Yield: 12 sticky buns
Recipe: 169/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 232
A couple of weeks ago, I had some time to bake during the weekend and thought I would finally make these carrot sticky buns, a recipe that I had been purposely ignoring since the beginning of this adventure. Even though I absolutely love carrot cake and it is definitely in my top two cakes, for some reason the idea of having whole wheat and carrot sticky buns with raisins did not appeal to me at all. I just thought it sounded weird. Illogical on my part, certainly. I’m glad that I was in fact very wrong! This recipe does take some time to come together as it is a multistep process, but nothing too complicated. They came out absolutely delicious, so much so that my husband did not want us to bring them to work to share, but insisted on eating the dozen. Can’t say I blame him.
Ingredients for dough:
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- ¼ cup warm water (105°F/41°C)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 5 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups loosely packed, coarsely grated carrot
- 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Ingredients for filling:
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup walnut pieces
I did make quite a mistake while preparing the dough, in which I was so focused on the whole wheat flour that I misread the instruction to “add both flours” and only added the whole wheat one. The dough was very loose, but Anna did note that it should be soft and sticky so I though, yeah, why not! Alas, after the proofing when I inverted the bowl with the dough on a board to roll it out, I realized this could not be correct. There is soft and then there is soft. After I realized my mistake I just added the all-purpose flour, mixed it in as delicately as possible and continued the process as normal. I was debating whether I should let it proof again for 30 minutes or so before I proceeded, but I decided against it and I think it turned out fine. Probably not as light and fluffy as if I had mixed the flours together before the doubling, but still very good and enjoyable. What I also loved about these delightful sticky buns is how they were not too sweet actually. I would have enjoyed them with a drizzle of cream cheese frosting on top, most definitely. If you have any doubts about this recipe, please do give it a try. You won’t regret it!
Directions:
- Stir the buttermilk, warm water and yeast in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar, egg, carrot, whole wheat and all-purpose flours, and salt, and mix at low speed until blended.
- Add the butter, increase the speed, and mix until blended and stretchy-looking, about 4 minutes (the batter will be very soft and sticky). Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it rest in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 1.5 hours.
- Prepare the filling by stirring the butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon. Grease a muffin tin and spoon a teaspoonful of the filling into the bottom of each cup, reserving the rest of the filling for inside the sticky buns.
- On a generously floured work surface, turn out the dough. Flour the surface of the dough and roll it to a rectangle about 20 inches by 12 inches. Since the dough is soft, it will roll easily. Spread the reserved filling over the surface of the dough and sprinkle it with raisins and walnut pieces. Roll up the dough from the long side and slice into 12 buns. Place each bun into a muffin cup. Cover the pan with a tea towel and let the dough rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, until the tops have browned evenly and the dough appears fully cooked when you separate the layers to look. Let the buns sit for 5 minutes, then turn the muffin tin onto a baking tray to top them out. The sticky buns are best served warm or at room temperature. They will keep in an airtight container for a day.
Happy baking!
Valerie
Valerie 