I'm a Daring Baker: Sticky Buns & Cinnamon Rolls

After Jewish Purist's Bagels, a fancy Strawberry Mirror Cake and delicious Milk Chocolate & Caramel Tart a la Eric Kayser, it's time for daring comfort baking. Pip in the City's Marce chose a recipe for Sticky Buns/Cinnamon Rolls from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I've been really busy all September, so I didn't have a chance to make these buns/rolls until today, which was a bit nerve-wrecking. What if the dough won't rise/burn in the oven/collapse in the tin? Luckily, they turned out just well. I'm not intimidated of using fresh yeast in the kitchen, and I've made cinnamon rolls for years (remember this?) Remember, the task of any daring baker is to use a recipe without changes. However, Marce had given us some allowances. I made one portion of dough, and used half of it to make a batch of sticky buns and used the other half for making fondant-glazed cinnamon rolls. As orange extract was allowed in the glazing, I cheated a little and added some of my precious Boyajian Pure Orange Oil in the dough instead of lemon zest/juice. I had used this orange extract for making madeleines few months ago, and liked the intense orange flavour it yielded. Continuing the theme, I used finely chopped crystallised orange zest - lovingly made by my dear K. - instead of nuts and almonds for the sticky buns (well, dried fruit was allowed, and crystallised orange zest surely counts, no?)

Both the sticky buns (above) and fondant-glazed cinnamon rolls (below) were delicious. Very, very rich, both of them, but yummy. As they were not more difficult to make than my usual cinnamon rolls, then I might make these again when I want something more luxurious..

Below are quantities 'converted' to my European metric kitchen. The quantitites for the dough make one batch of sticky buns, and one batch of cinnamon rolls. Quantities for fondant glaze and sticky caramel layer have been reduced accordingly.

Enjoy! We're dashing off to my parents place to share some of the still-warm sticky buns with them :) You can learn how other Daring Bakers did with this month's challenge by browsing through the blogroll here.

Cinnamon Rolls & Sticky Buns



The dough:
90 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
75 grams butter
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon orange oil
450-550 grams plain/all-puprose flour
40 grams fresh yeast
240 ml milk, at room temperature

For sprinkling:
100 grams sugar
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

For sticky buns:
See below.

White fondant glaze:
250 ml icing sugar, sifted
0.25 tsp orange oil
2-3 Tbsp warm milk
Add orange and milk to the icing sugar, then whisk vigorously until you've got a thick, smooth paste.

To make the buns:

1. Mix body-temperature milk with crumbled yeast, let dissolve.

2. Cream together the sugar, salt, and butter on medium-high speed in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a large metal spoon and mixing bowl and do it by hand). Whip in the egg and orange oil until smooth. Then add the flour, yeast+milk. Mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until the dough forms a ball. Switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes (or knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes), or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. You may have to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Prove room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

4. Sprinkle the table with a light coating of flower, transfer the dough to the counter. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top with flour to keep it from sticking to the pin. Roll it into a rectangle about 1-1.5 cm thick and 14 inches wide by 12 inches long for larger buns, or 18 inches wide by 9 inches long for smaller buns.
Don´t roll out the dough too thin, or the finished buns will be tough and chewy rather than soft and plump.

5. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough and (C) roll the dough up into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. With the seam side down, cut the dough into 8 to 12 pieces each about 1 3/4 inches thick for larger buns, or 12 to 16 pieces each 2.5 cm thick for smaller buns.)

6. For cinnamon buns, line 1 or more sheet pans with baking parchment. Place the buns approximately 1/2 inch apart so that they aren´t touching but are close to one another.

7. For sticky buns, coat the bottom of 1 baking dish pans with sides at least 4 cm high with a 6 mm layer of the caramel glaze. Sprinkle on the chopped crystallised orange zest. Lay the pieces of dough on top of the caramel glaze, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

8. Proof at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size. You may also retard the shaped buns in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, pulling the pans out of the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours before baking to allow the dough to proof.

9. Preheat the oven to 175°C with the oven rack in the middle shelf for cinnamon buns but on the lowest shelf for sticky buns.

10. Bake the cinnamon buns for 20 to 30 minutes or the sticky buns 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. If you are baking sticky buns, remember that they are really upside down (regular cinnamon buns are baked right side up), so the heat has to penetrate through the pan and into the glaze to caramelize it. The tops will become the bottoms, so they may appear dark and done, but the real key is whether the underside is fully baked. It takes practice to know just when to pull the buns out of the oven.

11. For cinnamon buns, cool the buns in the pan for about 10 minutes and then streak white fondant glaze across the tops, while the buns are warm but not too hot. Remove the buns from the pans and place them on a cooling rack. Wait for at least 20 minutes before serving.

12. For the sticky buns, cool the buns in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove them by flipping them over into another pan. Carefully scoop any run-off glaze back over the buns with a spatula. Wait at least 20 minutes before serving.

Caramel glaze for sticky buns
90 grams butter, at room temperature
4 Tbsp caster sugar
4 Tbsp soft brown sugar (I used 'fariinsuhkur')
0.25 tsp salt
4 Tbsp light syrup (I used Dansukker)
0.5 tsp orange oil
Mix sugars, salt and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, and cream together for 2 minutes on high speed with the paddle attachment. Add 4 Tbsp light syrup and 0.5 tsp orange oil . Continue to cream for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Spread at the bottom of the baking pan with a 6-7 mm layer.