June 9, 2009 - 7:20pm
My house is full of breads yet I couldn't help making these
I always wanted to try making Asian buns. Was fascinated with the soft crumb and sweet fillings. Just this week I found some recipes and I was going to wait until next week because I have already baked four loaves of sandwich bread. But I was at home today and my hands were very itching and I finally gave in. Man, I need therapy!
(1) Buttercream Buns
(2) Pineapple Buns (also have buttercream filling)
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Lovely Buns, AT! Hey you can always freeze the extra " Oh dear, I hope you have room in your freezer!...your so funny..as i was doing the dinner dishes i was day dreaming about TFL having a Therapy Forum for frustrated bread bakers..I pictured several members chatting about what's the worst habit they have when making bread..."seriously" ha, ha....I swear a lot of members are on the same mental esp wave length...I must have heard your post..while doing dishes!! I need therapy too!!
Sylvia ; )
Hi, Sylvia.
Can't you tell?
TFL is a place where the inmates run the asylum.
David
Your buns look yummy and I think I need therapy. I am not going to be sure until after I make & try those buns. How about the recipe or link to it.
Mariah
Althetrainer:
You made my hands itch, too! But I must finish my projects on hand before catching up with you.
Yippee
I am only going to post the recipe for the bun because the filling is the easy part and that you can put whatever fillings you want in it. If you want to use filling with this recipe, make sure you have the filling ready before the final proofing.
This sweet bun dough can be used to make various types of sweet bread. I made the whole recipe and divided the dough into two; made 10 butter cream buns and 10 pineaspple buns. If you wish to make just 10 small buns, you may want to half the recipe.
To make the water roux starter:
25 g bread flour (I used unbleached)
125 g water
Mix flour with water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stir constantly, until temperature reaches 65C/150F. Remove from heat and cover mixture with a plastic wrap and cool to lukewarm or room temperature. This starter can be refrigerated up to 3 days. Once the color turns grey it cannot be used.
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Ingredients:
<A>
375 g **unbleached flour80 g whole wheat flour
20 g vital wheat gluten
(**you can use bread flour, in that case use 375 g bread; 100 AP, no vwg needed)35 g buttermilk powder (or regular powdered milk)
75 g superfine sugar (caster sugar)
3/4 tsp salt
8 g (about 2 tsp) active dry yeast
<B>
1 large egg
Water roux starter
150 ml (approx.) warm water
<C>
45 g butter (cubed)
Mix all ingredients in <A>; make a well in center then aded <B>. When you add warm water, do it a little bit at a time because you may not need all 150 ml. Knead until a slightly sticky, soft dough is formed. Add <C> and continue to knead until passes windowpane test (I know some of you are not a big fan of this test so it's up to you).
Form dough in a ball and let rise until double. Punch down and divide dough into 8 - 10 (or 16 - 20, if you use the full recipe) pieces.
If filling is desired, flatten out each piece of dough, put filling in the middle then seal the edge with a twist. Place sealed side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Let rise until double again. Brush with eggwash; sprinke buns top with sesame or poppy seeds.
Bake at 190C/375F for 12 - 14 minutes or until golden brown.
Maybe we can start a therapy group for frustrated/out of control home bakers! Hahaha
sometimes i think breads are better-looking than...better not continue this line. love those pictures!
I've never had an Asian Bun (and I'm half Japanese, go figure!) I realize you can eat them any time you want, just wondering what meal they normally are associated with. Are they ever fruit filled? That's probably too messy, but it sounds good!
Betty
Betty, I am not sure when these buns are normally served. I wouldn't eat them for breakfast because they're sweet. But if you ask my 7-year-old and my husband they would eat them any time. This is the first time I have ever made these so no rules applied in my house. When we go to China town we usually get them for a snack, it's more for convenience, not so much a cultural practice.
Since I posted my original message of the butter cream buns, I had made 2 more batches of sweet buns for custard & pastry cream fillings. They were a big hit in the house. I shared some with my Dutch neighbors and they liked it so much that they asked for the recipe. We're going to make the next batch together. Here are a couple of picutres of my 2nd batch, with custard filling. Oh, the one on the far left... I was too greedy, trying to put in too much custard so the bun didn't close completely. You can see the custard oozing out on top.
Thanks Alice! Vanilla is a must because my 7-year-old loves vanilla!