Sohla Makes Cinnamon-Date Sticky Buns

[clapper clicks]

[Kevin] There's a whole process. [Sohla laughs]

We found it.

What is that?

Wow, so, was this your first date together?

[Kevin] This is actually a reunion.

[Ben] This is the original Cinnabon

where me and Kevin met.

Wow.

That's so romantic.

Oh my god.

[lively jazz music]

Okay, so Sarah, Molly, and I worked on something

called The Basically Guide to Better Baking.

It's the feature story in our next issue,

and we developed 10 recipes.

They go in order of difficulty.

The first recipe are these chocolate buckwheat cookies.

Those are the easiest ones.

And the cinnamon date sticky buns

that I'm gonna make today are level 10.

We made it so easy for the home.

This is not gonna be intimidating at all.

So I have three quarters of a cup of buttermilk here.

The buttermilk's gonna be the main liquid in the dough,

so that's what's gonna help make it very tender, very light.

And then six tablespoons of oil.

I tested this with butter and oil,

but the oil gave me a much lighter, fluffier texture.

Something about when you make a dough with oil,

it tends to not go stale the next day.

Right here, I'm just trying to take the chill off.

Warming it up slightly helps it proof a little faster.

You want to warm it up just enough

so that it's neutral, body temperature.

We're gonna come back over here.

Here, I have some dark brown sugar.

I just like dark because it's more flavorful.

You get more molasses-y thing.

I'm gonna whisk this up.

Okay, so we're gonna add one packet

of active dry yeast.

You know how some people mix the yeast

with some milk and let it hang out

until it gets foamy?

You can do that if you're worried that your yeast is old,

but if you know your yeast is fresh, just proceed.

Just mixing this up,

and now I'm going to whisk in my buttermilk and oil mixture.

This is gonna be my wet ingredients for the dough.

Okay, so I'm just pouring it into a measuring cup

so it's a little easier to handle.

This dough is very, very wet.

It has a really high hydration, and because of that,

it doesn't fully knead in the food processor,

so we're gonna just use the food processor to get it going,

but we still have to knead it a little bit,

but it's better than having to go at it

alone the whole time.

AP flour, kosher salt,

and then a quarter teaspoon of baking soda.

The baking soda isn't actually here for leavening.

Because we have buttermilk in the dough,

that makes the whole batter more acidic,

and less prone to browning.

We want a nice brown bun,

so the baking soda just makes it a little more alkaline

so it browns up better.

I'm just gonna pulse the dry ingredients some time.

And then I'm gonna stream all the wet

into the dry while the machine is running,

and we're gonna let it process for a few minutes

until it mostly comes together into a ball.

[food processor whirs]

Okay, so you can see, it's super wet,

so it doesn't want to ball up right away,

but just give it a minute.

Okay, so this has mostly come into a ball,

and you're gonna see,

the dough is actually pretty wet,

but that's exactly what we want.

A wet dough is gonna make sure

we're gonna have a nice, fluffy, light bun.

Don't add any flour to the table.

I know you're gonna want to.

Just, you have to trust me.

We are going to knead it briefly.

The dough is pretty nice right now,

but you can see, it's a bit sticky.

As we knead it, it's gonna get less sticky.

This dough has a lot of fat and sugar.

The gluten's not gonna develop first right here, right now.

Instead, what's gonna happen is,

we're gonna roll this, and fold it,

and let it hang out overnight,

and then, as the dough just chills,

it's going to develop gluten,

and we're gonna get that nice, chewy quality.

So you want to roll this out roughly

to an eight-by-eight-inch square.

You don't have to be really precise here.

We're just rolling it out

so we can fold it back up.

Folding it over itself twice,

and now we have a little four-by-four-inch square,

and I'm going to roll out again, and do it again.

Now I have this little bundle.

You can roll it and make it pretty,

but it really doesn't matter.

This is gonna proof overnight, and then tomorrow,

the dough is gonna look fabulous.

Just hanging out on its own, it'll do some stuff.

[Man] You need a place to put this?

Yeah.

I'm just gonna oil up my dough.

It's important to coat the dough in fat

just so you make sure you don't get a skin.

This is gonna proof overnight in the fridge

so that cold air can really damage your dough,

and prevent it from fully rising,

so we're gonna make sure it's nicely coated,

and then this has to be covered airtight,

so plastic wrap, or we really like these--

Oh, god, it's stuck.

[Ben] It's so good.

This silicone lid is good at keeping the air out.

Look at that.

Yeah, but a wet towel won't work here.

Okay, so I made one last night,

and this is what it looks like.

You can see, it's doubled in size.

Ready to roll?

So I'm gonna start by soaking some dates.

This is gonna be for my filling.

I have some hot water.

These are pitted Medjool dates.

Medjool's the best for this

'cause they're really sticky and sweet.

We're gonna work on the date filling.

Base of the date feeling is the date puree

that we're gonna season up

with some cinnamon, salt, and oil.

These are my soaked dates.

These were originally gonna be baklava buns,

so I tried it with a honey caramel,

and a bunch of chopped nuts, and all this stuff,

but it was just so many ingredients.

That's kind of the challenge with the Basically recipes.

You have to try and make your vision happen

with 10 ingredients.

I always go way too far when recipe developing,

and then I get reeled in.

It's never something that's my choice.

[laughs]

But I think it's better to go that way

than have to zhuzh things up.

Here, we got some salt.

You might need to add a tablespoon or so of water

to get the puree really smooth,

but try to avoid it.

You just want to keep scraping, processing, scraping,

and you'll get there.

[food processor whirs]

Okay, I got my tiny spatula.

I never leave home without it.

This is my personal spatula,

and I've had it in every restaurant I worked at

for, like, the last 10 years,

literally in my back pocket.

This is nice and smooth.

I didn't need to add any water,

but if you do, just go a tablespoon at a time

so you don't overdo it.

This, along with some brown sugar,

is gonna be our filling.

We've got our dough, we've got our filling,

and now is the fun part,

where we get to roll it out.

I like to use no flour.

You noticed I used no flour when I was kneading it.

I'm gonna use no flour again now

because we want to make sure

this dough stays super light and fluffy,

and we don't want to add any flour to it to dry it out.

We're gonna do another folding situation,

just like we did earlier.

You're gonna roll it out to a square,

and we're gonna fold it over in half, and in half again.

That is gonna just make sure,

as this dough goes through it's second rise,

we're gonna get just a nice, flaky, light texture.

Now we got this tight little square.

Now we're gonna take our time,

roll it out nicely.

We want to ultimately have a 12-by-12-inch square.

You gotta take your time with this,

and you can't let the dough boss you around, you know?

Don't be afraid to pull at it, and tug it.

We want to get a really nice square at this point,

and that's how you know you're gonna get a nice swirl.

Okay, so you see, I'm pulling, stretching.

Do whatever you gotta do to make it a nice, even square.

Dough doesn't want to be a square,

so you have to tell it what to do.

Okay, so, if you don't get

a perfect 12-by-12-inch square,

it won't ruin your buns, but it is key

to getting the really nice swirl.

You know, I feel like this is level 10.

You want something impressive, you know?

You want to show off all of your awesome new baking skills,

so take your time, and get that square.

This is the date paste I just made,

blended up, soaked Medjool dates,

and I just dolloped it on all over,

and now I'm gonna spread it evenly.

I'm leaving about a quarter inch at the top.

That's gonna help the buns not unravel once it's sliced.

All right, so now I'm gonna sprinkle some brown sugar.

There's a lot of sweetness from the dates,

but it still is really helpful

to have just actual sugar in there.

It gets really gooey, ooey,

'cause it's a sticky bun.

Okay, so, roll it up.

I like to use this guy to help me get it started.

And then try and keep it a little tight,

and then there we go.

Now, we're gonna slice this up.

You want to do long strokes

'cause you don't want to compress

that nice spiral you just made.

I'm gonna start by trimming off the ends.

Long strokes, nice, sharp knife.

Yeah, just like that.

I'm gonna cut this into nine pieces,

so it helps me to just kind of mark it off to start.

Once again, nice, long strokes.

Wipe between.

Okay, now, this is my preferred way to cut the buns,

but you do need a good serrated knife to do it.

If you don't have a serrated knife,

you can still make buns.

You just need dental floss.

Sohla, what are you doing?

I had a two o'clock call time.

I'm here.

Oh, what are you making, Sohla?

We're making cinnamon date sticky buns.

Ooh, I like the date move there.

Let me put this stuff down.

That's exciting.

I was just gonna show everyone

how to cut it with dental floss.

Have you done this before?

Oh, like the priest-killer.

Yeah, yeah,

if you don't have a good serrated knife,

you know, you don't want to use a kitchen knife

and smush it. 'Cause you get those crimps.

'Cause you get the crimps, yeah.

Look at you, man.

You know what, real professional, Sohla, I'll tell you what.

Pulling up, nice.

All right, and then what?

And then you just.

[Brad] Have you done this before.

[Sohla] I have done it before.

Huh? Whoa.

Oh, look at that swirl.

Good job, Sohla, right in the cast iron, huh?

Yeah.

Oh, I forgot, you gotta oil the cast iron.

That's my fault.

Oil your cast iron.

No, no, no.

You know, I got mixed feelings on cinnamon buns.

I know they're delicious, but I only just want,

like, two bites, you know?

[Man] All right, thanks, Brad.

All right, see you guys later.

Great.

[sighs]

Okay, so this is gonna proof now for about an hour.

It could take up to two hours depending

on how warm or cold or kitchen is.

Okay, let me show them to you real quick.

These have been proofing for about an hour,

and you can tell they've really filled out the pan.

You want to poke your bun,

and then the indent will just slowly come back,

like a nice foam mattress.

These are gonna bake at 350 degrees

for 20 minutes, covered.

We're gonna start them covered

so they kinda steam, and get real fluffy,

and puff up, and get very light,

and then we're gonna remove the cover,

and continue baking for another 15

until it gets nice and brown on top.

The buns have had their first round of baking.

Oh, look at that.

Okay, so it looks really pale and sad,

but it's nicely puffed.

You can tell those are gonna be very light and fluffy.

Now they just have to get brown.

Okay.

Now I'm gonna make the glaze.

The glaze is inspired by the great buns of Cinnabon.

We're using a little buttermilk here

for that similar tang,

and I'm gonna use vanilla paste.

I mostly use vanilla paste

because I like the speckles on the bun.

Use whatever you have.

If you only have vanilla extract, that's good too.

But yeah, I like the little speckles from the paste.

It just looks fancy.

Wow.

And you know what, I think the buns,

the buns are ready, aren't they?

Let's get those buns out of the oven.

Here we go.

I like them just lightly golden brown,

but you can take it as far

or as light as you'd like,

and I like to glaze them while they're hot.

This way, the glaze kind of just melts

into all those little swirly bits,

and everything gets nice and sticky.

These are best eaten immediately.

You want them to be hot.

You're gonna think this is too much glaze,

but it needs it.

You want this, keep going.

I'm gonna be a monster and just, like,

I'm gonna get the center one.

[laughs]

Right?

I earned it, you know?

I made these buns with my bare hands.

I'm gonna have this center cut filet.

I get so made when people do this,

when they just take food from the middle.

Matt.

[Matt] Yeah?

Do you like the center or the edge?

I'll do an edge 'cause it's easier to eat.

Edge? Okay.

I am very excited.

You're my special guest.

Okay, are you happy with it?

Yeah, I'm happy with it.

That wasn't convincing.

[Sohla laughs]

They came out really nice and fluffy.

The swirl is beautiful.

It's gorgeous.

And when you unravel it,

there's a nice distribution of goop.

I think that's vital to a sticky bun,

like, distribution of goop. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's good.

All right, I'm going in.

Mm.

Mm-hm, yeah, you nailed it.

Perfect consistency, it's not overly gooey,

like, it's not a mess to eat,

but it's not too dry, or anything like that.

You nailed it.

It's fine, yeah, it's good.

Every time she says it's fine, I know it's incredible.

I'm going in for more glaze.

You won't even let me eat it

if you think it's even mediocre.

No, it's good, it's good.

It's a good bun, it's a good level 10 bun, right?

What?

It's part of the Basically Baking package.

Oh, right.

This is level 10.

I don't know what video I'm in, so. [Sohla laughs]

This is level 10 of the Basically Baking package,

but there's plenty of other recipes,

there's easier ones, there are harder ones,

so don't be intimidated, and if you are confused at all,

just hit rewind, just keep watching me.

We're gonna get through it together.

We're gonna have some buns in your oven.

I don't know.

[laughs]

[Director] That's a cut.

Sarah saw every version of these.

They were really bad in the beginning,

so bad that they almost got cut immediately,

and now they're the cover.

Now they're the cover.

So you just have to keep pushing.

Story of perseverance.

Zero to hero, yeah.

[Man] Zero to level 10.

Mm.

[Sohla laughs]

They're so good.

I so believe that.

No, that's great.