Saturday 29 September 2007

Daring Bakers September - Cinnamon & Sticky Buns


It’s that time of month again, and five months on the Daring Baker Challenge has lost none of its charm. If you would like to read some background on the Daring Bakers link at the end of this post, or in my 'Places I Like To Visit' on the right.

It’s a fun thing to do - dedicate a special time to sharing a baking experience and maybe making something that you might not otherwise have done. This months challenge is Cinnamon and / or Sticky Buns, the recipe comes from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I chose to do the recipe half and half – half cinnamon and half sticky.
I have wanted to make sticky buns for quite a number of years now, and can think of a couple I have earmarked to try, Tessa Kiros has a recipe in one of her books that I’ve heard rave reviews about. The thing that has stopped me is thinking that I might end up with a burned caramel and buns that were stuck like glue to the tin. Never let it be said I’m not a positive thinker =) I came very close to chickening out of the sticky bun part, but thankfully I gave it a go, and you know what? They came out fine!

The recipe can be broken down into component parts, the (1)sweet yeasted dough, (2) cinnamon sugar, (3) white fondant glaze and (4) caramel glaze plus fruit and nuts.


Like many multi-stepped recipes, as a whole they seem like a lot but break it down and what you have is quite manageable. The cinnamon sugar was just a stir together job, and the recipe allows you to use any spices you like, I thought about using mixed spice to go down the hot-cross-bun style route, but stuck with cinnamon because we all like it, and as I’ve not made this type of bun before I wanted it to be echt. The caramel glaze was made in the food mixer, and only a light bit of chopping for the fruit and nuts. The sweet yeasted dough flavoured with a little lemon zest was easy too, although I needed to add a few spoons more of flour than in the ingredients to make a dough.

I used the food mixer to knead the dough, something I've not done before – but will definitely do again, as it made such light work of it! When I think of the hard work kneading the bagels of a previous challenge… but I guess you have to do it by hand a number of times to know what it should look / feel like when the equipment has help out. The dough had a first rising of 2 hours, some fellow Daring Bakers had issues with slow rising dough, so I left it for 3 hours (having gone out) and it looked fine when I came back.

I used dried cranberries, apricots and pecans for my fruit and nuts.

The dough was rolled out, sprinkled with sugar, rolled up and cut into slices then set upon the baking sheet and the prepared pan with the caramel glaze with fruit and nuts for it’s final proving. Then into the oven, while I mixed up the fondant glaze (it taste so good on its own, cooks perk you know!).


My cinnamon bun whilst being in no way burned came out a lot darker than I would have expected, although I don’t have a lot of yeast and bread experience, so I’m really not sure it this is right or not. I had a vision in my mind of a kind of Danish pastry, which I suppose was a bit off track. The cinnamon buns came out first and were very pretty in their towering spiral circles. Once they cooled they were drizzled with the glaze, I did enjoy the drizzling a lot.


The sticky buns were inverted to turn them out, and what a sight to behold they were! Glistening caramel and bejewelled fruit, with a really golden bun dough in there somewhere.

We liked them both, my favourite was the cinnamon buns, probably for the lemon-cinnamon flavour combination which I really liked, that and the fact that they somehow reminded me of the bakery iced buns I can remember from childhood. Though the sticky buns were great too. I could hardly believe that I had made the results of this challenge, I’m really pleased with them.


Thank you to Marce of Pip in the City for choosing this months challenge. Click away at the Daring Bakers site to see how everyone else got on with them.

59 comments:

Shaun said...

Kelly-Jane - You really like your apricots, don't you? :-) I love your fruit and nut combination - pecans are too infrequently used, it seems, except for the great (and best?) American pie, pecan pie. I'm glad that you didn't let your inner-pessimism prevent you from participating in this month's Daring Bakers challenge because the results are stunning. I'd love one now as I write this at night...we could call it dessert instead of breakfast, right? :-)

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Kelly-Jane. They look beautiful and you're more daring than I! I chickened out of the sticky buns, but mainly because I love cinnamon buns.
As for Shaun's suggestion to eat them at night. They're very good at any time of day or night!

Peabody said...

I agree...many steps but very manageable.
Great job as always.

Anna's kitchen table said...

Kelly-jane, these both look so amazing. I'm afraid I'm not a daring baker! Too many steps put me off a recipe. I really should try not to be like that!
xx

Anh said...

KJ, your buns look fantastic! You make me crave for some right now although I just finished my batch. :)

slush said...

I love your fruit combo as well. Mmm. Very nice! Reading all these posts makes me want to make some more!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Simply irresistible! These are great looking buns KJ!

Hilda said...

The more I look at other DBers' blogs, the more I think I shouldn't have chickened out of the sticky buns. Yours look great, but if I'd made them, I would have eaten them all by myself! Hello pounds!

Anne said...

Mm, cranberries and apricots! They look beautiful!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Yeast and home made bread is always a winner Kelly-Jane and these buns pretty much prove it. Looking at multi-steps is sometimes overwhelming. Manageable when broken down.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on a successful challenge, Kelly-Jane! Both varieties look awesome, and I´m glad you enjoyed working with the dough.

Jes said...

Apricot and nut idea is fabulous! They look wonderful and tasty!

kellypea said...

Yay! You made both like me. It wasn't too bad, was it? Yes, using the mixer is a life-saver, especially with my weak wrists. Now getting it down from the cupboard is another story all together! I really like the combo of dried fruit and nuts you used. I'm going to make a note of that. Congrats! That last photo has me drooling.

Brilynn said...

Well done!

On an unrelated note- guess who's been making lots of waffles lately... ;)

Anne said...

I love your sticky buns with glistening caramel... it looks so inviting :)

Helene said...

Wow! That first and ast pictures just baout did me in with envy! I loved the sticky buns but again anything with an obscene amount f sugar is ok in my book. Love the combos on the sticky buns. Congrats on another beautifully execute challenge!

Jenny said...

Good for you on not chickening out of the sticky buns!
Lovely work, Kelly-Jane!

Annemarie said...

Fab looking buns, and fab use of the word echt. Glad you saw the challenge through because the look great.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad that you tried both of them. Your buns are gorgeous!

Unknown said...

I love all the toppings you added to your sticky buns - they look so decadent! Gret job!

Anonymous said...

Very nice :)

breadchick said...

Kelly-Jane, great job on your challenge this month! Good advice to everyone out there who find these long recipes overwhelming: break it down!!

Belinda said...

Kelly-Jane, wow! I am so impressed that you made both the cinnamon AND the sticky buns, and that they both turned out picture perfect! What a smashingly wonderful job you did with them! I thought the hint of lemon in the cinnamon buns glaze was a really nice touch as well. :-) I'm so happy to be joining all of you this month, and look forward to many more challenges!

Unknown said...

Yum... apricots! I used pecans myself, and loved that flavor.

Laura said...

Yummy buns Kelly-Jane.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Another Daring Baker, more cinnamon buns -- this is complete torture today! Your photos look amazing; I can feel myself putting on a pound or two just gazing at the pictures!

Anonymous said...

They both look great Kelly-Jane! :) You are definitely much more daring than I coz I only made the sticky ones!

Maggie said...

Well done you! The buns all look amazing.

Truffle said...

I love your choice of fruits. Such beautiful buns!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Love your choice of apricots, and it's so much fun to see the spread for sticky buns in all these different pans all over the world. Each different and still familiar. Well done!

Rose said...

Yum!

Anonymous said...

They look fantastic and delicious.

Deborah said...

Great job on both of your buns!! I really wish I would have tried to be creative on my sticky buns - especially after seeing the wonderful combination that you used!

marias23 said...

Yummers! Those sticky bunz look so good, you're making me wish I baked them in addition to the cinnamon rolls!

Anonymous said...

Delicous! I wish I could have one for my breakfast this morning.

Lis said...

Fantabulous Kelly-Jane! I love both of your rolls.. so pretty!

I'm just tickled that you got to try something you'd never made and were unsure about - especially with such great results!

Hugs sweetie!

xoxo

Nora B. said...

I love how you used cranberries, apricots and pecans - my kind of buns! Both versions look utterly delicious. Well done!

Amy said...

Great job, they look delish!

Aoife said...

Nice fruit choice -- I'll have to retry my sticky buns with variations like yours. Both they and the cinnamon buns look great!

Dolores said...

Beautiful bunz! :)

One of the surprise lessons I've gotten from my daring baker experience is the ability to parse a recipe, breaking it into easier executables (while indulging my inner technology geek).

Sandy said...

Wow, they look fantastic Kelly-Jane! Really beautiful.

Julie said...

Nice buns! The fruit looks like a nice addition! I like to put lemon zest in a lot of pastries I bake--it seems to freshen them up a bit.

Anonymous said...

Saying these looks delicious is an understatement!

Ari (Baking and Books)

Kelly-Jane said...

Thank you very much to every one of you, your comments mean a lot :)

KJxx

Andrea said...

Your buns turned out beautiful! And they do make a delicious night time snack, don't they???

Elle said...

All of your buns look beautiful, but I especially like the cranberry, apricot, pecan combination on the sticky buns. Great post!

Paola Westbeek said...

Wow, KJ! That's a fantastic set of photos there! You know, just this morning I was looking through a Donna Hay and saw a great recipe for sticky buns. I think I might make them for breakfast this weekend. Yours look delectable!

paola

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