Sticky Date, Cardamom + Turmeric Buns

And a savory option from the same dough

Hello my beloved subscribers - welcome to a small deviation from the normal content here as I take you through how to make two fairly gluttonous, show stopping, down right diabolically delicious buns which will surely crown you hero of your next dinner party.

I will preface this by saying that like many people who have worked as pastry chefs, I generally despise - no - loathe - sweet baking. Between what is certainly a crippling authority complex and a total lack of attention to detail, half teaspoons, baking soda, cake flour and overmixing are not akin to my sloppy (now called rustic) style of cooking. What I love, though, more than most things, is baking bread - and while I have never been particularly interested in the flavors of sourdough, yeasted doughs - ciabattas, focaccias, brioche and the like - are my absolute favorite textural products to explore, tweak and as you’ll read today, make sweet.

This past week, I was tasked with a pastry order for fifty people. My initial, knee jerk menu started with an olive oil cake, maybe a rye brownie, of course a gooey molasses cookie - but then I remembered that I have free will, and I can make a cinnamon roll variant with ingredients my south Asian clients will really, really love. I started reminiscing over cardamom buns, sticky date pudding, turmeric heavy chai - why not combine these components into a dreamy cinnamon knot, no cinnamon involved?

A note on rye flour - I love adding spelt, rye and einkorn to baked goods. Rye in particular imparts such an incredible nuttiness, strengthens my dough and flecks beautifully in the finished product. I don’t often plug producers or products on this stack, but my friends in Wisconsin make some of the most incredible stone milled flours I’ve ever worked with. I had a chance to work closely with them while working as a pastry chef at Reunion in Spring Green, and their vast knowledge of grains, heirloom varieties and quality milling completely transformed how I think about incorporating these grains into baked goods. If you’re interested in buying rye, spelt, or whole grain flours - or even some amazing cornmeal - please, please, please check out Heartland Craft Grains in Lodi, Wisconsin. Anyway - I was recently chatting with my incredible baker friend and authority on all things sent, Laynie, about acceptable whole grain inclusions in pastry. We both agreed that minimal - 10-20% inclusions - with adequate hydration adjustments - can ultimately make a major flavor + textural impact while preserving the light, fluffy essence of the pastry itself. If you’re new to incorporating whole grains to your baked goods, I would recommend starting low and slow until you can gauge what effect they have on your baseline. Generally speaking, whole grain flours will require increased hydration or decreased flour volume, create stronger gluten bonds, and change the color and visible texture of the final product. Chiffon cake? No. Brownie, brioche, focaccia, cinnamon roll? Yes.

The following base dough recipe made me 12 cardamom knots, or 6 of each of the savory / sweet. You can always scale this to your liking, but I feel 12 is easy enough to manage. A few notes - I need a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, and we all need a digital scale, and a container large enough to proof this dough in - about a 6qt bowl or Cambro. You could certainly knead this by hand, but my arthritic fingers and torn rotator cuff make kneading for ten to fifteen minutes nearly impossible. Another note - I do not have a pastry mind. I base every single riff or recipe from an existing standard and move around from there. There is a fabulous recipe from Richard Bertinet for cinnamon buns which is my gold standard for the real thing. You can watch that video and see his recipe here . I can't stand seeing classic Martha Stewart recipes being peddled as original because of an addition of miso or whatever the fuck - this is a riff from what I think is the absolute best recipe ever.

Here we go!

turmeric roll dough master recipe