October: Beantown Sticky Buns!

Wait it’s already mid November?! The panic is real. I have so little time to accomplish all of my Christmas baking goals. My list is kind of ridiculous and the hubs thinks I’m insane. Wish me luck! On to October’s challenge. Warning: we opted out of going apple picking and therefore can’t share our best basic apple picking insta worthy pics with you. #shotsfired

So this month was a bit of a disaster in terms of finding the time to bake. We visited Patisserie Rhubarbe to taste test some goods and find some inspiration. We tried their delicious lemon tart and I believe a date dacquoise (but I forgot to take note of exactly what it was…). 

(As you can see the lemon tart didn’t travel so well)

What did I end up baking you ask? Neither of the delights from Rhubarbe… I wasn’t really feeling inspired and couldn’t get the sticky buns we had in Boston out of my head. Beantown Sticky Buns it is! So I took the hubs to Boston over thanksgiving weekend for his 30^th birthday. I organized a little craft brewery tour on the way down, making stops in Vermont, New Hampshire and one just outside of Boston. Not to be outdone with my impressive brewery selection, you know I had to look up all of the best bakeries, and believe me when I say my list was nothing to balk at. While I loved the sticky buns from Flour Bakery. It was Tatte Bakery that stole the show for me. From the impressive display cases to the decor, not to mention that we went o the location outside of the Harvard University Campus… I was in love. 

Fast forward to Sunday and I was really in the mood for warm cinnamon-y goodness. The hubs asked “Didn’t you make cinnamon buns last month?” If you are wondering the same, the answer is no. I baked a cross between a croissant and a brioche, leaving cinnamon buns up for grabs. 

I found part of the sticky bun recipe here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2017/04/12/maple-pecan-sticky-buns/

I followed the section for the topping from this recipe and the actual sweet dough recipe from none other than the Vanilla Bean Baking Book! Obvs. 

The process of making the dough went well. The recipe does suggest to let the dough rest in the fridge overnight for optimal handling. However after meal prepping during dough proofing, I had no room in the fridge for this step. 

Lessons to take away: 

1) There is such a thing as over proofing. It’s hard to tell by the picture but they more than doubled in size and were huge prior to going into the oven. I blame the quiche that was in the oven that forced the last proof to go on a little too long (like 40 minutes too long). By the time they came out of the oven they were huge. And to my discovery later, the buns in the middle were a little under baked. 

 2) Forcing someone (the hubs) to eat a sticky bun at 11pm on a Sunday might not result in the best feedback.

Overall success! The dough is delicious! The topping is good as well, but upon further reflection might not be my fave. I think icing is the way to go.

Stay tuned for November’s post, when the construction and traffic force the hubs and I to venture elsewhere!