Sticky Buns (Bread Machine) Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

Why is my bread machine dough so sticky? ›

Open the bread machine's lid after 5-10 minutes into the KNEAD cycle. By this time, the dough should be in a soft, tacky ball. If it is dry and stiff, add liquid (80°F), 1/2 to 1 tablespoon at a time; if too wet and sticky, add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Adding Ingredients to the Bread Machine

Manufacturers usually recommend adding the liquids first, followed by dry ingredients, with the yeast going in last. This keeps the yeast away from the liquid ingredients until kneading begins.

Some recipes will advise adding sugar, which, in addition to making the bread a little sweet, helps the yeast to rise better. Others also suggest adding a little oil, such as olive or vegetable oil. This helps the dough form, preventing it from sticking to the sides of the pan, and makes the bread more tender.

You add the ingredients, and the bread machine makes and bakes the bread in one handy appliance. Liquid ingredients are added first, then oils or fats, dry ingredients, and finally yeast (if your recipe calls for it). The machine will mix, knead, rise, and bake the dough to a beautifully soft bread with a crisp crust.

After the first rise, you would normally knead the dough again. However, if you find your dough is too sticky at this point, do not knead it again. Instead, gently press and deflate the dough. You can also use a light coating of flour on your hands and working surface to press and stretch the dough.

When the bulk fermentation goes too long — often when the dough more than doubles or triples in volume — the dough can over ferment. You know the dough has over fermented if, when you turn it out to shape it, it is very slack — if it's like a wet puddle — and very sticky and lacking any strength and elasticity.

Bread machine yeast, a form of instant yeast, is made through a different manufacturing process than active dry yeast. This process ensures that the yeast is 100% functional and can be mixed directly with the dry ingredients.

Hard water is more alkaline than soft water, and can decrease the activity of yeast. Water that is slightly acid (pH a little below 7) is preferred for bread baking.

Water is a common ingredient, but since many people use the timer on their bread machines, most recipes call for non-fat dry milk or powdered buttermilk. However, if you are mixing your dough right away, you can certainly use fresh milk. Simply replace the water with milk or buttermilk and omit the powdered milk.

Making bread from a machine is marginally cheaper than buying it, as long as you eat bread frequently enough to offset the cost of the appliance. Specifically, I see this as an investment that's smart for households that go through bread quickly, like large families or homes with multiple roommates.

What is one drawback of using a bread machine? ›

One disadvantage of using a bread maker as opposed to your hands is that the paddles are typically fixed, meaning they remain in the dough when baking, often leaving a hole in the middle of the loaf. Whilst this is not the biggest hinderance, it can be an annoyance to those who aim for gold standard loaves.

Too much heat or humidity might lead to a too-quick rise and a crevice near the center of your bread. Conditions that are too cold might delay proofing or rising, resulting in a super-dense loaf.

In the end, I find little difference if the dough is proofed in the refrigerator between 10 to 16 hours or so. However, if you find a dough that's sticky, slack, and spreads excessively when baking, it has likely overproofed and needs a reduction in the total fermentation time.

“Wet" dough will still bake. The final bread will be more dense but the trade-off is that bread from a wetter dough actually lasts longer before going stale. The test is when you touch the dough it should feel only just slightly sticky but not enough for the dough to come away with the finger tip.

Humidity affects the moisture content of the dough during the baking process. If the humidity level is too high, the dough can become sticky and difficult to handle.