morning buns

Morning buns.
Yeah, you know you want one!!!

These morning buns look super intimidating to make, but they're not. You've just got to have a little patience.....

As most of you know, I geek out on what I call food porn. I watch A LOT of food related tv - educational and reality. If it's about food, I'm watchin' it!

I came across a Cook's Country episode on PBS on a lazy Sunday afternoon for breakfast yummies. And when I saw it was about morning buns, I set Tivo to record it so I didn't miss a thing. 

The pastry or dough part of these buns are a form of laminate dough. For all my fellow pastry chefs, you know what I'm talkin' about, but for the home baker it's pastry dough that is prepared by layering dough and fat along with a long process of rolling and folding. I know that sounds like a mouthful, but this recipe is far from scary so don't be intimidated.

Morning Buns 
scribbled down from an episode of Cook's Country on PBS
makes 12 and sadly only 12

DOUGH
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) rapid rise or instant yeast ***There are several different types of yeast so it's important that the right one is used in this recipe.***
3/4 teaspoon salt
24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter - cut into 1/4 inch slices and chilled
1 cup sour cream - cold
1/4 cup orange juice - cold
3 tablespoons ice water
1 large egg yolk

FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest from a large orange
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Before you do anything, zest your orange and measure out your juice and zest needed and set aside.

For the DOUGH:
Combine flour, sugar, yeast and salt into a large ziplock bag. Add the slices of butter to the bag, zip it shut and shake to coat butter slices with flour mixture. Once the butter slices have been coated, open the bag a little and press out all of the air and tightly zip it shut again. Lay your bag of butter and flour on a flat surface and with a rolling pin, roll over bag several times, shaking and moving butter pieces around until all of the butter seems to be pressed into large flakes after rolling. Dump the contents of the bag into a large bowl and stir in the sour cream, orange juice, water and egg yolk until combined.

Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather it together and knead it briefly into a smooth ball. Lightly flour your surface again and roll your dough out into a 20 x 12 inch rectangle. Starting with the shorter end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Gently press the cylinder flat into a 12 x 4 inch rectangle. Place rectangle onto a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill in your freezer for 15 minutes.

Line a muffin tin with foil liners. Do not use paper liners because your buns will stick to the paper!!! Spray your liners with baking spray and set aside.

For the FILLING:
In a bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract.

DIRECTIONS:
Remove your dough from the freezer and on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 20 x 12 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the filling over your dough leaving a 1/2 inch border on all sides. Starting on the longest end, fold over about 1 1/2 inches of dough and the start rolling in into a tight cylinder. Pinch the end to seal the seam. 

With a sharp knife, cut the cylinder in half. 

***The show suggested to cut a half inch off of the edges, but why waste any of it?*** 

Cut the halves in half and then cut into thirds creating 12 equal portions. 

Gently place your buns into your prepared foil 
liners.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap, place into the refrigerator and say good-bye to them for at least 4 hours and up to 24. 

***I prefer to let them rest overnight. I know, it's torture!!!***

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position. Bring a pot of about 4 inches of water to a full boil. Remove your chilled buns from the refrigerator, place on the middle rack of your oven and set the pot of hot water on the bottom of the oven. Close the oven door and let the buns proof for 20 - 30 minutes, until doubled in size.

Remove the buns from the oven and preheat your oven to 425°F. 

Bake the buns for 5 minutes and reduce the temperature to 325° and continue to bake until deep golden brown, 35 - 45 minutes. 

Cool your buns in the tins for 5 minutes. Carefully transfer to a wire rack and immediately remove the foil liners. 

Serve warm.