Say yes to yeast rolls... sticky buns and cinnamon rolls

Keely set me off onto this sticky pathway with a link to a blog post of making sticky buns out of a no-knead bread. That made me think..... what else can you turn into a sticky bun? So I have set out to test a few things and along the way make caramel pecan rolls, cinnamon buns and maple pecan rolls. Lets get to it:

Yeast Roll Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water (careful with the water temp - don't want to kill the yeasties)
3 packets (1.5 oz) instant yeast
2/3 cup sugar source (honey, maple syrup, molasses, syrupy fruit juice)
4 eggs, beaten
2 T kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (if you use salted butter, cut back on the kosher salt)
6-7 cups of all purpose flour

Dissolve the sugar source in the warm water, and add the yeast (to prove). Let it sit for a few minutes until it becomes frothy (so that you know the yeast is alive). Cream the butter, eggs and salt, then add the frothy yeast mixture. Slowly stir (using your handy stand mixer and your dough hook) in the flour, mixing well. Mix until all flour is incorporated before adding more. Somewhere between 6 and 7 cups of flour will be the right consistency (aka not too wet, not too dry) depending.... keep adding flour by the half cup once you get to 6 cups - until things look just right. (If you have to go past 7 cups, what can you do? just add what you need to get a nice dough)

Transfer the dough to a large bowl (with some excess room for growth) and cover with plastic wrap. Store the dough in the fridge for a couple days (2-3 is optimal) before making rolls.

Filling
1/2 cup (1 stick butter)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
optional: maple syrup, cinnamon, nuts, raisins (ick), etc

Melt butter over brown sugar, stirring well. Roll out half of dough mixture (at a time), into a long rectangular shape. Spread with filling, roll into a cylinder, slice into 1/2" rounds. Spread additional filling on top, if desired.

Bake rolls at 350F (in preheated oven) for 35-45 minutes (depending on how big you have made the rounds) - keep an eye on them, you want to pull them out once they reach golden brown.

I topped the cinnamon rolls (4 t cinnamon added to filling) with cream cheese icing and topped the maple-walnut sticky buns with caramelized sugar/maple syrup and some additional nuts.