Sticky Buns - "Schnecken"

Place raisins/currants in bowl of water for 15 minutes to plump them up.  Once rehydrated, discard the water. 

Scald the milk (heat on the stove until steaming but not boiling, stirring constantly so as not to burn it).  Once scalded, let it stand and cool to lukewarm (about 100 F).

Add sugar, salt, and yeast to the warm milk. Stir and let stand 5 minutes. 

Add the yeasty milk to 1 ½ cups flour in a mixing bowl.  Beat well, cover, and let rise until at least double in size (about 1 hour). 

Add eggs, butter, and enough additional flour sufficient to allow the dough to be kneaded.

Let the dough rise again (approximately another hour). Punch it down and turn out onto a floured surface.

At this point, pre-heat your oven to 375 F.

Roll the dough to ½ inch thickness.

Brush with ¼ cup melted butter and sprinkle generously with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and chopped pecans. 

Roll up like a jelly roll and slice into 1-inch thick pieces. 

Coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan or dish with the remaining butter, sparing enough to brush the rolls before baking. 

Distribute brown sugar, cinnamon, and whole pecans liberally on the bottom of the pan. 

Place the cut roll pieces tightly into the pan. 

Brush the rolls with melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. 

Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the rolls have a light brown color. 

Remove the pan and set aside to cool for at least ½ hour. 

Once cool, invert the pan carefully onto a large platter or board and lift the pan away from the baked buns.

Commentary

The recipe was straightforward, not too difficult for the everyday baker. The recipe yielded 16 sticky buns. After allowing a half hour to cool, a sample bun (or several) was tasted. It was a little short, modestly sticky, easily pulled into bite-sized pieces and presented a texture slightly on the dry side. The flavor was marvelous—the mix of raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans was well-balanced and perfectly restored my memory of sticky buns from childhood.

We had several thoughts about improving the bake:

1. Shorten the bake. We baked for 25 minutes; 20 minutes might have been better.

2. Allow a third rise of the cut buns in the pan before baking.

3. Cut the buns a little thicker (perhaps 1 ½” thick) before baking.

4. Distribute brown sugar more evenly on pan bottom and on unbaked buns to promote stickiness.

5. Some recipes recommend a hot oven (400 F) which might provide a better sugar melt. However, this presents greater risk of charring the sugar.

Read the Sticky Buns Blog Entry

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