Quick Pecan Sticky Buns

I do like baking, especially yeast breads since they just make your house smell divine and they taste so good.  The downside is that it can take a while.  My sister-in-law has a recipe for bread that takes one hour from start to finish, but I hadn't tried it out--so today seemed like a good day to change that.

Some quick internet searching turned up the same recipe over and over with slight variations. My sis-in-law uses the version with liquid soy lecithin, but I don't have any of that on hand--but I do have  a container of "dough enhancer" which contains lecithin, so I figured I'd just experiment and just add it (none of the recipes I saw did that, but hey, I like experiments).

Ingredients
 5 1/2 c. bread flour
2-4 Tbs sugar (I used 4 since I'm making sweet rolls)
1 1/2 Tbs. (heaping) SAF instant yeast
1 Tbs. dough enhancer (opt.)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. oil
2 C. hot water
Non-stick spray

Filling
butter, softened
brown sugar
cinnamon

Topping
1/2 C. butter melted
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 C. pecans, rough chopped

Put all the dry ingredients in your mixer, yes, all of them including the dry yeast (I used my KitchenAid on this one and it was fine, but if you double the recipe, you'll need a Bosch).  Now add the water and oil and mix for a minute.  After 1 minute it should be all incorporated and look pretty sticky, if not, add a bit more water.  Now mix for 5 minutes in your mixer (or if you are doing it by hand, wow, you are stronger than me).

While its mixing up, I put everything away (including the flour! you don't need it again) and made sure the countertop was clean and dry.  Spray the counter with non-stick spray and dump the sticky dough on it (get your hands sprayed too).  Knead the dough for just a minute to get it in a nice ball.

I divided the dough in half and placed one half in a zipper bag (sprayed with non-stick spray) to save for later this week when I try scones.

The remaining dough I rolled out on the counter into about a 12x16 inch rectangle.   Spread with butter and then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll the dough into a long log.  I use dental floss or thread to slice 1 1/2 inch long rolls.

In your baking pan (I had 2 rounds, but a 9x13 would be fine-I only took pictures of just the one pan, but I ended up with about 12 rolls) mix the melted butter and brown sugar.  Sprinkle in the pecans.  Now place each of your rolls in the pan, cover with a dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, they were ready to bake!

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.  Invert on a serving tray right away and start eating :)

Since this was my first go-round, my total time from pulling out ingredients to eating a roll was about 70 minutes-not bad!  They taste very good--probably not award-winning when compared to other doughs, but very good.  Much better than the refrigerator/freezer rolls you can buy at the store.  

I'm pretty sure my sis-in-law uses this same recipe for monkey bread, dinner rolls, sandwich bread, pizza crust and more.  I'm going to keep trying it (adjusting the sugar amounts depending on my product).  Should be fun.