Three-and-a-half years after selling a stake in his company to Cincinnati-based national bread company Klosterman, Ryan Morgan’s Sixteen Bricks baking facility in Bond Hill still operates as a small business, but churns out more bread than ever—and it’s given him the freedom to add some passion projects to the roster, like new artisanal pastries called Viennoiseries.
Photograph by Kaileigh Peyton
Inspired by hundreds of years of European pastry-making tradition, the French-style treats originated in Vienna, Austria, and include croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche babka, cinnamon rolls, and danishes. The light and airy pastries are baked using traditional European techniques, such as lamination, in which thin layers of dough are separated by European butter and repeatedly folded over to create a flaky texture with a delicate exterior crunch.
Morgan began conceptualizing the new products last fall and looked to the most iconic pastries found in Paris and New York to create his own versions that were as authentic as possible. He describes the result as “keeping with classics, but in the best way we could make it.”
Photograph by Kaileigh Peyton
The croissants—buttery and light as air—are as flaky and decadent as you’d expect from an establishment specializing solely in pastry making; danishes are filled with in-house seasonal fruit fillings (the summer peach and passionfruit varieties are to die for, and fall flavors are just around the corner); pain au chocolat, filled with Belgian dark chocolate, is melt-in-your-mouth good; lunettes (rolled pastries), filed with crème pâtissière and chunks of Belgian dark chocolate, create a lovely, balanced duet; cinnamon rolls, made with laminated brioche that’s leavened with non-commercial yeast, are filled with brown sugar and butter and topped with maple glaze; and the babka, made with Belgian dark chocolate mixed into laminated brioche, is fluffy, with a signature swirled design.
Sixteen Bricks carries its line of Viennosieries at various cafés and coffee shops in the Cincinnati area. Limited batches are baked fresh daily.
Sixteen Bricks, 4760 Paddock Rd., Bond Hill, (513) 873-1426
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