Morning Buns

Instead of using complicated croissant dough for our Morning Buns, we switched to a quick puff pastry recipe. When we tried to incorporate the butter into our dough with a rolling pin, we wound up creating a mess. To streamline the process, we sealed quarter-inch butter slices in a zipper-lock bag with the dry ingredients before rolling everything right in the bag. We produced multiple layers in one step by rolling unfilled dough into a rectangle, then into a cylinder, and gently patting it flat. Better still: Cooling the butter required just one short rest in the freezer.

A packet of yeast and a little sugar added to the dry ingredients gave the cooked dough the yeasty flavor of a croissant. A blend of half brown and half white sugar added a subtle molasses flavor to the filling. Adding orange zest to the filling and orange juice to the dough provided a bright citrus aroma and flavor.