You’re just a few folds and one roll away from the perfectly shaped morning bun. Our visual tutorial teaches you how to make the perfect morning buns. This technique works with our Cinnamon Sugar Morning Buns, or any of our other morning bun recipes in our 2019 January/February issue!
First off: Make sure your butter block and dough are at the perfect temperatures. You want the dough and butter to have the same consistency. They should be super cold and give resistance if pressed on, but not feel like a solid brick.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 16×12-inch rectangle. Unwrap butter block, and place in center of dough. Fold dough over butter block, meeting in the middle, and press lightly to seal dough around butter block.
Turn dough 90 degrees so that the short end is to you, and immediately roll dough into an 18×12-inch rectangle. We suggest using a standard rolling pin with handles because it applies an extra amount of force that French pins don’t.
Fold into thirds, like a letter. This shouldn’t be a haphazard folding. Your edges should line up perfectly. Use a ruler to help evenly portion out your dough into thirds in order to make sure your folds stack neatly on top of each other.
Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again. If your dough is getting soft again, stick it back in the refrigerator to stiffen the dough and butter. If your dough gets too warm, you’ll lose your layers.
Now it’s just a matter of a repeat fold, a rest in the refrigerator, and a final fold. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1½ hours.
Pull out your laminated dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into an 18×12-inch rectangle—use that handy ruler to make exact measurements. Brush butter onto dough. Sprinkle with your sugar filling, leaving a ½-inch border along bottom long edge.
Time to roll. Starting at long side oposite border, roll up dough, jelly roll style. Keep a firm hand while rolling so that the spiral is tight and neat. Trim any ragged edges off to keep the buns uniform, if needed.
Use a serrated knife to make shallow notches along the top of the dough spiral. Measure with a ruler to make sure each notch is 1 inch from the other. Once you’ve made notches along the whole dough, slice all the way through, creating evenly proportioned buns.
I made the morning buns-they were the best baked good that I have ever made. And I bake a lot! My husband said the same-bravo “bake from scratch” I so apprecited this recipe and will make it over and over….cheers!