A Sticky Situation

Breakfast treats are a common weekend occurrence at our home, and Mother's Day is an excuse to take it to the next level.I typically make cinnamon buns using my buttermilk bread recipe and top them with a cream cheese glaze. For a special treat, I decided to try sticky buns instead. These are essentially a cinnamon roll that's baked in a caramel-pecan sauce, then inverted so the sauce becomes a topping.I used Kenji López-Alt's recipe from The Food Lab, which is unusual in its heavy use of brown sugar, even in the dough. The buns are fairly dense compared to the buttermilk bread dough, and not as buttery as Flour's brioche-based buns. I wondered if I had not let them rise enough (I used an overnight rise, letting the buns warm at room temperature for about 90 minutes prior to baking), but the pictures in The Food Lab look similarly dense.I used Gold Medal flour, and suspect that a higher protein bread flour would yield a airier, if chewier, result. The recipe would benefit from a switch to King Arthur all purpose, or even bread flour. Still, the buns are tasty, and the brown sugar add an interesting warmth, with a satisfying sticky topping.