The oatmeal dough never rose, so it became flatbread, drizzled with olive oil, dusted with sea salt, and topped with fresh farmer’s cheese with scallions, sautéed spinach, and caramelized red onions. The whole wheat dough rose, but it just wasn’t enough for the super, mega loaf I had envisioned, so instead it became two smaller loaves, one sprinkled with seeds, the other with herbs, and was gifted out to visitors. The brioche dough rose to damn near perfection, and everything would have been peachy had I not forgotten that the bowl with the resting dough was being stored in the oven and then preheated the oven to roast vegetables for dinner. The good news is after a bread related melt-down that I really wish family and boyfriend hadn’t witnessed, enough of the half-baked dough could be scraped away to reveal some still viable brioche – just enough, as it turns out, to make honey, caramel, sticky, nut buns for breakfast.
Honey Caramel Sticky Nut Buns
From Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day
Relatively easy if you make the dough ahead of time; delicious enough that your family might forget the dough-related hissy fit you pitched earlier.
The dough:
Makes enough for a 2lb loaf (or about 8 buns)
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tbs. granulated yeast
1/8 cup vital wheat gluten
1 cup lukewarm water (plus 1 tbs. if the mixture seems dry)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted, or margarine, or a neutral flavored oil (we used vegetable oil)
1/3 cup honey (plus a little bit to feed the yeast)
2 large eggs
Put the yeast in a bowl with a bit of honey and the warm water. Whisk together the flour, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a separate bowl. Combine the liquid ingredients, adding the yeast mixture last. Mix together all the dry and wet ingredients using a spoon or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Don’t knead this dough as it will actually knock air out of your mixture. The dough should seem a bit loose, but will firm up after chilling. Cover the dough loosely and allow to rise at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until it has risen and then collapsed slightly on top. Refrigerate the dough for up to 5 days, but for at least 2 hours before baking.
The honey-caramel topping and filling:
Makes enough for about 8 buns
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, or margarine
1/2 tsp. orange zest
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans, walnuts, or macadamia nuts
Cream together all the ingredients except the nuts. Spread 1/4 of the mixture evenly over the bottom on a 9inch round cake pan and set aside.
When you are ready to bake, pull the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about 1/8-inch thick, and rectangular in shape. Use white or whole wheat flour to dust the dough with to prevent it from sticking to your work surface. Spread the rest of the dough with the honey-caramel mixture, sprinkle on the nuts, and roll the dough up into a log, lengthwise. Pinch the seam closed and using a very sharp knife cut the log into 8 equal slices. Arrange your buns in the cake pan with the swirled side facing up, cover loosely with plastic warp, and allow to rest for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the cake pan with the buns on top of a large cookie sheet, and place everything in the oven. The gooey, sticky, yummy caramel mixture will bubble and inevitably overflow (hence the cookie sheet under the cake pan as I learned this lesson the hard way and am still scratching away caramel from the oven floor), but if you act quickly once the buns have been pulled from the oven, you can scrape the surplus from the sheet tray and put it back on the buns, or just eat it as a pre-bun snack. Bake the buns for 30 minutes or until well set in the center. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the buns while they’re still hot and then invert them onto a serving dish immediately. If they cool in the pan, you will likely need a chisel to remove them and the caramel coating from your bake ware. Serve warm.
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