These indulgent pecan sticky buns start with buttery brioche dough that bakes up soft, fluffy, and perfectly tender. Each roll is swirled with cinnamon and sugar, and then baked on top of a gooey caramel pecan layer. These are the ultimate special-occasion breakfast or brunch treat.
I recently picked up a copy of Joanne Chang’s book Pastry Love and fell in love with her brioche dough recipe. It’s the perfect base for so many pastries, including classic brioche cinnamon rolls or these pecan sticky buns. I’m not going to lie–these sticky buns are a labor of love. Getting an overnight rise on the dough makes is so flavorful, but is certainly not for anyone is a huge hurry.
Brioche dough is highly enriched with eggs and butter. It makes for a uniquely rich, soft, and cake-like bread. As a result, these pecan sticky buns are super tender, buttery, and flavorful. The deep flavor you get from the enriched dough pairs nicely caramel and pecans. For these pecan sticky buns I start with Joanne’s recipe as the base (all credit goes to her for this), and then make a homemade sauce layered with chopped pecans.
To bake these specific buns I used two large muffin pans. This allows the edges of each bun to caramelize with the sticky bun sauce and get nice and crispy, while maintaining soft and fluffy centers. You could, of course, use a larger baking pan if that is what you have and/or prefer.
Anyways, if you’re looking for an impressive weekend breakfast, a new Christmas or holiday bun, or just a new recipe to try out, I would 100% recommend these pecan sticky buns!
Ingredient Notes
Ingredients for Brioche Dough
- All-Purpose Flour and Bread Flour: Bread flour to form more gluten and all-purpose flour for a soft crumb.
- Active Dry Yeast: Make sure that you are using active dry yeast and not instant/rapid rise yeast.
- Unsalted Butter, softened: temperature of butter is important to keep in mind. Too soft or too firm of butter will not incorporate properly into the dough (see tips section for more details).
- Eggs, at room temperature: Soak eggs in hot water for 5-10 minutes before baking.
- Sugar: Just a hint of sugar adds a bit of sweetness and gives the yeast a little boost of energy.
Ingredients for Sticky Bun Filling and Caramel
- Unsalted Pecans: Finely chop the pecans before baking
- Butter: cut into slices so that it melts evenly
- Light brown sugar + maple syrup: these make up the sweet parts of the caramel sauce. The maple syrup keeps the caramel smooth. Feel free to substitute with honey.
- Heavy Cream: keeps the sauce and caramel smooth
- Ground cinnamon: add warm flavors.
Sticky Bun Baking Tips
- Measure flour correctly: using a digital food scale is the most accurate way to measure flour. Flour is an ingredient that is easy to over- or under-measure depending on how you scoop and pack it. If you do not have a food scale, the most important thing to remember is to not tightly pack flour into your measuring cup.
- Use a stand mixer: this is not a recipe where I would recommend or say that you can knead by hand. You will be using the mixer for 20+ minutes to incorporate ingredients and build up flavor.
- Ensure yeast is active: test your yeast in warm water or milk before baking to make sure it still works. It should get foamy within a few minutes. If it does not, consider a new jar or packet.
- Butter temperature: for the best results when making brioche, ensure that your butter is at room temperature. Room temperature butter is still cool to the touch (not warm) and will leave a clean indent when you press down into it. It should not sink, feel greasy, or be difficult to press down. Butter temperature is important in brioche because too cool of butter will not incorporate into the dough, while too warm of butter will leave the dough greasy.
- Overnight proof: it is recommended to do the first proof in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. However, overnight (8-12 hours) will yield the best results as it will allow the dough to really develop an enhanced flavor and be easier to handle.
- Grease muffin pan or baking pan: to keep the buns from getting stuck with their sticky, gooey sauce, make sure to liberally grease whatever pan you are baking in.
- Second proof: allow buns to puff up and increase by 1.5x in size during their second proof. They should look visibly puffy and pillowy.
- Enjoy fresh and warm: brioche pecan sticky buns are best when they’re fresh out of the oven and still warm and gooey! If you have any leftover buns I recommend warming them for 10-20 seconds in the microwave before enjoying.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I double this recipe?
- You actually will only need to use half of the brioche dough that you make for this recipe, so feel free to double the caramel and pecan portions to make twice as many sticky buns!
- What size pan should I use?
- I used jumbo muffin pans for bake my sticky buns. Do not use a standard cupcake pan as the wells are not large enough. You could also bake these in a 9×13 pan, two round cake pans, or any combination of pans that you have. Just make sure to divide up the caramel sauce and pecans proportionally if you are using multiple pans,
- What should I do with leftover brioche dough?
- Since this recipe will only. use half of the dough you make, there are so many options for what you can do with the other half! Make cinnamon rolls, try your hand at Pain Suisse, make brioche rolls, or bake a loaf of brioche bread.
- How should I store leftover sticky buns?
- Store leftover sticky buns in an airtight container. They will be good at room temperature for 1-2 days, or up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Note that they will dry out more in the refrigerator. Reheat the rolls in the microwave before serving
Did You Make This Recipe?
Are you interested in making this recipe but not ready to bake yet? Not to worry! You can hover over (or tap on mobile/tablet) any image in this post to save it to Pinterest. You can also directly pin the recipe card down below. The recipe will be waiting for you when you need it. 🙂
Happy baking my friends and as always, hope you love your brioche pecan sticky buns!
Other Great Breakfasts and Pastries
Jordan Marsh Inspired Blueberry Muffins
Yield: 12 Sticky Buns
Brioche Pecan Sticky Buns
The best sticky buns featuring Flour Bakery aka Joanne Chang's brioche dough. The buns are individually baked in giant muffin tins, allowing each to get a crisp caramel crust while being fluffy and soft inside. These sticky buns are a labor of love that is 100% worth it.
Prep Time
1 hour
Cook Time
25 minutes
Additional Time
8 hours
Total Time
9 hours 25 minutes
Ingredients
Sticky Buns & Caramel
- ½ Recipe Brioche Dough
- 113g (½ cup) unsalted butter
- 220g (1 cup) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt (â…› tsp)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Sticky Bun Filling
- 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Brioche Dough
- 245g all-purpose flour
- 300g bread flour
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 2½ tsp kosher salt
- 67g (â…“ cup) granulated sugar
- 120g (½ cup) cold water
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 18 tbsp unsalted butter (2¼ sticks), softened to room temperature and cut into slices
Instructions
Brioche Dough
- In a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, combine the all-purpose flour, bread flour, yeast, kosher salt, sugar, cold water, and eggs. Mix on low speed to bring the ingredients together, scraping down the bowl if necessary to help incorporate the flour. Then continue mixing on low for another 3-4 minutes. The dough will be stiff.
- While continuing to run the mixer on low, add the butter piece by piece into the bowl. Allow each piece to combine a bit before adding the next one. You want the butter to mix completely into the dough. Stop the mixer to scrape along the sides of the bowl or break the dough up to help. It may take 10-12 minutes to fully add and incorporate all of the butter.
- Once the butter is incorporated into the dough, continue mixing on medium speed for 12-15 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, and a bit shiny. It should pull from the sides of the bowl and have some stretch to it. If the dough breaks easily when you stretch it, then continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes to build up the gluten.
- Place the dough into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly against the surface of the dough. Allow the dough to proof in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Sticky Buns
- Make the caramel sauce. In a small or medium saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream, cinnamon, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove the sauce from heat and set it aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Grease two 6-ct jumbo muffin pans (12 wells total). Divide and spoon the caramel sauce into the base of each cup, dividing it evenly. I find myself adding roughly 2 tbsp of sauce into each cup. Then, sprinkle some pecans on top of the sauce. See notes for alternative pan options.
- Make the bun filling by combining the ¼ cup light brown sugar, 3 tbsp granulated sugar, and ground cinnamon.
- Roll out the dough. Ensure that you are only using half of the brioche dough per batch. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured flat surface. Roll it out to a 12"x16" rectangle. The dough should have the consistency of a cold play-doh.
- Brush the top surface of the dough with the 2 tbsp of melted butter, leaving a 1 cm rim along all edges. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top and use your fingers to rub it into the butter. Roll the dough into a log, starting from the longer edge and then pinch the seam to seal off the log. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the log into 12 equal sized pieces.
- Place one roll into each muffin cup, the spiral side down. Cover the muffin pans and allow the rolls to proof in a warm spot for 60-90 minutes, or until they look visibly puffed up and have increased 1.5x in size.
- When the sticky buns are almost done proofing, preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake the sticky buns for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the interiors reach a temperature of 180°-190°F. Allow the buns to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before carefully turning them out. If any of the caramel or pecans get stuck in the pan, simply use a spoon to scoop out and place them back on the buns.
- The buns are best enjoyed fresh day-of while they're still warm!
Notes
- The reason we are making twice as much brioche dough as needed is because the quantity of ingredients for the full recipe is best for allowing the hook in your mixer to really grab on a knead properly for brioche.
- You can double the sticky bun ingredients to use all of the brioche dough. You will end up with 24 buns instead of 12. Other options are to make cinnamon rolls or bake plain brioche bread/rolls with the other half of dough. To bake as rolls, shape the dough into balls and brush with egg wash before baking for 20-25 minutes at 350°F.
- Make sure you are using jumbo muffin pans and not regular-sized cupcake pans (which are too small). If you do not have jumbo muffin pans you can bake these rolls in round 8" or 9" cake pans (6 rolls per pan), or a 9"x13" baking dish. Spread the caramel sauce and pecans along the bottom of greased baking pans and place the rolls on top, giving them 1-2 inches of space to grow and expand. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on the size of your pan.
- Butter temperature is important here to ensure that it incorporates properly into the dough. Too firm and it won't mix in. Too soft and the dough will be greasy. Room temperature works best. The butter should be soft enough that you can press it down with your finger, but should not look melty.
- The brioche dough comes from Joanne Chang's cookbook Pastry Love. She is the mastermind and I'm just the baking enthusiast using this amazing dough for my sweet treats!
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