I make sticky buns once a year, for Christmas morning. In our house we observe a handful of Jewish holidays, Christmas, and we also celebrate Easter and Christmas with my husband's family. I needed something to make our small morning Christmas special and entertaining until it was time to go to Grandma's, where there are cousins, more presents, and Christmas stockings stuffed with candy, so I started two traditions: a book my daughter can open right away that we read together to buy daddy a little more sleep time, and these sticky buns.
I love sticky buns and I baked them a lot as a teenager, including sending them by mail to distant friends. Now of course I want them to be sourdough, and I experimented annually until I found a recipe I A) liked enough to keep track of and B) remembered to actually keep track of. This draws on a potato sticky bun dough from the Home Joys blog, turned sourdough by me, plus the caramel and filling from Smitten Kitchen. The sourdough cuts the sweet of the caramel just a little.
Sourdough Potato Sticky Buns
½ C warm potato water
½ C mashed taters
1 C active leaven (built 6-8 hours prior from an active starter)
⅓ C butter
⅙ C honey
1 egg
1 t salt
3 C flour (I use half AP white, half Baker's field "sifted" bread flour (flour w/ the germ but not the bran))
Filling
¼ C brn sugar
2 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
⅛ t salt (kosher)
1 ½ T unsalted butter
1 ½ C toasted and cooled chopped pecans, divided
Caramel
½ C unsalted butter
¾ C dark brn sugar
¾ C heavy cream
⅓ C honey
¼ t kosher salt
(Or 1C brn sugar, no honey, for low fructose)
Make a leaven 6-8 hours before you plan to mix dough (or more in a cold house - I put mine in a closet with a heater to make 6 work in the winter). Small amount of starter + ~ 1 C flour, weighed + equal weight of lukewarm water (about 145g each).
I start the leaven when I get up Christmas eve day and then prep the potatoes, caramel and filling, and measure the flour and get the butter out for the dough.
Cook Potatoes, reserve water and mash. I just estimate enough to make 1/2 C mashed.
Mix dough: Mix all ingredients into a soft dough. Knead 5 minutes
Raise in a greased bowl to 2x volume (3-4 hours - again I need to use a heater in my house to meet this timeline in winter, but when we are going to church with my husband's family I actually want the dough to rise slower so I mix right before we leave, and assemble when we get home from dinner).
Make caramel: melt butter. Stir in ¾ C brn sugar and ¾ C heavy cream, ⅓ C honey, ¼ t kosher salt. Bring to a boil, reduce, and simmer until glossy and brown - 3-5 min. Pour in bottom and up sides of a 9x13 (or equivalent) pan and cool in fridge.
Make filling: toast pecans, cool and chop. Melt butter. Mix all ingredients.
Assemble: Roll raised dough into 12 x 18 rectangle.
Sprinkle filling evenly. Roll up jelly-roll style from long side.
Slice in 15 or 12 (1 ½”)
Place slices in pan(s). Raise 2+ hours until doubled or overnight in fridge. If overnight, remove from fridge first thing in AM while pre-heating.
Bake @ 375F on a middle rack 30-40 min or until lightly browned and 185+ degrees (F) in the center. If they start to brown too fast, tent with foil.
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| partway through bake |
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