Our cookbook of the week is Morning Baker: Recipes and Rituals for Breakfast and Beyond by Roxana Jullapat.
Jump to the recipes: banana-date muffins, brunch red pepper and goat cheese scones, and tortillas aliñadas.
The early morning hours, well before most people have flung off the covers, are when Roxana Jullapat shines. The head baker and co-owner of Los Angeles’ Friends & Family usually rises by 2 a.m. and unlocks the bakery at 3 a.m. By 6:30 a.m., the pastry case is full of whole-grain muffins, cookies, breads, danishes and croissants. Even on the busiest days, the team takes a moment to appreciate the colourful array before the first customers walk through the door.
“The fact that you’re staring at the fruit of your labour, quite literally, is very powerful feedback, conscious and subconscious,” says Jullapat. “The day could have all kinds of things — deliveries that didn’t come in, equipment that didn’t work, people that come in late — but no one can take away that case you put together.”
The routines and recipes that fill the pastry case provided the basis for Jullapat’s second book, Morning Baker. She wrote it in the same spirit as the toolkit she offers apprentices at Friends & Family, with one notable difference: the batches are in the tens rather than the hundreds.
She recalls a friend expressing shock that she opened the book with muffins. “I’m like, ‘What else would you start with?’ It’s the simplest bake, the most executable,” says Jullapat. “It’s real science, and it’s such a foundational technique — for baking and cooking.”
Advanced bakers might go straight to the chapter on whole-grain croissants or the “mini-book” on bread — including flatbreads, yeasted and sourdough loaves. Yet, Jullapat says that many are starting at the beginning, with the muffins. “Secretly, I’m so glad, because I feel like muffins were losing ground. We were starting to not appreciate them. There are bakeries that flat-out don’t make them, not a single one.”
Nine years ago, Jullapat and her partner, chef Dan Mattern, left careers in fine dining to open Friends & Family. In nearly a decade, Jullapat says she’s met many incredible bakers and noticed common characteristics.
“They find this Zen in their morning routines and their activities, and I’m constantly in awe of their ways of embracing the morning. Everybody does it a little bit differently, but a little bit similarly. And I feel like anybody who really gets into it becomes a better person in some way. Like, they become a little bit more patient or a little bit more methodical,” says Jullapat. “I’ve seen people blossom in a very sweet way, just by becoming morning bakers.”
In her followup to Mother Grains, Roxana Jullapat celebrates the ritual of morning baking.
Now 51, Jullapat sees a connection between writing cookbooks and her work as a translator in her twenties. The lingo, big batch sizes, high-calibre equipment and flour of professional kitchens all need to be translated for home bakers. After making 70 biscuits three times a week, for instance, professionals gain an understanding that home bakers may not.
“You’re going to really become one with that biscuit. To have all that and be able to channel it into one experience that takes about an hour or two, that is a single recipe, that is the mission. That is the journey of writing a cookbook. It’s a nice way to realize all that you know and all that you’ve learned.”
As with her 2021 debut, Mother Grains, and the bakery, Morning Baker is “grain-centric.” Many of the recipes are made solely with whole-grain flour, which includes all elements of the kernel, including the fibre-rich bran. Others are hybrid, calling for refined all-purpose or bread flour “to ensure the recipe’s success.”
Jullapat notes that some of the most important people she knows in whole-grain baking are in Canada: Tommy Aird of Tommy’s Whole Grain Bakery in Vancouver, and Dawn Woodward of Evelyn’s Crackers in Toronto. “Two incredible whole-grain bakers, super-committed.”
In Mother Grains, Jullapat devoted chapters to barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat, with specific uses for each. She considers Morning Baker more of an “all-in” endeavour. “This is a book for a person who has gone through a period of dabbling in whole grains,” says Jullapat. “Now we’re going to throw the rule book out the window and mix and match and have a blast.”
BANANA-DATE MUFFINS
Roxana Jullapat likes to use Red Fife, Canada’s oldest wheat, in these banana-date muffins.
Makes: 12 muffins
Equipment: muffin tin
13 raw walnut halves
1 1/4 cups (165 g) whole-grain hard red wheat flour, such as Turkey Red or Red Fife (see note)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup packed (150 g) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup (180 mL) buttermilk
1/3 cup (80 mL) vegetable oil
1 cup (215 g) mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium bananas)
5 Medjool dates, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch (6-mm) pieces
Step 1
Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
Step 2
Scatter the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until a nut cut in half is golden inside. Let cool completely.
Step 3
Increase the oven temperature to 375F (190C).
Step 4
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Using your hands, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, egg, egg yolk, buttermilk, oil and mashed banana. Pour the liquid mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and whisk slowly from the centre out to draw the dry ingredients into the liquids. Then whisk vigorously to ensure the batter is well combined. Add the dates and stir to combine.
Step 5
Coat a muffin tin lightly with nonstick spray.
Step 6
Evenly distribute the muffin batter, filling each cup almost to the top. Top each muffin with a walnut half. Bake for 12 minutes. Then rotate the tin and bake for 10 to 12 minutes more, or until the muffins turn golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Step 7
Let the muffins sit until cool enough to handle. Carefully release the muffins from the tin, running an offset spatula or a paring knife along the edges if necessary. Serve at room temperature. The muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Note: Find Red Fife, Canada’s oldest wheat, at artisanal and craft flour mills across the country (such as 1847 Stone Milling in Ontario and True Grain in B.C.), bakeries, some grocery stores and online.
BRUNCH RED PEPPER AND GOAT CHEESE SCONES
Roxana Jullapat pairs spelt, an ancient relative of wheat, with roasted piquillo peppers and fresh goat cheese in these brunch scones.
Makes: 15 scones
Equipment: 2-inch (5 cm) round biscuit cutter
1 cup (130 g) whole-grain all-purpose wheat flour, such as Sonora or Frederick, plus extra for dusting
1 cup (130 g) whole-grain spelt flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 cup (112 g/1 stick/4 oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch (1.25-cm) cubes
1/2 cup (120 g) diced roasted red peppers, such as piquillo peppers
1 cup (130 g) crumbled fresh goat cheese
1 tbsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 cup (180 mL) buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
Step 1
Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2
Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and smoked paprika in a mixing bowl. Add the butter cubes and toss to combine. Quickly cut the butter into the dry ingredients by pinching the butter with your fingertips — imagine you’re snapping your fingers — until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with butter pieces the size of cornflakes. Add the peppers, goat cheese and parsley and toss to combine.
Step 3
Using your hands, make a well in the centre of the mixture. Pour the buttermilk into the well and toss with both hands (as if tossing a salad) until a rough dough is formed.
Step 4
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, flatten into a rough rectangle that’s about 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall. Using a 2-inch (5-cm) biscuit cutter, cut as many scones as possible, gather the scraps, knead back into a dough, flatten once again, and cut a few more scones. Repeat this process until you have no dough left; you should end up with 15 scones.
Step 5
Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet, placing them 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) apart — close enough so they will touch as they expand in the oven. Brush with the beaten egg.
Step 6
Bake for 12 minutes. Then rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops of the scones are golden. These scones are delicious while still warm, but you can also serve them at room temperature.
TORTILLAS ALIÑADAS
“Tortillas aliñadas is what Costa Ricans call a large, enriched corn tortilla served with trimmings that transform it into a meal,” writes Roxana Jullapat, who grew up in the Central American country.
Makes: eight 6-inch (15 cm) tortillas
Equipment: tortilla press; comal, cast-iron pan or electric griddle
2 cups (250 g) masa harina
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups (295 to 355 mL) water at 90F (32C)
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 cup (50 g) grated cotija
1/2 cup (30 g) shredded mozzarella
1/3 cup (75 g) sour cream, plus extra for serving
1/4 cup (55 g/1/2 stick/2 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
Vegetable oil as needed to cook the tortillas
For serving:
Sour cream, avocado slices, refried beans and/or pickled vegetables
Step 1
Cut sixteen 8-inch (20-cm) squares of parchment paper.
Step 2
In a mixing bowl, combine the masa harina and salt. Using your hands, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour the water into the well and mix by hand until a uniform dough forms. Add the cheeses, sour cream and butter and continue mixing by hand until well incorporated.
Step 3
Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the masa to hydrate.
Step 4
Divide the masa into 8 equal portions (about 100 g/3 1/2 oz each). Shape each portion into a ball.
Step 5
Line a tortilla press with a parchment square, place a ball of masa in the centre, top with another parchment square, and flatten with the press into a tortilla about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. Keep the tortilla between the parchment squares. Repeat with the remaining masa balls.
Step 6
Heat a comal or cast-iron skillet over medium heat and drizzle with vegetable oil. (Alternatively, heat an electric griddle to medium.)
Step 7
Peel the top layer of parchment from a tortilla and place the tortilla directly on the hot surface. Quickly peel off the other parchment square. When the tortilla starts to turn golden, about 3 minutes, flip and continue to cook on the other side, about 3 minutes more.
Step 8
Transfer the cooked tortilla to a plate and serve immediately with your favourite toppings.
Recipes and images excerpted from Morning Baker: Recipes and Rituals for Breakfast and Beyond. Copyright ©2026 by Roxana Jullapat with Ari Smolin. Photography by Kristin Teig. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
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