Sticky Bun Basics

• Sticky buns are usually made with a kind of sweetened brioche dough, a yeasted bread dough rich in eggs and butter. Fillings vary depending on your recipe, but can include brown or granulated white sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, and usually a liquid sweetener such as honey or corn syrup. The liquid sweetener helps the sugars remain gooey and soft without recrystallizing when the finished rolls cool. Recipes typically call for the pan to be spread with a portion of this filling mixed with water, then the rolls made up like ordinary cinnamon rolls and placed on top of the filling.

Refrigeration and Yeast Doughs

• Refrigeration is one of the methods used by both home and professional bakers to slow the rise of yeasted breads and to manipulate the texture of the dough. Yeast continues its work of raising your dough even at refrigerator temperatures, but it's much slower. One hour of rising on the counter might have the same effect as twelve hours in the refrigerator, depending on your dough. Very rich doughs, the kind used for sticky buns, are also refrigerated to make them easier to work with. They're very soft when warm, but are firmer and easier to roll when chilled.

The Night Before

• To prepare cinnamon rolls for the next day, make up the dough and filling as directed in your recipe. Let the dough rise until nearly doubled, as usual, then punch it down and chill it in your refrigerator for at least two hours. This makes the dough easier to work with and slows its rise. Roll out the dough and spread it with filling, then roll and cut it into individual rolls. Spread your remaining filling in the bottom of the pan with cold water, then place your cut rolls in the pan. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight.

Baking Your Buns

• After an overnight rise of 10 to 14 hours, your sticky buns should be fully risen and ready to bake. Preheat your oven to your recipe's baking texture and slide in the rolls. They'll likely take five to seven minutes longer to bake than usual, starting from refrigerator temperature. They're done when the filling bubbles vigorously around them and the rolls are deeply golden on top. Turn out the buns onto a sheet of parchment paper to catch the drips and use a flexible spatula to scrape any remaining filling from the pan onto the rolls. Soaking the pan immediately will make cleanup much easier. Serve the buns as soon as they can be comfortably handled.