I came across Donal Skeehan on Polish telly the other day. He was visiting Japan and talked about Japanese milk breads. I was mesmerised when he was baking them in the programme. They looked somewhat between brioche and Polish sweet buns. There is one very interesting part to it though – thangzhong. It is like a roux but instead of butter, we use milk or water. This paste makes buns fluffy and light.
My daughter is obsessed with all things Japan right now so we decided to give the buns a go. You need to try them too. They are very easy to make and they disappear very quickly too. You may want to make a double batch…
Japanese milk buns
These little buns are delicious with butter and jam but they work really well for eggs Benedict too!
Ingredients
For tangzhong
- 25 g strong bread flour
- 100 ml full fat milk
For a dough
- 350 g strong bread flour
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 175 ml fresh cream
- 1 egg
- 40 g soft unsalted butter
- 1 egg to glaze
Instructions
To make tangzhong
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Mix the flour and milk well and slowly heat up in a small pan. Stir continuously until it is tick and has no lumps. Set aside until cooled.
To make a dough
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Place flour with yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food mixer. Mix together.
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Add an egg, butter, cream and cooled tangzhong.
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Mix the dough with the dough hook attachment for about 5 min on medium speed until the dough is elastic.
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Transfer the dough onto floured surface and form a ball. Place in the oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave in warm place until doubled in size – about 45 min.
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Transfer onto the floured surface again and knead for few min. Form a long sausage and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a little ball.
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Place in the tin (originally it is baked in a square tin, I had round on hand so used that). The balls should have a little space between them to allow them to grow a bit. Cover with tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 30-40 min.
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Lightly beat one egg and glaze risen buns.
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Bake in the 180C oven for 30 min until golden. When ready, transfer onto wire rack to cool down.
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Best eaten the same day but they are perfect toasted the next day also.
Enjoy!
Thank you so much dear!! have a nice weekend