Sourdough Sticky Buns

These homemade caramel pecan sourdough sticky buns are made with the softest dough and leavened using just sourdough starter! They bake with an easy caramel sauce at the bottom of the pan, and are inverted after baking so the sauce runs over the rolls.

Start the dough the night before serving so it can do its long rise overnight. In the morning, shape the rolls, make the caramel sauce, bake, and serve warm for a special brunch! See the post for details on schedule variations.

There is nothing like a warm, soft, ultra-gooey sticky bun. They're the perfect item for a celebratory brunch or breakfast, and these are so easy to make!

The slight tang you get from the sourdough dough here is so good with the sweet caramel sauce and cinnamon-sugar filling. My personal, totally unbiased opinion is that using sourdough makes these the best sticky buns ever!

The (easy!) stick bun dough

This is my go-to dough for sourdough sweet buns. You may recognize it from these best-ever sourdough cinnamon rolls, and these festive pumpkin sourdough cinnamon rolls.

I love it because it's easy (so easy!) to make, and a delight to work with. It uses a high proportion of active sourdough starter, giving it a predictable rise and slightly toning down the sour flavor. (If you want to increase the sour flavor, see the timeline options below!)

The rolls bake up so soft and pillowy thanks to the butter, milk, and egg in the dough, but it's also sturdy enough that it's a cinch to roll out and cut. The best of both worlds!

Ingredients

Here is the cast of characters for this sourdough dough:

• Butter - A whole stick of (unsalted) butter. This makes it so rich, soft, and prevents the rolls from forming a hard crust while baking.
• Whole milk - Using milk instead of water makes these so soft!
• Active sourdough starter - You'll need 100 grams for this recipe. This is all the yeast needed for this dough.
• Sugar - There is a very small amount of sugar added to this dough. Its job is to make these softer and more tender, and to increase shelf life.
• Egg - 1 egg makes this dough ultra-rich and soft.
• Flour - Use all purpose flour here.
• Salt - I don't have a lot of hard and fast rules when it comes to bread making, but my number one rule is: don't forget the salt!

How to make it

Start by melting a stick of butter in a medium saucepan or skillet. Once it's melted, remove it from the heat and pour in the milk. The milk will cool the butter slightly while the butter and pan will warm the milk. The result: the perfect temperature liquid for making dough with minimal wait time. Be sure to feel it before using - it should feel like bath water.

Combine the starter, sugar, and egg in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (I love using my glass KitchenAid bowl for this - I can see how the rise is going and it comes with a lid!) Add the warm milk and butter mixture and mix to combine. Add the flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Affix the dough hook and knead on LOW speed for 6-8 minutes, until the dough begins pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Shape into a ball, and place in a buttered bowl to rise until doubled in size - about 8-12 hours.

Making the dough by hand - I like using a mixer for this dough because it's on the stickier side, but you can most definitely do it by hand if you're up for it! Add just enough flour to prevent sticking to your hands or the work surface. While this dough is fairly wet, the high fat content will work in your favor to help it not stick. As always, the key to success when working with sticky dough is to move quickly and to not be afraid of it - you're the boss!

The caramel sauce

This caramel sauce is so easy to make! It's almost the exact same as the sauce used for this sourdough monkey bread that I also love!

To make it, melt butter and brown sugar in a skillet over medium heat until bubbling and the sugar has dissolved. Pour it into a 9-inch square pan, and sprinkle with chopped pecans (if using)

The hot caramel sauce will cool in the pan while you shape the rolls, so you don't have to worry about it being too hot.

Rolls will do their second rise in the pan on top of the sauce for 1-3 hours. As the rolls bake, the caramel sauce will liquefy and bubble up around the rolls making them super soft and covered in caramel. When the pan is inverted onto a platter after baking, the pecans will sit on top of the rolls while the gooey caramel sauce settles in between each roll and each cinnamon-sugar spiral. It's so good and so easy!

The cinnamon-sugar filling

My favorite way to do the filling for cinnamon rolls is to melt a small amount of butter, then stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. This makes a mixture the texture of wet sand that's easy to spread on rolled out dough, and doesn't leak out of the rolls as much as a filling with lots of melted butter would.

Shaping sticky buns

Shaping sticky buns is exactly like shaping cinnamon rolls. You'll roll the dough out into a rectangle, cover the top with the cinnamon-sugar filling (be sure to leave a 1-inch strip without filling along one of the long edges of the dough), then roll into a tight log toward the uncovered edge. Pinch to seal.

For maximum cinnamon swirl, you want to roll the dough out into a 12 by 20-inch rectangle. However, if you're working with cold dough, you may not be able to get it so thin - that's okay! You will have less of a swirl, but the rolls will be no less delicious.

Cut into 9-10 rolls and nestle into the caramel sauce in the pan. Cover and let the rolls rise again until they're significantly puffed up - about 1-3 hours.

Baking + Inverting

Toward the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the rolls for 30-40 minutes.

Bake time will vary depending on how gooey you like your rolls, and what kind of pan you're using. Rolls in glass pans will take longer to bake than in metal pans.

If you prefer to temp your dough for doneness, you're aiming for an internal temperature between 190 and 200 degrees on a digital thermometer.

Once the rolls are baked, let them sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes. This gives the caramel sauce time to set and cool just a bit.

Then, it's time to invert! (AKA, the most fun part.) Place whatever plate or platter you're serving these on face-down on top of the pan. Keep in mind you want it to be large enough to handle any caramel sauce pooling. I like to use a piece of parchment paper between the plate and the rolls so I can easily move them around if needed.

Quickly invert the pan and let it sit for a minute or two, until the rolls drop out onto the plate. Remove the pan and serve immediately.

Variations + substitutions

• Pecans - You can substitute walnuts, or if your crowd doesn't care for nuts, omit them altogether!
• The type of pan - A square or round pan will work here, and you can use glass or metal. Just keep in mind the bake time will be on the shorter end of the range listed in the recipe if you're using a metal pan.
• The flour - You can use bread flour for these if you prefer! It will slightly change the texture of the rolls, but all other ingredients and proportions can remain the same. I like using all purpose flour because it's more easily accessible.

Tips for the best sticky buns ever

• You want to serve these hot! Aim to invert them when people are ready and congregating to eat. People can wait for sticky buns, but sticky buns can't wait for people. Imagine serving up a steaming tray of sticky buns - that's what you're going for!
• If you like the taste of more sour rolls, lengthen the rise time and do some of it in the fridge. You can let the dough rise ⅔ of the way for the first rise, then let it finish in the fridge. Alternatively, keep the shaped rolls in the pan in the fridge for the second rise. Let the pan come to room temperature before baking. (See below for detailed schedule options.)
• To double this recipe, simply double all the ingredients and use a 9 by 13-inch pan. The process and rise times will be exactly the same. You may need to increase bake time slightly, especially if using a glass pan.
• As with all sourdough recipes, rely on visual cues rather than set times for the rises. The rise times listed are my best estimates, and what it typically takes in my kitchen, but it will vary from kitchen to kitchen depending on ambient temperature, strength of your starter, etc.

Some schedule options

It is so nice having flexible recipes that can be knocked out ahead of time for the holidays! Here are some options to spread out the work of this recipe and streamline your breakfast or brunch. Keep in mind, the more you extend the rise time with sourdough, the more the sour flavor will come through in the final product!

Scale up or down depending on when you aim to eat, and as with all sourdough, the times are my best estimates. For best results, use visual cues rather than exact times.

• The overnight option - Start the dough around 8 PM and let it rise overnight. Around 7 AM, make the caramel sauce and the filling, shape the rolls, and let them do their second rise until around 10 AM. Bake and eat!
• 24-hour option #1 - Start the dough around 10 AM the day before you want to eat them. Let it rise until doubled in size. Around 8 PM, make the caramel sauce, make the filling, and shape the rolls. Arrange in the baking pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight to do the second rise. Let the pan come to room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking in the morning.
• 24-hour option #2 - Start the dough around 10 AM the day before you want to eat them. Let it rise until it's increased in size by about 60%. Move to the fridge overnight. In the morning, make the caramel sauce, filling, and shape the rolls. Let them rise for 3-4 hours before baking.
• 48-hour option - Start the dough around 10 AM 2 days before you want to eat them. Let it rise until it's increased in size by about 60%. This will take 5-6 hours. Move to the fridge until the next evening. The night before, make the caramel sauce, filling, and shape the rolls. Cover and return to the fridge for the second rise. Let the pan come to room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking in the morning.