History

The morning bun is a San Francisco pastry tradition that grew out of the city's croissant scene in the 1980s. Tartine Bakery in the Mission popularised the modern Bay Area morning bun under Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the early 2000s, with B. Patisserie in Pacific Heights and Arsicault Bakery in the Richmond now serving the city's most-cited versions. The morning bun is uniquely San Franciscan: it does not exist with the same definition outside the Bay Area.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

Make it at home

Yield 12Hands-on 2 hrTotal 24 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • For the dough: 500g bread flour
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 12g salt
  • 10g instant dried yeast
  • 250ml cold whole milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 50g unsalted butter softened
  • For lamination: 300g cold high-fat European-style butter (Plugra or Kerrygold; 82% fat minimum)
  • For the filling: 200g caster sugar
  • 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • zest of 2 oranges (the canonical Tartine touch)
  • For dusting: 100g caster sugar, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Make the dough: combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a stand mixer. Add cold milk, egg and soft butter. Knead with the dough hook 6 minutes to a smooth dough. Wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
  2. Beat the cold lamination butter between sheets of greaseproof paper into a 18cm square. Refrigerate.
  3. Roll the dough into a 28cm square. Place the butter slab diagonally in the centre. Fold the four corners of the dough over the butter to meet in the middle, sealing.
  4. Roll into a 60cm by 20cm rectangle. Fold in thirds like a letter. Wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
  5. Repeat the roll-and-fold twice more, chilling 30 minutes between each turn.
  6. After the third fold, refrigerate the laminated dough overnight.
  7. The next morning: roll the cold dough to a 50cm by 30cm rectangle, 5mm thick.
  8. Combine the cinnamon-sugar-orange-zest filling. Sprinkle generously over the entire dough.
  9. Roll the dough up tightly from the long edge into a tight 50cm log.
  10. Cut the log into 12 equal slices (around 4cm thick).
  11. Generously butter 12 muffin tin holes. Dust each hole with caster sugar (this gives the canonical caramelised exterior).
  12. Place a slice in each muffin hole, swirl-side up. Tuck the loose end under.
  13. Prove at room temperature 1 hour until puffy.
  14. Bake at 200C for 22 to 25 minutes until deep golden brown and the sugar caramelises around the edges.
  15. Cool 5 minutes in the tin. Turn out while still warm.
  16. Roll each warm morning bun in the cinnamon-sugar coating. Eat warm.

Tip from the editors. Orange zest is the Tartine signature. The buttered-and-sugared muffin tin caramelises into a candy exterior; skip it and you get a cinnamon swirl.

Where to eat san francisco morning bun

San Francisco morning bun in San Francisco

Tartine Bakery ★ 4.7

$ BakeryCountry loaves and laminated pastryWalk-in only

Tartine Bakery in San Francisco is Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt's Guerrero Street original, redrawing what a country loaf and a morning bun.

Worth the queueMorning bun

TipCountry loaves come out at 16:30; queue from 16:00 to be sure of one.

Directions Book

Arsicault Bakery ★ 4.7

$ BakeryFrench viennoiserieWalk-in only

Arsicault Bakery in San Francisco is Armando Lacayo's Inner Richmond counter, named America's best croissant by Bon Appetit and still drawing a 09:30 queue.

Worth the queuePlain croissant

TipPlain butter croissant, not the almond; the lamination tells the whole story.

Directions Book

Jane the Bakery ★ 4.5

$ BakeryWhole-grain breads and pastriesWalk-in only

Jane the Bakery in San Francisco is Amanda Michael's Lower Pac Heights flagship, with a stone-mill grain programme and the city's best whole-grain country.

Worth the queueCountry grain loaf

TipThe cardamom morning bun is the dark-horse order; ask if they have any left after 11:00.

Directions Book

Ferry Building Marketplace ★ 4.7

$ Market

The Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco runs daily inside the 1898 Ferry Building, with Hog Island Oyster Co., Cowgirl Creamery, Acme Bread.

TipHog Island's bar opens at 11:00; arrive then for oysters before the lunch line stacks up.

Directions

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