The Fresh Loaf

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Baked Red Bean Buns

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Baked Red Bean Buns

Like everyone else, I'm baking sourdough breads, but among the things my kids mentioned missing during the quarantine were Red Bean Buns. I haven't baked them in years, but it is a relatively easy one to make -- assuming you have access to red bean paste (If you don't have access to red bean paste, pineapple buns are also reasonably simple to make). I recalled a recipe that was posted on this site years ago and have made them a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. They've been really good.

Baked Red Bean Buns (焗豆沙飽)

 Any simple sweet milk bread dough can be used for the wrapper. I've tried a dough using tang zhang, which turned out fine but didn't seem worth the extra effort. Today I used one with a little more fat and included an egg. They turned out fantastic. My dough was basically:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup of warm milk

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 egg

a dash of salt (slightly more if using unsalted butter)

a bit of warm water, if necessary, to achieve the desired consistency. I added about 1 tablespoon.

Combine the ingredients in a mixer or mixing bowl and mix/knead well until the dough is well developed. I mixed mine in a mixer for about 10 minutes.

Shape into a ball, cover, and set aside until doubled in size. Mine took about an hour.

On a floured surface, divide the dough into smaller pieces. I divided it into 8 pieces today but you could divide them into 12 if you preferred smaller buns.

Red Bean Buns

Shape each piece into a ball and them roll them out thin and flat.

Red Bean Bun dough

Place a dollop of red bean paste in the center of each bun, then fold the dough up to wrap the red bean paste (more pictures of this process here). Flip the buns over.

You can stop there if you want round buns, but If you'd like to shape them like I did, use the cap from a small jar or container -- I think mine was from a tin of toothpicks -- and press a circle into the center of the bun. Then use a knife or dough cutter to slice slits into the dough.

Red Bean Bun shaping

Gently cover and allow the buns to rise for 20 minutes.

Red Bean Buns

After 20 minutes, start preheating the oven to 350 degrees and egg wash the buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or black sesame seeds, if you have them.

https://thefreshloaf.com/up/IMG_20200426_150048.jpg

After 30 to 45 minutes the buns should look a bit puffy and have risen some. Bake them on a cookie sheet for approximately 20 minutes. Be careful about not over baking and burning the bottoms of the buns.

Red Bean Buns

Red Bean Buns

 Enjoy!

Comments

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Where do you get red bean paste?

Floydm's picture
Floydm

We have an H-Mart within walking distance of our apartment. I think most Asian markets carry it, either canned or in a refrigerated packet. I used the latter this time.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

or rather my daughter will since she is in charge of shopping these days. Maybe the Superstore carries it. 

Angelica Nelson's picture
Angelica Nelson

If you have adzuki beans, red bean paste is made from it.  You can cook them "too much" until mushy, press through a sieve or use a food mill to separate the skins out, then sweeten.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Interesting post, Floyd! Diggin’ your shaping technique...

I just placed an order for the paste. Hope I ordered the right thing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00886NVBS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Living in south Louisiana we like our Red Beans. You’ve wet my appetite. Tomorrow it’s Red Beans And Rice with smoked sausage.  I’m looking forward to trying the Asian version, “paste style”.

Danny

For those of you that are obsessed (definitely not me <LOL>) with weights, see THIS LINK or THIS LINK for the dough formula with ingredient weights grams. I found those links by following Floyd’s LINK in the original post for shaping.

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yes, that is the exact kind of red bean paste I used. It is quite good.

Angelica Nelson's picture
Angelica Nelson

By coincidence I made some red bean paste just last week.  It's been in my freezer until I decide how to use it.  Perhaps like this.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Cute little buns, Floyd! Love the shaping! 

 

If anyone wants to make red bean paste at home, watch this.

 

Yippee

 

P.S. I just realized there's no English subtitle, but the video is quite self-explanatory.  If you need to clarify any part of the video, let me know the time stamp, and I will translate it for you. 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

There are subtitles. Thank you!

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Glad to help!

Benito's picture
Benito

I LOVE red bean paste buns, have you had red bean paste ice cream?  I love that too.  I’ll need to make these sometime, we used to make our own red bean paste for desserts when we were kids with my mom.  I haven’t made it for decades.  Thanks for the recipe Floyd.

Benny

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yum. Yes, I love red bean ice cream.

My daughter and I also tried making Japanese style red bean mochi (daifuku) but we just couldn't get the mochi right. Either it ended up lumpy and gooey or it was too dry and crumbly. We tried preparing it both in the microwave and steaming on a stovetop but couldn't get it right. So we're sticking with these, for now, which isn't too bad a compromise. :)  

Benito's picture
Benito

I love red bean mochi but have never attempted making it.  I love watching the YouTube videos of the traditional pounding of the mochi, they are entertaining.

Yippee's picture
Yippee
Floydm's picture
Floydm

That is basically what we did, though... I'm not sure we gave it a thorough enough stir after the steaming, which is why ours ended up pretty lumpy. We'll have to try it again with that extra step.

Thanks!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Yippee, I am intrigued with the precision and artfulness of asian cuisine. Can you recommend an english version of a great cook book? I’d like to expand my horizons.

The forum is fortunate to have you...

Danny

Yippee's picture
Yippee

that I can think of, Danny. But I can recommend a few Youtubers who I trust and some of their authentic recipes that are my favorites:

 

Chinese – How to cook the best Chinese fried rice with only six ingredients

 by Taste of Asian Food 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccCj63Ezydo

 

Taste of Asian Food also has recipes for south-east Asian cuisines. One of my favorites is the Vietnamese Lemongrass pork chop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKehPqSDte8&list=PL0VwyESbWpSgH-ZSD44SBWTPEeO5SkJub&index=13&t=1s

 

Northern China cuisine by 小高姐的 Magic Ingredients: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCKlp1JI9Yg3-cUjKPdD3mw

 

Indian – Aloo gobi (cauliflower potatoes) by Vahchef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ7jerp2S80&list=PL0VwyESbWpSgH-ZSD44SBWTPEeO5SkJub&index=98&t=373s

 

Japanese – Chicken karrage by MASA’s Cooking ABC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWtZPTVU0Q

 

Korean - Japchae (Glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables) by Maangchi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1djfV9uigc

 

Thai – green curry chicken by Hot Thai Kitchen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIbKVpBQKJI

 

I hope the above channels will inspire you! 

 

Yippee

 

 

 

 

Angelica Nelson's picture
Angelica Nelson

Thank you Yippee!  There are some books in the US which are in English and Chinese and they have an interesting format, one page recipes, left side Chinese, right side English. The ingredients are in groups like A B C... so the instruction are like "Mix A together, then add B, meanwhile boil C"  Those are my favorite but I"ve only ever seen them in Chinatowns across the US and in Montreal. I think they're imported so they don't show up in normal places.  But if you look in Chinatown stores, or sometimes in Goodwill and those sorts of places, you will find some. Even when there was such a thing as "Borders" book store, I never saw one there. They're gold.  I wish there were more of them.

Also, Maangchi is a treasure. <3

Elsie_iu's picture
Elsie_iu

MASA's videos are quite entertaining to watch for he is such a humorous chef :)

In addition, if you are interested in Chinese bread and pastries, it might be worth checking out videos from 娟子美食. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXtm7fA_KEvnlUM1or3QjvA/videos) She's got tons of ideas to use up the flour one has on hand (not that anyone is worried about excess flour nowadays...). 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Thanks, Floyd For introducing me to Red Bean Paste! Crazy about the flavor. Sweet enough, but definitely not too sweet.

I made the buns but the only problem I had was the paste ended up in the very tops of the buns. When folding the dough under to form a ball I pulled too much dough underneath. An easy fix for next time.

Benito's picture
Benito

Is that the first time you’ve had red bean paste Danny?  I love the stuff having grown up eating it fairly regularly.  I still need to get around to baking these buns.

Benny

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

First Time.

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Glad to hear you enjoyed them. Yes, that is easy to do.

Edo Bread's picture
Edo Bread

Perfect timing! Came across a can of red bean paste today and was trying to come up with an idea.

This looks like a good one to try - Thanks!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

In all honesty, (IMO) Commercial Yeast leaves something to be desired when it comes to taste. Sourdough seems inappropriate in this case. I am wondering if Yeast Water might enhance the flavor of the dough. Too bad I don’t have one on hand to try the thought out.