightly cooked flour and water paste
normally used in Japanese milk bread.
In a small bowl, we are combining via tiny whisk 150 grams
of tap water with 37 grams of all-purpose flour
creating a sort of cloudy, gross-looking liquid.
Now you could cook this on the stove top
like a traditional tangzhong,
but I'm taking a page out of America's Test Kitchen's book
and microwaving on high power three times
for 25 seconds each time.
Whisk thoroughly between each application
of the radioactive death box
and after anywhere from 50 to 75 seconds,
you should find that it turns into a thick paste.
This stuff basically
just helps the dough retain water during baking
so it stays softer and moister longer.
Don't ask me how.
That's as far as my knowledge goes.
Once you got your flour paste nice and thick
we're gonna place it into the bowl of a stand mixer
where we're gonna combine it
with 165 milliliters of room-temperature whole milk.
Affix whisk attachments and whisk thoroughly
into an homogenous paste.
The milk should cool off the mixture from the microwave
but give it the old fashioned fingy test
if you're not sure.
It should be nice and lukewarm and to it,
we're gonna add one whole egg plus one large egg yolk.
If you've dropped the shell in there,
just make sure you fish it out.
Throw the whisk back on there
and whisk until completely combined.
Then we're stopping to add 430 grams of all-purpose flour,
two and a quarter teaspoons
or one packet of instant yeast.
Attach dough hooks and mix on low speed until just combined.
You just want it to the point
where there's no dry patches of flour remaining.
At this point, we're gonna shut it down
and let it sit for 15 minutes,
giving the flour an opportunity to hydrate,
and giving us an opportunity
to add two teaspoons of kosher salt,
or a teaspoon and half of table salt
and 50 grams or about three tablespoons worth
of our toasted sugar.
Drop that mixer down and get to kneading
on medium-low speed for about five minutes,
after which time the dough
should be nice and stretchy and tacky.
But we're not done adding stuff.
85 grams or six tablespoons worth
of unsalted, room-temperature butter.
Add it in, drop it down,
and mix for another five minutes on medium-low speed.
This is going to emulsify the butter into the dough
the same way that we would in a brioche
which is going to give it a rich flavor,
a luxuriant mouthfeel, and a nice tight, soft crumb.
It is also, however,
going to make our dough very, very sticky.
Do not be discouraged.
It's going to be easier to handle
after the first bulk ferment,
which we're gonna get it ready for right now.
Lightly flour your countertop,
turn out the very sticky dough
and gently knead it by hand
for a minute or two before forming it into a ball
which we're gonna form by passing it back and forth,
hand to hand, and letting its tackiness
sort of pull the top taut
until it's smooth and bouncy and round.
Then we are generously oiling our very largest bowl
and plopping the dough inside,
where it's going to rise under cover of plastic wrap,
maybe give it a little spritz of oil on top,
for anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half,
depending on, well about a million factors,
temperature, humidity altitude,
your cat or cats' emotional states.
But the key is we want it to roughly double in size.
While that's a doublin',
we can get to work on our topping.
I'm sprinkling maybe a cup and a half
or about 225 grams of halved pecans
in a ungreased baking vessel
and toasting for about five minutes
at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let those cool down and into a large bowl,
we are combining 100 grams
or about half a cup of dark brown sugar,
another 100 grams of toasted sugar,
six tablespoons or 85 grams of melted butter,
and a quarter cup or 60 milliliters of dark corn syrup.
Do you hear those gaps in my voiceover?
That's me Googling conversions.
We're also adding a half teaspoon of kosher salt
and tiny whisking
until we've got a nice smooth, gooey goo.
Then we're grabbing our 13 by 9 baking dish
and generously spraying it with nonstick spray,
wiping up any excess
and filling it with our saccharin goo.
Spreading it evenly across the bottom
with our tiniest spatula
and topping with our toasted pecans, pecans,
making sure that they're evenly distributed
throughout the bottom of the baking dish.
Then go ahead and set this aside,
'cause it's time to get rolling
in more ways than one.
First, we are retrieving our dough that has doubled in size.
Then we are turning it out
onto a generously floured work surface
and rolling it out using a generously floured rolling pin
to a rectangle roughly 15 by 18 inches
or 38 by 45 centimeters.
Then we are combining one tablespoon of cinnamon
with three quarters of a cup
or about 150 grams of dark brown sugar
to form a sweet fragrant mixture
that will serve as our filling.
So we're just gonna start evenly sprinkling it out
across the surface of our dough,
leaving a little gap on the end, furthest away from you.
Then I like to hit the whole thing
with little freshly-grated nutmeg
and some freshly-grated orange zest.
These are very optional
but, like the toasted sugar, very delicious.
Then on the wide side of the dough, heading towards the gap,
we are tightly rolling the dough into a sort of roll,
which we're gonna place seam side down
and using a bread knife or a length of dental floss,
trim off the ends and cut into 12 evenly-sized pieces.
This is best accomplished
by cutting straight down the middle
and then placing marks where you intend to cut.
I like to divide each roll
in half and then each half into thirds.
You want these to end up
with as consistent thickness as possible.
So you end up with a nice flat thing of sticky buns
which, once cut, we're gonna start to arrange
in our topping-filled baking pan
and then they must rise once again.
So we're gonna cover them
with some lightly-oiled plastic wrap,
and then you could either let them rise at room temperature
for about an hour or let them sit overnight
in the fridge which is going to deepen their flavor,
letting them come to room temperature
for about two hours before baking.
I'm opting for the quick method today.
I've got a birthday boy in the other room
who's awaiting his sticky buns
and you know that these guys are ready to go
when they're big and poofy and just starting to touch.
Then these guys are headed into a 375-degree-Fahrenheit oven
for about 20 minutes,
making sure not to bake them on the uppermost rack.
If you bake them on the uppermost rack
you're gonna have a bad time.
Bake them on the center rack for 20 minutes,
taking them out of the oven and tenting with foil,
baking for an additional 10 to 15 minutes
until the thickest part of the sticky buns
registers 200 degrees Fahrenheit,
or 210 degrees Fahrenheit.
That's probably fine.
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say that that's fine.
In reality, this means
that you're probably gonna have slightly less moist buns.
Either way, let this guy cool on a wire rack
for about five minutes and then the fun part, inversion.
Place a rimmed baking sheet over the top of the buns
and give 'em a flip.
Take a moment to pray to the sticky bun gods
that everything is dislodged and reveal.
The social-media-ready fruit of your labor.
Make sure you scoop any leftover topping
out of the pan and onto the buns.
And, if you can manage it,
wait another five or 10 minutes before digging in.
Maybe use this opportunity to snag a couple sticky pics
for the 'Gram, and then it's time, at long last,
to tear and share.
These sticky buns make for a hell of a way
to start or finish your day.
First off, they live up to their name.
They are sticky and they are buns
but they're also so much more.
Their caramelized sweetness is compounded
by the toasted sugar.
The crumb is super soft and squishy,
thanks to the cooked flour paste,
and the orange zest and nutmeg bring new facets
to the flavor.
Now, the reason that I wanted to make this episode
is because it was Sawyer's birthday
and he loves cinnamon sweet things,
but the disadvantage to having your birthday cake made
on Basics with Babish is
that I have to take a chunk out of it and eat it on camera.
So he's probably gonna notice
that there's a whole sticky button missing
when he makes his birthday wish.
What's he gonna wish for?
Probably that instead I got him something
from today's sponsor, Edible.
Edible wants to help people celebrate special moments
with a special treat.
There's no better way to share smiles
than with Edible's experiential gifts.
Choose from things like fruit flowers,
holiday-curated boxes, and create-your-own dessert boxes.
They aren't just for the holidays either.
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And it gets better.
They have free next-day delivery
so you can surprise your loved ones and Sawyer.
Go to https://www.edible.com to get a gift
for your friends and family
or click the link in the video description.
(upbeat music)