Cinnamon Sticky Buns

A gooey, sweet and irresistible cinnamon bun for all occasions.

Prep Time3

Cook Time17

Servings: 12 Buns

Mix all the ingredients together except the butter and half the sugar - about 7 minutes on speed 2. The dough should be fairly strong and you should be able to open a gluten window that looks like a short or improved mix.
Add the remaining sugar and mix another 5 minutes.
Add the cold, but malleable butter. Mix another 5 minutes or until 100% of the butter is incorporated and the dough is cleaning the sides of the bowl. Check the dough again for strength. A gluten window should look closer to an intensive mix. Mix longer if it is not quite strong enough.
Allow a bulk fermentation of 1 hour at room temperature. Desired dough temperature is about 74F.

Cream the sugar and butter until smooth.
Add the salt, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and keep mixing until light and creamy.
Add in the pecans and mix slowly just to incorporate thoroughly.
Set aside until needed. Can be stored at room temperature for a few weeks or refrigerated for a year.

In a medium heat-resistant bowl, mix half the sugar (21g) with the cornstarch. Gently whisk in the egg yolks (approximately 2 yolks). Try to not incorporate any air.
Boil the milk in a small sauce pan with the other half of the sugar (21g). Stir constantly as it gets closer to boiling.
Pour about 1/3 of the boiling milk into the starch-sugar-egg mixture, whisking the entire time.
Pour this 1/3 milk-starch-sugar-egg mixture back into the sauce pan with the remaining 2/3 boiling milk. Whisk constantly.
When the mixture starts to boil again, reduce heat and continue cooking the mixture for 2 more minutes. Whisk constantly. It should become a smooth, yellow custard.
Pour the mixture into a shallow container and immediately place plastic wrap on it so a skin does not develop. Place in the refrigerator and do not use until it's fully cooled.
Pastry cream can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Place 200g of the chilled pastry cream (from above) in a bowl and make smooth with a silicone spatula.
Add the brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. You may have a few pastry cream lumps and that's ok.
Do not add the pecans (and raisins) here. You will add them in later.

Lightly butter your baking pans.
Place about 2 Tbsp (around 35g) of glaze into the base of each well of the baking pans. There will be 12 wells to fill.
Take your fermented dough and divide in half. Roll out each piece to be 16" wide and about 4mm thick (about 1/8"). Your final length will vary, what's important is that you have 16" in width.
Spread filling evenly across the entire flattened dough except for about a 1" border on the end closest to you (see pictures). When measuring the 16" width, this means you have filling across the top 15" of dough with a 1" border left bare on the bottom.
Sprinkle half the pecans (and half the raisins if using them) evenly over the filling.
Starting on the end away from you (the end opposite where you left a 1" border with no filling), roll the dough towards you until you have a tight cylinder. Seal the crease.
Slice the cylindrical into approximately 110-120g pieces (about 1 1/4" pieces). Place into the wells of the baking pan that is pre-buttered and which has glaze inside.

Cover with a damp towel and allow to proof at 80F for about 1.5 hrs (a little more if your kitchen is much cooler). You can also cover in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 1 day. If you time it right, you can have fresh baked buns for breakfast! Just remember that if you are refrigerating them, it takes about an hour for them to reach room temperature, so proofing time could be quite a bit longer this way.
Bake at about 350F for 17 minutes.
When finished, place parchment paper over hot pan, cover with a flat baking sheet. Invert the entire thing so all the buns fall out onto the parchment paper. Glaze will drip over the tops.
Allow to cool before enjoying.