Maple sticky buns are soft sweet rolls that are topped with a buttery, maple brown sugar topping. These maple pecan sticky buns can be made from scratch in about an hour.
In a small saucepan, stir milk, sugar, and butter together. Heat over low heat just until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to about 100-105 F.
Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the yeast and warm water.
Add 2 cups flour and salt to the yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute.
With the mixer still going, add remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time. Mix about 1 ½ minutes, or until dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. You may find that you don't need to use all of the flour.
Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.
Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top.
Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel.
Let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 10 minutes.
While dough is rising, prepare the topping.
Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, maple syrup, and salt together in medium bowl until smooth.
Add water and whisk until combined.
Pour mixture into prepared pan. If necessary, tilt pan to get mixture to cover pan.
Sprinkle evenly with pecans, if using. Set aside.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and roll into a 12x16-inch rectangle.
Stir filling ingredients together, and spread over dough. Since the filling is a little crumbly, I gently press it into the dough to help it stick.
Roll dough up lengthwise, pinching seam to seal.
Cut into 12 pieces, and place over topping in prepared baking dish. I use a serrated knife to cut the dough.
Cover the baking dish with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.
Bake at 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.
Tent with aluminum foil, and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until baked through.
Let the sticky buns cool in pan for 5 minutes.
Place a serving dish over the pan, and carefully invert pan. Be careful as topping will be hot.
Remove pan, and replace any topping that has fallen off.
Let buns sit 10-15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Milk - Skim to whole milk will work. However, using whole milk will give you a softer, richer dough.
Butter - I use salted butter in the dough, filling, and topping. If using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch or two of salt.
Instant yeast - Feel free to use active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, simply let the yeast proof for 5-10 minutes after step 4, or until the yeast is foamy.
Warm water - It's important that the water be warm but not too hot. Water that's too hot can kill the yeast. If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, the water like warm bath water but shouldn't feel too hot for you.
All-purpose flour - It's important to properly measure the flour. Too much flour in the dough will give you dry, heavy rolls. Either weigh the flour (the weights can be found by clicking on "metric" under the ingredients) or sift/stir it to break it up. The lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level.
Brown sugar - Light or dark brown sugar will work.
Maple syrup - I highly recommend using pure maple syrup.
Maple flavor - Maple flavor helps to bump up the maple taste. It can be found with extracts.
Pecans - Toasting the pecans helps to really bring out the nuttiness. Feel free to sub walnuts or omit the nuts if necessary.