Interlude: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pizza Bun

There’s no such thing as a perfect baker. We all make mistakes, burn things, leave out ingredients, cross our fingers, and grit our teeth. But sometimes, a not-so-perfect baker can stumble on a perfect recipe, a recipe that seems so universally pleasing you can’t possibly go wrong. I give to you: Pizza Party Buns.

My best friend asked me to send her a surprise of baked goods, because I’d been cooking so much. I sent her a selection of recipes and asked her to choose. “Pizza Buns sound AMAZIN,” she said, accompanied by the @________@ emoticon, the language of ravaging hunger and cheese lovers everywhere.

So I made Pizza Buns, and mailed them out, and they worked pretty well. And then for my friend and coworker Leigh’s birthday, I thought – well, pizza buns? She’s a vegetarian, and she loves cheese, and you all know by now how much I love to bake with the intent to give away. Plus, I liked the idea of trying this recipe again, trying to improve on it. So Leigh got pizza buns for her birthday, and asked, “Am I going to be in your blog?” and I thought well, shit, maybe there’s something to be said for these little miracles. (Thus fulfilling her prophecy; Leigh, you are in my blog.)

The next weekend, I made them AGAIN. Third time’s the charm?

I’ve realized some things about recipe repetition, good and bad: I’m awful at remembering how long to knead things, but this is an extremely forgiving dough. It comes together nicely, it kneads cleanly (something I’m starting to notice about the doughs with a bit of vegetable oil in them) and it rises into a gentle, fluffy, smooth dough.

The trick seems to be in rolling them tightly – this third round is definitely the first time I’ve been proud of the spiral, with its tight demarcations and easily visible pinwheel. Though, possibly related, this is the first time the spirals have threatened to come undone during the rise, as evidenced by some of the “tails” on the baked buns.

Pizza buns are an ooey, gooey, tasty win. There’s endless mixtures and options to put inside, and they’re hard to bake “wrong” – even the end slices, which are a little bit smaller and bake faster than the rest, are crispy and tasty compared to their softer siblings. I’d like to keep experimenting with this bake, especially to try and find a way to make a “mini” roll – possibly by slicing the dough lengthways right before I roll it – to create bite-sized buns.

Either way, it feels like a nice signature recipe to have in my back pocket; it’s only time consuming because of the dough-rise time, and it’s starting to feel friendly and familiar now. They’re perfect fresh out of the oven, but they also travel well and reheat in a pinch – can I send you some?