Yesterday's Venture

So, yesterday I got crazy and decided to try making these sticky buns that I had seen on a Food Network episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay. So, I found the recipe here on Food Network's website. Now, this recipe had alot of bad reviews. People said it was unclear and didn't work out. So, I did make a couple of changes:

First of all, in the recipe for the brioche dough, they have included directions for baking the brioche into a loaf. Don't do that:) After you knead the dough, put it in a bowl and cover it and put it in the refrigerator for 6 hours. That's right, 6 hours! It takes a LONG time to make these. Mine didn't get done until nearly midnight. I started at 1:00 pm. So start early, or leave the dough in the fridge overnight and make them in the morning. It makes about 15 buns, not 6!

Ok, for the ingredients in the brioche, I had to change them a bit. When I did what the recipe said, the dough was so dry that even my bosch mixer couldn't knead it. It just moved it around in circles in the bowl. So, after consulting another brioche recipe, I decided to add 2 more eggs. I also decreased the butter to 2 sticks (1 cup). This seemed to work really well. I also did not have high gluten flour, so I just added 2 Tbsp. gluten to my regular flour. Also, the lady who gave the recipe uses cake yeast. I used 2 Tbsp. of instant yeast, which you can buy at Sam's or Costco. And I did not use ice water, just regular water.

For the filling in the rolls, I increased the cinnamon from 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp.

For the Goo recipe, I added 1 tsp. vanilla and did NOT add the water it calls for. Also, I think it is important to melt the butter, then add the brown sugar and then boil those together for a few minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. On my candy thermometer, it reached about 250 degrees. I lined my pan with parchment paper, poured in the goo, and added an extra cup of chopped pecans to the pan. This is the way it was on the show, but they didn't write it in the recipe.

Just a note: 1 ounce=2 Tbsp.

So, all in all I thought this was a pretty easy recipe. It is VERY sweet and gooey. It took about 20 minutes longer to bake than the recipe says. I think my 9x13 pan was a bit too small. A large roasting pan would have been better. If the middle isn't done and the top is already brown, just cover it loosely with foil to keep the top from browning further.

Ok, let me know if you are brave enough to give these a try!