Sourdough Sticky Buns With Chocolate Covered Raisin Filling

The recipe makes an ungodly amount of dough, so keep half in the fridge, covered for up to five days. When you're ready to use it, just shape the rolls and let rise overnight. I typically make my sweet dough with more bread flour, but this time I opted for AP. Your call. The AP dough needs a bit more kneading at the outset, but otherwise they pretty much behave the same.

I made my own chocolate covered raisins because of allergic issues with Danny, so I can't vouch for how well the store bought ones would work. Mine were bittersweet chocolate melted, and tossed with raisins-nothing else. I can't imagine what goes into a bag of Raisinettes.

For The Sponge:

1 cup fed sourdough starter (mine is fairly firm)
2 cups water
2 cups bread (strong) flour

Mix, cover and let rise 12-18 hours or until very bubbly (foamy is OK too if it goes a bit longer than anticipated).

Final Dough:

All of sponge
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Enough AP flour to make a dough that can be kneaded, adding more to prevent sticking-but avoiding adding too much-about 2 -3 cups.

Mix all and work until smooth. Place in a buttered bowl and let rise until doubled. As I did not add regular yeast, this can take anywhere from 8-10 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

For the Raisins:

1 cup raisins mixed with 4 ounces melted, bittersweet chocolate. Spread on wax paper, and when cool, break-up.

For The Coating:

A generous coating of Golden Syrup
Butter


When dough has doubled, divide it in two. You can of course bake this all at once, but I like to keep half for other days.

Generously (and I mean it) butter a 9x13 baking pan. Coat it (again, I really mean it) with a good slathering of Golden Syrup (a few tablespoons will do). Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Spread the surface with soft butter, and sprinkle with the chocolate coated raisins. Roll up from the long side. Pinch closed and with a large knife, carefully slice. Place in pan leaving space for them to rise. Cover lightly with plastic wrap, and let rise another 8 hours or so (perfect for overnight rising).

Next Morning: Drag your arse out of bed, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the cling film (I shouldn't need to mention that, but presumably you'll be dealing with this early, pre-caffeine) and place the pan in the centre rack of the heated oven. Make your cuppa, take your aspirin tablets, and do whatever other morning ritual you like-but do it quickly, as your buns should be ready in say...25-35 minutes. Test them by pulling them gently apart with a fork. When they're done, invert them onto a large baking sheet. Let them sit with the pan still over them for a minute or so-to allow the syrup to run off. Carefully remove the pan, and let them cool slightly before serving.