Bread Illustrated’s Morning Buns: The Best Recipe You’ve Never Heard Of

Even after a year of poring through my Bread Illustrated cookbook, I’m still coming across brand new recipes that, for whatever reason, haven’t caught my eye before.

Case in point: the recipe for morning buns.

What is a morning bun? Before I made it, I had never heard of this tasty little pastry. The opening vignette makes it sounds like a sort of combination cinnamon bun and croissant, and that’s pretty spot on – except it’s even easier to make than either of those recipes.

Morning buns have one bonus flavour that I definitely associate with mornings: orange. The recipe contains a bit of orange juice in the dough and orange zest in the filling, giving it a delicious hint of oranginess.

I mentioned that this recipe is easy to make – in fact, in can be made in a single morning (hey – maybe that’s why it’s called morning buns!) The folks at America’s Test Kitchen have devised a super simple way of cheating your way around a laminated dough, making it infinitely more practical to make than tasty – but notoriously finicky – croissants. Their trick: a solid large Ziploc bag. Put your dry ingredients in the bag (all-purpose flour, a bit of sugar, some yeast, and salt) and add in slices of chilled butter (I sliced mine then put them in the freezer for 5 minutes or so to ensure they were nice and cold). Then, you shake the bag around to coat the butter with the flour mixture, and roll it out a few times to form nice little butter flakes. It’s almost too easy (no such thing!)

The baggie contents are then transferred to a bowl, where the wet ingredients are added: the orange juice, some sour cream, ice water, and a single egg yolk. You’re supposed to mix “until combined”. I was nervous about overmixing, so I used a delicate hand, even though the dough looked pretty loose.

The next stage involves kneading the dough by hand. I was sure mine wasn’t wet enough, but after a bit of manhandling, I was surprised to see it came together relatively quickly (the recipe said 30 seconds – mine was closer to a minute).

Usually, when you’re making a dough, at this stage you have to chill it before rolling it out. You’d probably have to do that if you were baking the morning buns on a hot day, but I followed the recipe and rolled it out right away into a big 20 x 12 inch rectangle. It was easy to roll out and with a bit of flour dusting, I didn’t have any problems with it being overly sticky, nor did bits of it flake off for being too dry.

The large rectangle gets rolled tightly into a log, then flattened into a 12 x 14 inch rectangle. It’s like a mini lamination, I suppose. The log is loosely wrapped with greased saran wrap, then it goes in the freezer for just 15 minutes.

Those 15 minutes can easily be filled by preparing the muffin tins (which have to be lined with paper and sprayed with cooking spray – a first for me) and throwing together the filling. The filling consists of white and brown sugar, a bit (2 tsp) of cinnamon, some orange zest, and a little vanilla.

When the 15 minutes in the freezer are up, the dough gets rolled out into a big rectangle and the mixture gets sprinkled on. The rectangle gets rolled into a log and reshaped, then the ends are chopped of to ensure each bun has a pretty little spiral.

After chopping the log into 12 pieces, each piece is plopped into a cup on the muffin tin – then, for the first time really in this recipe, it’s time for a long-ish wait for 1 to 1.5 hours. It was on the cool side when I cooked these, so I gave it a full 1.5 hours.

The bake starts with a burst of heat – 5 minutes in a 425 degree oven until the buns just start to rise – then it’s down to 325 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes (mine were in for 45 exactly). It’s an agonizingly long time because it doesn’t take long for the kitchen to start to smell really, really good.

Once out, the buns cool for 5 minutes, then you can discard the now-sticky paper liners and let everything cool on a wire rack. Thankfully, there’s none of the “Let cool for 3 hours” nonsense – the directions say “Serve warm,” so I happily obliged.

The morning buns taste like they’re way more complicated than they really are. I think the texture is similar to what my kouign-amanns would have taste like if I hadn’t botched that recipe. The outside is crisp and flaky, and there’s a kind of caramelly crispness to it from the sugar that has oozed through the pastry. They’re not nearly as cinnamon-y as a cinnamon bun, but the taste of cinnamon is there and it goes exquisitely with the orange.

The middle of the bun is kind of softish – not in an undercooked way, more like the middle of a croissant or other pastry.

I feared that Cedric and I would demolish the dozen more quickly than is socially acceptable, so I wrapped half of the batch up in saran wrap, put them in a freezer bag, and hid them away in the freezer. They thawed out very nicely.

I’m still not totally sure what a morning bun is, in terms of it’s exact definition or history, but this I know: I love them.

Bread Illustrated’s English Muffins – Because Why Not

I don’t particularly love English muffins, but I don’t hate them either. The other day, I had a hankering to make a bread of sorts, but I wanted to keep it easy both in technique and in ingredients required. I happened across the English muffin recipe in the “Mastering Shape and Size” chapter of my beloved Bread Illustrated cookbook and though hey – why not.

The required ingredients didn’t require a trip to the grocery store: all-purpose flour, yeast, salt, whole milk (I used 2%), water, unsalted butter, sugar, and cornmeal. I had polenta but not cornmeal, so I put a couple of tablespoons of polenta in the food processor and have it a whirl. Voila: cornmeal.

This was a pretty fun bread to make. It was interactive but easy. Day 1 involves mixing the dough together in the stand mixer; letting the dough rise; doing one set of folds; letting the dough rise once again; then chopping the dough with a pastry cutter into 12 pieces (this is my favourite part). I eyeballed while I chopped, but you could get more precise and measure the dough to ensure uniformity. (If I was on Great British Bake Off, that is what I would do.)

One by one, the hunks of dough get shaped into balls and placed on a cornmeal dusted cookie sheet. Once the sheet is filled with 12 little balls, you place a second cookie sheet on top of them. While it is tempting to squish the top sheet down to flatted the balls, you aren’t supposed to. It says to “gently place second baking sheet on top”. You’re instructed to let the sheets chill in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, letting gravity do its thing.

I left my dough in the fridge overnight, removing the cookie sheets the next morning and letting them rest at room temperature for an hour while I preheated the oven and warmed a skillet. I was disappointed to see that my English muffins weren’t that flat. I really wanted to squish that top cookie sheet down, but I resisted. In hindsight, I probably should have; my muffins turned out quick small and high, whereas flat and wide (hockey puck-esque, if you will) is the more traditional way.

The tops of the puck/balls gets dusted with more cornmeal, then you heat the muffins, four at a time, on a skillet over medium heat.

You’re supposed to leave them three to six minutes per side, but loose cornstarch started to burn and things were getting a little smoky. I was still traumatized from my Kouign-Amann disaster, so I only left my muffins for a couple of minutes per side. Even though I erred on the side of caution, some of my bottoms looked a little burned.

Post-skillet, the muffins get baked for about 10 minutes. Then, they’re ready for eating. The recipe recommends toasting before eating, but I liked them equally toasted and un-toasted.

Although my English muffins were a little baseball-y in proportions, they tasted like regular English muffins – only better. They were fresh and had a lovely texture, and they just seemed to taste more English muffin-ier than storebought ones do. It’s hard to explain – especially because store-bought English muffins don’t really taste like much at all. I recommend just trying to make your own and you’ll see what I mean.

We ate the English muffins with peanut butter; with jam; plain; and in sandwich form (Cedric called them sliders). The dozen muffins disappeared in no time.

I went into the English muffin baking experience with no expectations, but they were a surprise hit. English muffins: who knew?!

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Game On: Bread Illustrated’s Ultimate Cinnamon Buns

When a recipe uses a superlative like “Ultimate” in its title, I tend to be a little skeptical.

But in this case, I found the Ultimate Cinnamon Bun recipe claim to be intriguing. That’s because I’ve been on an unofficial quest of sorts to find the best cinnamon buns in the Sea to Sky.

My search has ranged from disappointing (I once got a cinnamon bun that didn’t have any cinnamon in it) to satisfactory, but few have really WOWED me. The cinnamon bun from Hot Buns that I was served at the finish line of the Comfortably Numb Trail Run is the exception – it was extremely delicious and the best I’ve had, thus far, in the region. The best I’ve found in Squamish thus far is from Zephyr Cafe – somewhat surprising, as they’re known more from their healthy veggie stuff than their sweets.

While I am no cinnamon bun newbie, I’ll admit to being somewhat of an amateur when it comes to baking my own buns. I can only recall making cinnamon buns once before at a friend’s house. We couldn’t believe how long the dang recipe took to put together. In fact, the Bread Illustrated one took even longer – two days – but that seems about par for course with most of the breads in the book. I am no longer phased by multiday recipes – is there a badge for that?

(Note – it is possible to bake this recipe all in one long day, but I’ll explain why I opted for the two-day method later in this post.)

I’ve wanted to try the ultimate cinnamon buns for quite some time now, but based on that first baking experience, I knew that if I baked eight cinnamon buns, there was a good chance I would eat all eight in a single day (seven, maybe, if Cedric could intercept). Even I have my limits, so I waited patiently until a day where we had a total of six people staying over at our house.

The recipe makes a great big ball of enriched dough – meaning it’s got the usual flour, yeast, and salt, but also some whole milk, eggs, sugar, butter, and even some cornstarch (that’s a first!). After rising, you stretch out the heaping yellow ball of dough into an 18″ x 18″ square. You coat it with soft butter (I did this with my hands – oddly satisfying), then sprinkle on a hefty dusting of the filling, which is comprised of brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Then you roll, cut, and rise.

A note on this part: I trimmed the doughy ends of the rolled log of pastry. They didn’t have any filling (i.e., good stuff) and this allowed them to sit flush in the baking pan.

You can see the neglected ends cast off to the side…

At the second rising stage, when the buns have been rolled and sliced, you have two options: let it rise an hour, then bake, or let it rise in the fridge between 16 and 24 hours, then bake. Since nothing beats freshly baked cinnamon buns, I opted for the latter. This required me to get up a little early, since the buns have to be taken out an hour before baking. I timed the thawing with the oven pre-heating process, then baked the buns for 37 minutes (a happy medium between the suggested 35 to 40 minutes).

I had pre-made the cream cheese glaze the day before, and I was planning on following the directions, which say to pour half of the glaze onto the just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns, then wait half an hour and spread on the rest – but the cinnamon buns smelled SO GOOD and we were all ready to eat. We all iced our own cinnamon buns to taste, and I didn’t have any issues with the icing melting in. Maybe that’s because we ate them rather quickly – if you’re making these ahead of time, you’ll probably want to let them sit before the final frost.

However, if that’s the route you chose, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re making a terrible mistake – there are few things in life as decadent as a fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon bun. In this particular case, some of the filling melts and pools around the base of the bun, acting as a slightly chewy caramel sauce that undoubtedly would not be as satisfying after cooling. If you think that sounds like a mess to clean, not to worry – the recipe calls for a clever sling of foil over the pan, making clean up easy peasy.

I know what you’re wondering: are these really the ULTIMATE cinnamon buns? Yes. Yes they are. The dough is light and fluffy and perfect. The filling is perfection and the ratio of bun to filling is just so. The icing is excellent, the portion sizes are generous, and all is right in the world. I received many compliments and zero complaints from my fellow cinnamon bun testers.

I have had very few recipes fall short of fantastic from the Bread Illustrated cookbook – and when that is the case, it’s usually something I did on my end. It is nice to be able to rely on a recipe – you don’t have to test it out before serving it to guests, because it’s probably going to turn out very well. Keep up the good work, Bread Illustrated!

Breakfast at Fergie’s

I am officially a huge Fergie’s fan.

The first time I heard of Fergie’s was at a yoga retreat tucked away way down Squamish Valley Road. The instructor told me that it was a top notch place to eat, so I made a mental note to visit it some day.

That some day came a month ago on a Monday morning. We had friends stay at our place for the night and decided to head out for breakfast at The Watershed (another post for another time). Lo and behold, The Watershed is only open for breakfast on weekends — this is the worst news when you’re hungry in the morning. Remembering the Fergie’s recommendation, we decided to see if they were serving up something tasty. As it turned out, they were.

We rolled up to the restaurant, which is just a few minutes into Squamish Valley Road from the highway. Right off the bat, everything about Fergie’s just seemed so wonderfully delightful. Families and friends chilling at picnic tables scattered around the lawn. Big shady trees. A quaint little dog house. Jars instead of cups for water.

Fergie’s is the kind of spot where you order at the till and someone brings the food out to you (they use a wooden spoon with your number on it, so you don’t have to hang around until someone yells your name out or anything). The menu isn’t excessively long — but it’s perfect. They focus on serving fewer dishes, but doing them really, really well. It’s a method that works.

On this particular occasion, I ordered the French toast. It was a strange juxtaposition — the setting (a picnic table al fresco, kids playing around me) was super casual, but the beautifully presented dish and unbelievably tasty food suggested otherwise. The French toast totally hit the spot, but I simultaneously felt serious food envy at everyone else’s orders. Everything just looked so dang good.

We returned last week when my sister and her clan were in town visiting. This time, I ordered the pulled pork hash — SO GOOD. Arguably, the best part of the dish were the perfectly roasted potatoes. Typical hash browns, these are not.

This isn’t your typical greasy spoon diner — this is seriously good grub. High quality ingredients, a pretty presentation, and just the most satisfying breakfast ever. My niece enjoyed playing around (mostly with the rocks) and we headed down to check out the river once we were done eating.

I fully intend on returning to Fergie’s to explore the lunch menu. And I think they’re planning on expanding their hot drinks menu, which would be great (I’d kill for a chai latte, since I don’t like coffee). I bet you Fergie’s in the fall time is just fantastic.

The extent of my food photography : s

I didn’t take any photos of the food because 1) I find it awkward to do that and 2) I think we can all agree that photography is not my forte, but the best way to see what the dishes are all about is just to go there yourself. Trust me. And if you need someone to join you, just say the words.