About
Bāo & Butter is a small bakery built on two traditions that turn out to have more in common than they look: the steamed, folded, filled things of an Asian bakery, and the butter-heavy patience of a French one.
The name
包 — bāo — is a bun, and it is also the verb for wrapping something up. Butter is what the other half of the kitchen is built on. Say the two together quickly and the joke arrives on its own.
The macron matters, incidentally. Bāo with the flat first tone is the bun; the same syllable said four other ways means four other things, and only one of them is a pastry.
The technique
Choux is made the day it is sold. The craquelin lid goes on before the oven, not after — that is what gives a cream puff its crackled top and most of the reason it holds its shape instead of slumping on the drive to the market.
Laminated dough gets a long, cold rest. There is no way to hurry it, which is why the croissants are only there some weeks.
Everything is made in small batches and sold the same weekend.
Come and find us at a market — the schedule is here — or get in touch about a custom order.