Mini Top-split Buns
Apartment café: summer in the hamptons. Since I don't have a friend with a Hamptons house so I brought the Hamptons to me.
Ryan Nordheimer•
November 4, 2025
Surprise: I’ve never been to the Hamptons. I’m from Maryland, so the number of people who go to the Hamptons at any point in the summer is close to 0. Instead, we have the ~Delaware beaches~. Think Hamptons, but the exact opposite. No lobsters, just crabs.
So I took this month’s apartment cafe as my best opportunity to go the Hamptons without actually taking a 3 hour train to get there. For some reason Ina Garten wasn’t able to make it. And I couldn’t snag a Polo brand deal either. Alas.
Even though I’ve never been to the Hamptons, I have been to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. In my mind they’re all the same. So that’s why I decided to make New England’s claim to fame, cold lobster rolls. And because of my success with donuts (Eid cafe: saffron-rose donuts, Garden Party cafe: lavender pineapple donuts), my dessert bake was a brambleberry lemon verbena fritter. According to god of the Hamptons Wishbone Kitchen, a brambleberry is actually any berry that grows in a bramble…including blackberries and possibly blueberries. Not sure. But for marketing purposes my blue-and-blackberry fritters are now christened brambleberry fritters.
Just a few weeks ago, I had a lobster club BLT from the one and only Edith’s in the West Village (it’s as heavenly as it sounds). And I tasted a slight tinge of yuzu in their lobster salad, which inspired my lobster rolls. Yuzu is just as bright as a lemon but doesn’t stab your tongue in the same way with its sharpness (does that make sense? idk). I adapted Claire Saffitz’s hot dog bun recipe, making the buns slightly smaller so the rolls would be cute sized. And my co-host Christine procured a healthy amount of Petrossian Caviar. A healthy dollop ending up on the crown of each of my lobster rolls didn’t disappoint.
With my bakes set all that was left to do was wait to see what people would bring. And I was absolutely FLOORED with all the food:
- Christine: lobster BLTs on jalapeño-corn sourdough focaccia
- Deepika Kalla-Paul: triple corn blondies; brown butter cherry walnut cookies
- Erika: strawberry-corn shortcakes
- @dolcetta.baking: strawberry basil mini cakes
- @arlynosborne: fluffernutter cookies; shrimp rolls with potato chips
- @daniellesepsy: PB&J fluff rolls; Tate’s knock-off cookies
That’s a grand total of 11 baked goods!! The most we’ve ever had at an apartment cafe. So if you had a visual heart attack looking at this month’s photos, that’s why. We had so much food, most of the items were capped at only 1 column on the buffet.
Thinking back on the food, perhaps there’s a reason why the Italians said not to mix seafood and dairy… Aside from that thought, I was once again completely wowed with what everyone made. The lovely hints of herbs showing up subtly on the plate, the lushness of strawberries, the richness of beautifully cooked brioche buns. I would eat that meal over and over again.
The star baker (we have that now) was Deepika with her triple corn blondies. I’ve never tasted anything like that in my entire life. A dessert I would expect to be served only at the finest of restaurants. I think blondie isn’t the right word for it because these treats were so airy. I presume what a butter mochi would feel like if it were three times lighter. And the taste was perfect, too. Just savory enough from the corn. My top 3 bakes are:
- Deepika’s triple corn blondies
- Danielle’s PB&J fluff rolls
- My yuzu-tarragon lobster rolls (sorry, I didn’t kill 4 lobsters and spend $133 not to make the top 3)
For the love of dairy & seafood together,
Ryan
Hey! My name is Ryan Nordheimer. Welcome to my cooking and baking site. I’m a 25-year old home cook living in the East Village in New York City. Hopefully you enjoy my food through my own, tried-and-true recipes.
Ingredients (10)
Ingredients (10)
For the tangzhong
Instructions
In a small saucepan, add the milk (1 cup) and bread flour (6 Tbsp) for the tangzhong. Cook over medium heat stirring the whole time, until the mixture thickens and looks like potato puree. Scrape into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
Add the bread flour (3 ¾ cups), 2 eggs (2 large), water (¼ cup), sugar (1 Tbsp), salt (2 ¾ tsp), and yeast (2 tsp). Knead on low to start, then increase to medium-low and knead for 10 minutes.
Add the oil (1 Tbsp) and butter (4 Tbsp) little-by-little until all incorporated, another 5 minutes.
Drop dough into a greased bowl, cover, and let proof in the fridge overnight.
Punch the air out of the dough. Tip out onto your lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions (60g each).
Roll each piece into a ball. Then roll each ball into a log measuring 4” long; try not to taper the ends.
Transfer the logs to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Array them so you have 6 logs, 6 logs, then 4 logs across the width of the pan. There should be a little gap between each log. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 400 °F.
Then brush the doughs with the remaining beaten egg and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Let cool.
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