Basic Dough for Assorted 65ºC Buns

I was a huge fan of Bread Talk when they first started selling those soft buns back in 2001 in Singapore. Their meat floss buns were my favorite and now my kids'. However, meat floss is not cheap here so I went with the flow of using other ingredients for my buns instead. Therefore, each time I am up for bread making, I will do assortment so everyone can have their favorite :)

So far, there is only 1 recipe (Pai Bao or Hong Kong Sweet Bun) which can yield great tasting buns with very nice texture using Tang Zhong. This Pai Bao recipe was shared by Christine using a bread maker. However, the dough is pretty sticky as it has quite a high amount of liquid hence I have problem handling it since I do not have a bread maker. I used my Kitchen Aid to help with the kneading. I tried not to use too much additional flour else the texture will be altered.

Therefore, I decided to tweak the recipe and cut away some of the liquid used but managed to maintain the same texture.

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Ingredients
370 gm bread flour
65 gm caster sugar
5 g salt
12 gm full cream milk powder (optional)
6 gm instant dry yeast
1 egg yolk
30 gm whisked egg
100 ml milk (it is about 100 gm)
120-130 gm Tang Zhong
50 gm condensed milk
35 gm unsalted butter, softened

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Methods

1. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, egg, tangzhong, condensed milk), then followed by the dry ingredients (yeast, sugar, milk powder, bread flour) into the mixer bowl. Mix everything with a rubber spatula until well combined then add in the salt.


2. Attached the hook attachment onto your mixer and let it knead on Speed 2 or 3 till everything come together. Add butter and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. I knead about 30-40 minutes with a few stops in between to scrape the side down. Also, this will allow your mixer's motor to rest else it will get too hot.


3. Take a chunk of the dough and do the 'window pane test'. When you stretch the dough, you should be able to see a thin layer of membrane. You may want to knead with your hand if your mixer is taking too long to reach this stage. (Rub some oil onto your hand before handling the dough else it will stuck on your hands!)


4. Once your dough is ready, shape it into a big ball and let it go for the 1st round of proofing which is about 40-60 minutes. Grease your bowl with some oil for easy release later. The best temperature for proofing is 28C, humidity 75%, until double in size. If you're living in cold climate like I am, you may want to heat up your oven and proof your dough in there covered with a damn cloth.


5. Once the dough has proofed, transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate using your fist (punch the dough flat) and divide into 4 or 6 equal portions. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.


6. To make kid size buns, you divide the dough to about 40gm to 45gm each  and roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin and wrap (eg: red beans paste) or shape your buns as you wished. Proof your shaped buns on baking tray lined with parchment paper, covered with cling wrap or damp cloth for 2nd proofing. The best temperature for 2nd round of proofing is 38C, humidity 85%. You can heat up your oven again for this step.


7. When the dough has doubled, lightly brush the surface with egg wash (whisked egg). Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 20-25 minutes or until surface turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto wire rack. Cool completely before storing.