Tuesday, May 27, 2008

TWD: Crazy Pecan Sticky Rolls or...The Rolls that Broke My Mixer.


This week's TWD was chosen by Madame Chow of Madame Chow's Kitchen....and she went all out with choosing one of the most visually decadent items in the book, the Pecan Honey Sticky Rolls. Just looking at these things made me schedule a trip to the dentist.

The recipe was intimidating to me, because I have never made brioche from scratch before. After reading the TWD P&Q where gals were saying their stand mixers were jumping around on the counter, my mouth was a big wide open O of shock. TWD organizers offered us the option to do an alternate, but since I did that last week...I wanted the challenge this time around.

So I got all my supplies..jeez who knew that yeast expires so quickly?? I feel like I am always buying it. The dough came together quite easily actually, even though my KA mixer that has not been serviced...EVER...decided right at the time I was going to turn it off anyway that it was DONE and just stopped mixing. It is totally stuck now, so I have to take it into the local KA service center. Hopefully, it's not totally dead (though a new green one would look SO fab in our kitchen!!)



I used the awesome trick that another TWD gal posted about helping your dough with the environment for rising, warm a mug of water in the microwave to create a humid warm environment then put your dough in there to let it rise. Just don't turn it on accidentally.

My dough rose quite nicely using that tip. Slapped it down...put it in the fridge, punched it down a few times, that rise was crazy...and then let it rest overnight. Actually a little longer than overnight, like well into the afternoon of the next day due to time constraints. I was afraid it would be a little dry, but it was perfect.

Now for the interesting part. After reading the Pecan Sticky Rolls recipe I realized most of the hard work was done with the dough itself. I decided to make slightly less than the 1/2 recipe that Dorie called for as knowing there are 3 sticks of butter in that loaf makes it easy for me to not want 15 of these things floating around my kitchen.



Froze about 2/3 of the dough. The glaze calls for whole pecans but the visual was so MUCH to me in the book, that I ended up using diced pecans and walnuts and less than what was listed. I broke out this beautiful jar of Filoli Wildflower Honey that I had purchased a few months ago from Filoli Gardens...this beautiful private garden we have our here...we go every year and they have their own bees and make their own honey. I didn't measure out the sugars and cinnamon and all that and just went with what I thought looked good.



Popped them in the microwave humid environment for almost 2 hours so they could puff. They were looking really good after about 1 hour, but I figured they still had some ways to go maybe...





Or maybe not because within about 20 minutes more they started getting crazy huge. It was hilarious because in the book it says leave some space in the pan but it doesn't quantify how much and mine were pressing into each other and basically starting to push upwards out of the pyrex. It was a funny sight. Put them in the oven, and they continued to push UPWARDS and out of the pan vertically. Wow. Next time I'd probably put them into the oven about 20 minutes earlier to keep that nice vertical flat bottom...I didn't get any pictures of the crazy upwards rise (well any that weren't blurry).

They baked within 25 minutes, probably due to the 8x8 pan size, and I unmolded them, they popped out easily. And the taste...WOW out of this world. Now I am really glad I didn't make the whole 1/2 recipe because I could sit and eat these things one after another. As I finish this post early on Tues morning, there is one..lone...bun...staring at me.



The butter in the bread gives it this wonderful soft rich crispness that just almost melts in your mouth. I am glad we stick with the pecans because they work fabulously with the honey and sugars, but REALLY glad I did the diced instead of full. I think that a full mass of pecans on the top would overpower the delicate taste of the brioche, and I didn't break my stand mixer to not taste the wonderful bread.

This was the most challenging recipe thus far for me in TWD and I am super proud that they came off so wonderfully! Minus stand mixer breakage. Moment of silence for the stand mixer...hopefully I can get it fixed this week.

Thanks Madame Chow for a wonderful recipe pick...go here to check out the rest of the TWD gals brioche masterpieces.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your mixer! I would cry if mine stopped working!
Glad your rolls still turned out though!

Unknown said...

So sorry about your mixer! At least it waited until its work was done to collapse. Beautiful sticky rolls!

Engineer Baker said...

Now you know what recipe to use when you have that undeniable urge to get a new green KA ;)

ostwestwind said...

Sorry about your mixer, but a KA is a tough thing, but the result looks great!


Ulrike from Küchenlatein

April said...

Your buns look delicious! Sorry about your KA!!

Anonymous said...

Oh the visions of your ever rising dough circles just make my heart flutter.

Bumblebutton said...

Uh oh. My 18 year old KA died in January after mixing a double batch of bread dough. It was a justifiable (says me) reason to upgrade to a KA professional!

Miranda said...

Oh my goodness. Those buns look DEVINE!

Anonymous said...

Poor mixer! Surely nobody will suspect you sabotaged it to get a green one.

Anonymous said...

The buns look great - sorry about your KA! Mine almost walked off the counter, but I caught it just in time!

Anonymous said...

These look great!! I'm so sorry about your mixer, though!! The pictures are fabulous!

kimberly salem said...

sad about the mixer :( hope you can get it fixed! the buns look tasty!

Lori said...

My mixer is like my right leg. Yikes. Sorry to hear that.

THe rolls look amazing though!

The Kitchen Vixen said...

Sorry to hear about your mixer, but at least it was worth it! The buns look great!

CB said...

Dang! You got some super yeast huh? Bummer about your mixer. I'd be SO sad but... maybe a new green one is in your future? ;) Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Anonymous said...

Bummer about your mixer. BUT they do look fabulously yummy. Would have loved to see the crazy rising buns.

Anne said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your mixer, but I'm glad you tackled brioche- it looks awesome!

About the yeast, too, I've always kept mine in the freezer and it works great and lasts longer... anyone else do that? I don't know of any adverse consequences...

Anonymous said...

Okay, I am the only one sitting here giggling at your post (and yes, I am sorry about her/his possible demise, but darn you are funny writing about it all).

Your bread looks so great! I have learned much.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

your buns look fab! poor little KA, though...keep us posted on its health!

LyB said...

I think I would have cried if my mixer went kaput, I love it so! Your sticky buns look fabulous, let us know if your mixer is OK, inquiring minds want to know! :)

Rachel said...

Oh dang sorry about the mixer -- I'm sure it will turn out fine. The story of the rolls that kept on rising cracked me up. kudos!

Heather B said...

Great buns! hehe...doesn't that just sound wrong? They look fab and tasty!

mimi said...

lovely big buns!! haha, okay but seriously, they came out looking great. sorry for the untimely passing of the KA, may he or she be reincarnated into a bright new green one for you!

PheMom said...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've just about killed my KA too. I'm glad they still turned out for you though.

marae said...

thank you everyone for all the kind sympathetic words for the stand mixer !!!

i am taking it into the appliance repair shop tomorrow. i asked them how many had never been fixable, they said ZERO...*but* some people decide it's not worth the $$ to fix if it's very expensive (aka really broken, like from brioche mixing on speed 7 for 6 minutes!)...so we'll see.

i hope it can be salvaged because while a new green one would be so fun...i am kind of attached to my old professional size white one, i bought it on ebay about 10 years ago and it's been a trooper.

thankfully the buns were AMAZING as most of you already know!!

bumble...a double batch, wow!!

anne..thanks for the tip on the yeast!

kayte..ha ha i know isn't the story funny? 'what did you do this wkd...i broke my mixer! how about you??'

heather & mimi, i have been giggling all day at the buns references on all the blogs. sometimes cooking terms sound sooo sketchy! ;)

oh and for those wondering, i am 'making do' with a KA 9 speed hand mixer in the stand's absence. :)

Samira said...

sorry to here about your mixer but your buns look soooo good. i want to eat them all up.

Peabody said...

Oh no! So sorry about your mixer. That is why I have two...I need a back up. ;)
Your buns look great though.

Anonymous said...

So sorry about your mixer, may it rest in peace.
Well, you'll just have to go out and buy that nice new green one, won't you?
Gorgeous buns by the way!

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

Mine quit a few times too, but the overload reset button worked! What will you do without your KA!! These sticky buns are worth it, though!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

The overload reset button is on the top right side on mine, but I have an older model. Hope this fixes it! :)
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Anonymous said...

You have the food photography thing down! Beautiful job with the buns. Also, thanks for passing along the moit environment for rising dough tip.

Linda said...

Good luck with your KA...you're rolls turned out delicious looking!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

OMG! Ok, lately my mixer has been making this funny sound (actually it's my mom's mixer and it's over 10 years old). So I'm secretely hoping it will kick the bucket so I can get a green one!

:) :)

Di said...

I hope everything turns out okay with your mixer. I'm glad it waited until you were all the way done with the dough to stop working. =) It looks like the buns turned out great!

Mari said...

I'm going to chop up the pecans next time, because yours look so nice! I hope your KA recovers soon!

Ammy Lea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jayne said...

Great photos! And my condolences on your mixer!