Sticky Buns

Thank you Cook's Illustrated for making my first foray into sticky bun making a wildly successful one!

Sticky Buns
Sllightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated May/June 2016
Flour Paste
2/3 c. water
1/4 c. bread flour

Dough
2/3 c. milk
1 large egg + 1 yolk
430g bread flour
1 packet instant yeast
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

Topping
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. white corn syrup (dark is fine, I just didn't have any on hand)
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. water
1 c. pecans, chopped (ideally toasted as well, but I didn't have time)

Filling
3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Flour paste: Whisk water and flour together in a small bowl. Microwave, whisking every 25 seconds, until mixture thickens to stiff, smooth, pudding-like consistency. (Mine seemed done after 25 seconds, but I think I should give it a little more cooking next time. Maybe two rounds at 20 seconds each rather than one at 25.)
2. Dough: In a large bowl, whisk milk and paste together until smooth.
3. Add egg and egg yolk. Whisk.
4. Add flour and yeast. Mix for a few minutes until flour is moistened. Let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Add sugar and salt. Mix for several more minutes. (I added another couple Tbsp. of water at this point because I thought the dough looked too try, but in hindsight I should've just left well enough alone.)
6. Add butter and mix for another 5-10 minutes.
7. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Turn into greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise (~1 hour).
8. While dough rises, grease a metal 9x13 pan (I used 1 square 8x8 + a loaf pan. Buns in the 8x8 were fine, but the loaf pan didn't work so well.) Pan must be metal, don't use glass!
9. Topping: Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt together until smooth.
10. Add water and whisk until incorporated. Pour mixture into greased pan and sprinkle evenly with pecans.
11. Filling: Combine sugar and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly.
12. Back to the Dough: Turn dough onto floured surface and press/stretch into a 18x15" rectangle.
13. Sprinkle filling over dough, leaving a 1" border. Gently press to adhere.
14. Gently roll dough into a long, loose cylinder. (ie. start rolling on a long edge to make an 18" long cylonder.)
15. Use dental floss to slice into 12 equal portions.
16. Place buns in prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rise for another hour or so.
17. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes. Tent with aluminum foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes. (Place a baking sheet on the oven rack below the buns during baking to catch the inevitable drips.)
18. Allow to cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes.
19. Place baking sheet over pan and invert. Allow buns to cool for a further 10 minutes before serving.

These were absolutely perfect. Couldn't ask for a better sticky bun. They don't need any tweaks or changes. That said, just because I'm curious, I might try making one slight change next time just to see how it works: I want to see what happens if I skip chopping the nuts and just line the bottom of the pan with whole pecan halves and then pour the sticky topping over that before adding the buns to the pan. I doubt it will actually be an improvement but, as I said, I'm curious so I'd like to try it.