I walked into my specialty foods market, and there they were, staring back at me. Sitting next to the key limes and tangelos, the yellow-orange skinned globes begged me to stick a nose in the display. Bergmont orange season, short lived as it is, had arrived. Almost without thinking, I tossed a few into my basket.
Bergmont orange zest is the major flavor component in earl grey tea, and as I was enjoying a nice cup of earl grey, inspiration took hold; Earl Grey Sticky Buns! The sweet dough is based on Richard Bertinet's, and the basic idea is based off of "Orange Sticky buns" from an issue of Saveur. The dough is given a cold-retard at least overnight in the fridge to develop flavor, in lieu of a pre-ferment.
Sweet Dough (Make the day previous to bake day):
510g Bread Flour
225g Strong Brewed Black Tea (cool)
100g (2) Egg
56g Unsalted Butter
37g Sugar (I use evaporated cane)
20g Dry Milk
10g Salt
4g Instant Yeast
Mix until shaggy dough is formed. Rest for 20 mins. Kneed until gluten is well formed. Retard overnight (or longer).
Filling:
112g Unsalted butter, soft (1 stick)
zest of 2 bergmont oranges (chopped fine)
zest of 1 small meyer lemon (if more zest is wanted, optional)
125g raw sugar (brown sugar if you can't find raw)
Roll dough into a large rectangle, spread filling evenly across dough. Roll up dough into cylinder, cut into 12 pieces and place into a buttered baking dish (mine is 9"x12"). Bake untill cooked though at 325F. Frost if desired.
