Episode 25
Sticky Buns
Eat one of these, and you'll be sure to find yourself in a sticky situation. But no worries - it's all ooey-gooey fun. A sticky bun is all about messy eating. Consuming one is a lip-smacking, finger-licking experience - no utensils required.
Sticky buns are sometimes called schnecken, due to their German origins. "Schnecken" is the German word for snails, which the cinnamon swirl on top resembles.
They start with all-purpose flour, then blend in a pre-mix of sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cream cheese and butter come next. These fats are just the right consistency for an automated dough hook to efficiently work them into the dry ingredients. An employee then pours milk into the blender. It binds the ingredients, turning the mix into biscuit dough. The dough needs to stay cool for food safety reasons, so they monitor the temperature. The next worker loads the dough into an extruder that squeezes it into a wide, flat strip called the dough band. The dough band rides a conveyor that slopes down to a narrow channel. As it enters, the dough folds over from the sides, creating two layers. A roller squeezes the layers thinner. A device called the fanner now zigzags back and forth to layer the dough, ribbon-style. The layers pile up six deep. And because they were originally two layers, there are now 12 in total. Metal rollers press the pack down and thin it substantially until it's about 2/10 of an inch thick.
Next up is the sticky bun filling, called cinnamon schmear. It starts with blocks of butter and lots of ground cinnamon. They add brown sugar instead of white. It has an intense molasses flavor and is stickier than white sugar. Canola oil loosens and homogenizes the ingredients, transforming the mix into the sugary cinnamon paste known as the schmear. This cinnamon schmear is the consistency of cake frosting, so it can be easily pumped over to the dough. A series of nozzles deposit dollops of the cinnamon schmear onto the sticky bun dough. The dough travels under a long blade that spreads the cinnamon schmear evenly. A device called a plow then lifts the outside edges and folds them over. Rollers press down the curled edges to tighten them. Each tightly curled edge will now become the center of a sticky bun roll. Angled rollers called roll winders pick up the curled edges of the dough and fold it into two parallel cinnamon rolls. A guillotine blade slices the parallel rolls into buns, creating sets of two.
Meanwhile, the sweet and sticky topping is bubbling away in a big kettle. It's made of honey, brown sugar, and butter. This topping actually goes on the bottom of the baking tray. They pump it into the container and then toss in pecans to give it some crunch. Putting the topping on the bottom of the baking tray means, of course, that these sticky buns are to be baked upside down, once purchased by the consumer. It's a strategic baking technique. Cooked upside down, the sticky topping will saturate the buns for added moisture. And by not exposing the topping to direct heat, it won't burn as it caramelizes into a sugary glaze.
The sticky buns now head into a tunnel chilled by liquid nitrogen for a very fast freeze. After about four minutes, the buns emerge frozen solid, with the freshness locked in. The sticky buns then ride another conveyor to the wrapping station. Here, machinery quickly seals plastic film around each box of buns, after which it's into an oven to heat-shrink the plastic. It all happens in seconds, giving the frozen buns no time to thaw.
It has taken hours of prep work at the factory, but these frozen sticky buns are ready for baking. All the cook has to do is pop the tray in the oven, and the buns will be ready in 20 minutes. No need to get your hands sticky by making them from scratch.
