♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget and julia uncover the secrets to the ultimate sticky buns, adam reviews waffle irons with julia, and jack challenges bridget to a tasting of almond butter. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." "america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the following -- fisher & paykel. since 1934, fisher & paykel has been designing

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inspired by your lifestyle. siematic. -holland america line sails to over 400 ports of call, transporting guests to the world's wonders. information available through a travel professional or at hollandamerica.com. blue apron. -i've never liked sticky buns. -i bet you've never had a real sticky bun. -well, that might be true. but if you have had a really greasy, overly sweet, and they have that raw dough-like center... -well, i think you've never had a good sticky bun, that's for sure. -well, you know what, bridget, if anyone can change my mind, it's you. -awesome. all right. there is a lot of work to do. it all starts with a super-soft dough. that's where we are starting at this moment. so what i've got here is 1 1/3 ounces of bread flour. now, this is one of those recipes where we are going to implore to the good folks out there to please weigh out the flour.

it's so much more accurate than doing it by volume, and it can make a difference here. so again, that's 1 1/3 ounces of bread flour. we want a bit of gluten in there, so we want some good structure. now, this is 2/3 cup of water, just plain old water -- not himalayan water or fiji water. gonna whisk this until it's lump-free. -i have never seen a dough start out this way. so you've got me from the get-go. -yes, it's a very liquidy dough, right? well, this is going to go into the microwave. i'll go ahead and cook it for about 75 seconds in total. i'll go in there every 25 seconds and give it a good stir. -i am eager to see what this looks like. -i brought you flour pudding. -look at that! -it doesn't really look like much right now. it's definitely changed. -yeah. -it's actually the flour has swollen up. -it almost looks like glue. -yeah, it does. all right, so now we're going to move over to our mixing bowl. -so you don't have to let it cool?

you use it while it's warm? -you use it while it's warm, that's right. and this will cool it down. this is 2/3 cup of milk. add that right in there. and i'll start whisking at this point. just to incorporate it. and the oddest-looking dough you've ever seen, huh? -yeah, you got me hooked, though. i'm so intrigued at this method. -so that cold milk cooled it down enough so that we can add our egg. and this is one egg, just a large egg, and one egg yolk. so we'll go ahead and put these in. now we're going to add 15 1/8 ounce of bread flour. last ingredient to go into our dough at this point is 2 teaspoons of instant yeast, or rapidrise. all right. and i'm gonna switch over to a little spatula here, just to get it started. but i don't need to do too much, because i want to let the mixer do the work. and i've got my hook attachment. and we're gonna let this go on low speed for just about one to two minutes until these ingredients are combined. then after that, we're gonna let it rest for about 15 minutes.

that's called autolyse, and it's something that we do often, and that's to allow more of that gluten to develop on its own. now, we always wait to add salt to the dough until after the dough has gone through autolyse because salt pulls away moisture, and that inhibits that formation of gluten. so i've got here 1 1/2 teaspoons, just regular table salt. and also 3 tablespoons of sugar, just regular sugar. now, usually, we'll add sugar right at the beginning of a dough, and we don't worry about it. that's because there's only a teaspoon or so in a dough. but with 3 tablespoons, we found it was better that we added this with the salt because it acted just like it -- it also pulled away moisture. i'm going to again mix, this time on medium-low for about five minutes just to work that in. next ingredient, 6 tablespoons unsalted butter. now, it's not a brioche dough, again, it's not going to have six pounds of butter going into it, but still, it's going to add some nice richness. and, again, medium-low speed another five minutes.

all right, so we are all done with mixing at this point, but we do want to knead it just a little bit more. so we'll go ahead and flour the countertop. and it is a sticky dough, that's good. sticky dough makes for softer buns. all right, with flour on my hands, i'm just going to give this a few turns -- really to bring it together. -mmm. that looks like a really nice, soft dough to work with. -it's beautiful. so we're gonna go ahead and put it into kind of a tight little ball here -- just like that. now, i've got a bowl here that i've pre-sprayed. a little bit of vegetable oil spray. if you wouldn't mind spraying the top of that -- that's just so it doesn't dry out. great. and i'll go ahead and cover this with a piece of plastic wrap. now, we're gonna let this sit here until it doubles in size. that can take anywhere from 40 minutes up to an hour. -okay. -all right, in the meantime, we've got a few other things to work on. first one is the sauce or the caramel that goes into the bottom of the pan

and eventually becomes the top of the dish. now, a lot of recipes call for cooking in actual caramel. -mm-hmm. -so you have to stand over your stove -- sugar, water, an instant-read thermometer to make sure that it's just right. ours is a no-cook caramel. -ooh! -you're gonna love it. -i like this idea. -very easy. and this is 6 tablespoons of unsalted melted butter. i'll go ahead and whisk in 1/2 cup of brown sugar. and that's going to give much more of a deeper flavor than just using all granulated sugar. now, we are using a little bit here. this is 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. and 1/4 cup of dark corn syrup. corn syrup is actually less sweet than plain old granulated sugar. so we're going to get a much deeper flavor. all right, and just a little bit of salt. we have 1/4 teaspoon of salt. and i'll whisk this together until all those brown sugar lumps are gone. all right, we've got 2 tablespoons of water. and that's just going to loosen this up, add a little bit of moisture... -oh, yeah. -...and ensure that the caramel stays nice and supple. that's our caramel sauce. very, very easy.

-i really like how simple that was. -yes. -no stovetop. -and from now on, we should refer to it as goo. -that goo looks good enough to eat. -oh, yeah. and we went ahead and sprayed this pan as well just to make sure that we can turn those sticky buns right out later on. all right, next up is pecans. this is 1 cup of pecans, and we've toasted and chopped them. we'll sprinkle them all over the bottom of the pan, which will become the top of the buns later on. -and as with most baked goods, you want to make sure you toast your nuts before you add them to a dough, because that helps bring out their flavor. -all right, one last thing, and that is the filling. -that just looks like sugar. -you're right, it is! it's 3/4 cups of brown sugar, but i do want to add a little bit of cinnamon to this mixture. it's just 1 teaspoon is all we need. a little goes a long way with sticky buns. -well, that filling could not be simpler. -exactly. and now... done with the preparations. just have to wait on the dough. -all right.

a waffle iron is piece of equipment. you only want to buy it once, and you want to buy it right so it can last you a lifetime. and, today, adam is here to show us which belgium waffle maker brand is worth the money. -oh, man, was it waffle-palooza, i tell ya. we set a price cap of $100, and you can see we have 13 different belgium waffle makers. -that is a lot of waffles. -we made a lot of waffles. we tested yeasted waffle batter and our everyday best buttermilk waffle batter. here we have a belgium waffle. you can see this guy is really tall, and he's deeply pocketed. so it's gonna hold a lot of butter and syrup and whipped cream. it's gotta be a least an inch tall to qualify as a belgium waffle for us. these three machines in front of you, the waffles that came out of them, not an inch tall, so we disqualified them. amongst all the others, there was a wide range in terms of performance. some of them turned out waffles that were way too pale and gummy, like that one. -oh, sad waffle. -some were patchy looking, some were, like, overcooked and too browned.

we wanted to find out what was going on in terms of the heating cycles, so we broke out the thermo-couples and the temperature tracking software. and that helped us analyze the heating cycles in these things. and here's what we learned. if they don't heat up to 400 degrees, which was the case with this one, that's your waffle -- that sad, pale, gummy guy right there. if they heat up to more than 435 degrees, you end up with a cardboardy, like, overcooked waffle. that was the case with this guy here. so the ideal temperature range for the cooking of these waffles was 400 degrees to 435 degrees. -that's actually a pretty small range. -that is actually a pretty small range. timing also played a part in this. we found out that you can't really compensate for a waffle maker that doesn't get hot enough by cooking the waffle longer, because texture suffers. -it would just dry it out. -it dries it out, exactly. so five minutes or longer, bad texture. what you really want given that temperature range of 400 to 435 degrees,

is a cooking time of three minutes to four and a half minutes. -oh, that's pretty specific. -all right. that is pretty specific, but that's what we're about in "america's test kitchen." now, let's talk about some of the features. one thing the testers came to really appreciate is an audible alert to tell you that your waffle is cooking or it's almost done or it's done to go along with the indicator lights. neither of these two had that audible alert. now, in terms of the indicator lights, some of them were not all that accurate. they didn't really correlate to how well the waffle was cooked. some of them, like this one right here, had nothing to do with the cooking whatsoever. -really? -there's a power light and a preheat light, but there was no indication for how the waffle was doing in terms of cooking. -that's not helpful. -when it came to cleaning up, testers really liked a drip tray. -ah! -just 'cause it catches crumbs, it catches batter that falls down, and it makes the whole operation a little bit neater. now we come to these two. this model right here is the overall winner.

this guy right here is the best buy. our winner is a rotary model double waffle maker. -that's cool. -it turns 180 degrees. this is the waring pro double belgian waffle maker. it's $89.99. turned out two beautiful waffles every single time. it's got a dial to customize the done-ness, it's got that audible alert and indicator lights that we liked. it's a fabulous waffle maker. however, it's not cheap. and that brings us to the best buy. this is the presto flipside waffle maker. it's not quite as customizable as the big boy winner, but it's $45.89. -oh, that's -- -pretty much half the price. -yeah. -and it turned out really good waffles. -so half the price, half the waffles. 'cause this is a twofer. -that's true, it's a twofer. it's a beauty. -so there you have it. if you're buying a new belgium waffle maker, you have two choices, you have the waring pro double belgian waffle maker, makes two waffles at once, but it costs about $90. or you have the presto flipside belgian waffle maker,

and that makes one waffle at a time, but it's half the price at about $46. -so the dough has risen beautifully. -mm-hmm. -time to shape the sticky buns. -that is a really pretty dough. -isn't it? -i'm sorry, i couldn't help but touch it. i'm glad you did. i'm glad you did. so i'm going to go ahead and flour the board again. and i'll turn this right out onto the board. now, i know a lot of people always want to pound down the dough, but we want to leave some of those bubbles in there. so i'm just going to start to pat this into an 18x15-inch rectangle. and we want the longest side facing the edge of the counter. and i'm trying to take care to keep the corners relatively at a right angle. i know they're gonna be a little bit more curved. but that's okay. -you look like you're in the dough zone. -i'm in the dough zone, totally. i love working with any kind of dough, any kind of yeasty dough especially. -it's very therapeutic. -yes.

all right, i think this should be good. 18...15. so now, we're gonna go ahead and put the filling right on. i'll start in the middle, and i'll work its way out. but i do want to leave about an inch border around there. and that's just so the dough can stick to itself as we roll it up. this is very meditative, though. -it's like a zen sand garden. -it really is, yes! i love that. that's a great analogy. i love cooking with you. -ditto, girl. -now, it doesn't look like a lot of filling, and that is by design as well. you don't want to overfill this, because, again, we have all that goo in the bottom of the pan. -oh, the goo! -right. so i'm just going to press this filling in. and now we roll. let's roll, julia. -let's roll. -gonna roll this up, and the key is you don't want to roll it so tightly that everything starts to come out. but we also don't want it to be too loose. because when we go to cut them and invert them, again,

we don't want all of that filling to come out. -so not too tight and not too loose. -that's exactly right. how about that? all right. so we're near the edge. i'm gonna go ahead and roll it over. try to work it back so that i can just press together, this seam. there we go. just pressing it down a little bit. and that way, it adheres to itself -- there's so much moisture in there. so now we're going to get 12 sticky buns out of this. so the first thing that i want to do is take a knife. so i'll start in the middle. and toward one end and the other end. and then two more in between each of those marks. now, to cut these, we don't want to take a knife and go all the way through. that dough is super-soft, and it would drag. so i went into your office, and i got some... dental floss. this is actually a great way to cut any soft dough. we use this a lot for soft cheese as well. -mm-hmm. -so just work my way underneath and start at those two less nice-looking ends.

so just crossing the floss... and then draw it through. and look at that. -wow, that is a really clean way to cut. -nice clean cut. so we want this to go face-down right into our goo. all right, so i'll go ahead and place two of these -- this one right here, right nearby. all right, so i need to cut the rest of these. and then i'll go ahead and place them in the pan as well. -they're even pretty at this stage, seeing those concentric circles of the sugar inside the dough. -exactly. it's alice in wonderland of desserts here. -it kind of is. -all right, more plastic, and this time, we're gonna let these double in size. between 40 minutes, up to an hour again. the buns are looking good. they've doubled in size, and now it's time to bake. these are going to go into a 375-degree oven for about 20 minutes. after that, i'll cover them with foil, and that's so that they bake through all the way into the center. and they'll stay in there another 10 to 15 minutes at that point. and this rimmed baking sheet is going to catch any drips.

-full confession, i still enjoy a pb&j every now and then. but jack is here to let me know if i should set aside my beloved peanut butter for almond butter. -it's really gonna be delicious. i'm gonna change your mind. almonds are taking over, you know. almond milk, almond butter. so i've got three of the four brands that we tested here. you can start tasting. -okay. -a couple things. there are no nationally available brands that are just almonds. all of these have some additions. the first addition is some sort of oil to prevent separation. and there are two choices -- either palm oil or hydrogenated vegetable oil. and that will keep the natural oils in the almond from rising to the top. so all of the brands that are sold in the supermarket have one of those two choices. we didn't really notice a difference in terms of flavor or texture. -mm-hmm. -the second thing is some of them have salt and sugar, some of them don't. i don't think that's gonna be very difficult for you, bridget. my sense is you're gonna be able to tell the one that does not have salt and sugar. our tasters preferred some salt and some sugar.

-right. -they like their peanut butter that way, they like their almond butter that way. -mm-hmm. -interestingly, the texture was really quite different. these are all "creamy," at least, that's how they're advertised. but some of them weren't what i would call really creamy. -right. -and as best we can tell, it's whether or not they're using whole almonds with the skin or whether they're using blanched, skinned almonds. and if they're using blanched, skinned almonds, you got a much smoother, creamier almond butter than if they're using the whole nut. i've even given you lots of information about almond butter. but, first of all, have i changed your mind? do you like almond butter? -oh, there are two here that i would definitely sub out a pb&j. these two. -okay. -this one, no sugar in it, i can absolutely tell. and it's grainy. it's very, very grainy. i love to eat almonds. -yeah. -but this tastes just like ground almonds. i mean, there's no seasoning in there. so i'm not sure that i would want that on my sandwich. -okay. -now, these two, definitely creamier. i can get that salt, i can get some sugar in there. this one, it has a deeper roasted flavor to me,

which i really like, but i'm not crazy about the texture as much as i like this one. so spreadable. so i'm just thinking of my sandwich, right, when i spread it on the bread, it's not going to start to squish out the sides of it. it looks like it's a lot creamier. it felt a lot creamier. i'm gonna go with this one right here in the middle. -i love how you're thinking ahead, you know? -i am. -it's already in a sandwich, and you're thinking about -- -it's established. -you know, is that sandwich gonna end up, you know, coming out the sides? so, okay, you've chosen your winner, you want to see what you've chosen? -yes. can i start with the winner? -let's go there. -all right. -you agree with the tasting panel. -hey! -this is jif. it's super creamy. this does have hydrogenated vegetable oil. it's got the sugar and the salt. it's delicious. it was the tasting panel's favorite. -great, yep. all right, let's go with my runner-up here. -you agree with the tasting panel. -hey! -barney butter, this was the runner-up. the only real difference here, it's got palm oil versus hydrogenated vegetable oil. but, otherwise, it's the same blanched almonds, sugar, and salt. -and it just went up in my book because it's called barney butter, which i absolutely love.

so last place for me. -and for the tasting panel. this is justin's, just almonds and palm oil. no sugar, no salt. you can see that it's coarser and you tasted it, and it's really not creamy. -i wasn't crazy about it. but i think this might be coming home with me. -okay, bridget, you can take it. -well, if you'd like to try an ab&j instead of your pb&j, then look no farther than jif creamy almond butter. it's $7.99 a jar. -ooh! those smell good! -and let's see if they look good, too. -oh, yeah, they do. -oh, they look really pretty. we know that they look pretty, but we need to tell if they're done. the best way is to check with an instant-read thermometer. all right, so these look great. we want 200 degrees. so let's go ahead and take these out. all right. so these need to stay in this pan just so they can firm up a little bit, and that caramel as well underneath -- for about five minutes. -all right. -all right, five minutes, and all that goo in the bottom of the pan

has set up just enough so that i can turn them out. we're going to put them on this pretty platter. folks at home can also use a rimmed baking sheet. all right, so let's say a prayer that we get it out on the first try, right? et voilà! slide it over here. i'll use an offset spatula so i can get my towel under. grab that pan. -oh, goodness! you're kidding me. i mean, i know i said i wasn't a sticky bun fan, but even i can admit those are gorgeous. -and we thought the other side was pretty. we want it to solidify just a little bit more, but we will serve these nice and warm -- another 15 minutes, okay? -okay. well, bridget, these look absolutely terrible. -well, i'm so glad you said that, 'cause i'll just have to eat them all. -we just go in? -go in. -all right. -pick a bun. -they are pull-apart squishy. -oh, yeah. -but look at this. it's fluffy. -oh, yeah. -mmm! the other thing i'm noticing, they're not too sweet.

like, i hate it when they're, like, saccharin sweet and doughy. this is the opposite. it's fluffy, a little bit of that sugar, a little bit of cinnamon. -oh. you keep talking. -mm-hmm. all right. i'm gonna go for the goo. -mm-hmm. -oh, check, please. the goo is where it's at. wow, that topping is amazing. -i would not throw these out of bed. -i just keep eating it, and it keeps getting smaller and smaller. i think you just actually created a problem for me. -is that what it is? -yeah. i now have a sticky bun problem. i can't stop eating it. -mnh-mnh. that is some weird shaped pecan on there. i better get that. -i'm crying. -actually, this is the worst part. it's when the goo just starts to -- oh! -disappear. -mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

mmm. mmm! -oh, my goodness. -i'll have what i'm having. -so who knew?! i actually do like sticky buns, and the key is in the dough. start with a cooked base made of flour and water, which is then added to the dough to help make it super soft and workable. for the topping, make a no-cook caramel with butter, brown sugar, and dark corn syrup, along with a little water to help keep it supple. finally, shape, fill, and bake the buns, both uncovered and covered, for about 35 minutes. and there you have it. from our test kitchen to your kitchen, the perfect sticky buns. you can get this recipe, all the recipes from this season, along with our tastings and testings and selected episodes at our website -- americastestkitchen.com. -phhhbbt. -these are amazing.

-let us help you with dinner tonight. visit our website anytime for free access to this season's recipes, taste tests, and equipment ratings, or to watch current-season episodes. log on to americastestkitchen.com. "the complete america's test kitchen tv show cookbook" includes every recipe, taste test, and equipment rating from all 17 years' shows. it's our most comprehensive collection ever. the cost is $19.95 -- 55% less than the cover price of $45. to order, call 1-800-888-3384, or order online at americastestkitchen.com. when you order, you can receive a 14-day trial membership to our new online cooking school at no cost. "america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the following -- fisher & paykel. since 1934, fisher & paykel has been designing a wide range of kitchen appliances, including built-in ovens,

cooktops, ranges, refrigerators, and dishdrawer dishwashers. our passion is turning everyday cooking experiences into culinary creations. cook to create. learn more at fisherpaykel.com. -honey oat granola, gluten-free pancake mix, gluten-free pizza crust mix. i'm bob moore, founder of bob's red mill, and that's me on every package. oh, extra-thick rolled oats, corn grits, cornmeal, lentils, buttermilk pancake mix. -"america's test kitchen" is proudly sponsored by kohler. we design innovative sinks and faucets for people who do their best work in the kitchen. ♪ -and by siematic -- the art of kitchen interior design inspired by your lifestyle.

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>> announcer: "a kqed television production." >> it's sort of like old fisherman's wharf. it reminds me of old san francisco. >> and you'd be a little bit like jean valjean, with the teeth, whatever. >> and worth the calories, the cholesterol, and the heart