Sweet bun with vanilla Custard in the middle, a cup of coffee, a book, drizzly weather and light coming through the window. Can you imagine that it is a true Hygge? I was in Hyggeligt zone yesterday. In fact, after so many days, I felt connected to myself. Thanks to these modestly sweet, soft marvellous buns. It reminded me of the time we were in Paris and Pranav bought custard buns just before we were to aboard on a boat. Those buns were not ditto to these, but the aroma and the feel are quite the same. Those were more like, a whole sweet soft bun with a slit filled with vanilla custard. I have a picture to share with you here. 

These are more like Norwegian cardamom-scented, vanilla custard-filled, coconut-dusted buns called Skoleboller, or “school buns” But not 100% like Skoleboller too. It is somewhere in between two recipes. I opted to tweak and turned it into what my kiddos would enjoy more. These buns are akin to sugar-dusted sweet buns that Bread Talk sells. What so ever would be the inspiration behind this bake, the end result is something to love and enjoy. I have shared all the possible perplexing points of the recipe with solutions below. The main idea is to make it easy to follow, so you can bake incredibly delicious buns in your home kitchen. 

The recipe begins with a very basic bread Dough, which is enriched with butter, milk and sugar. It’s not too sweet (like a dessert bun ) but a slight sublime of sweetness runs through them comforting the carb-loving yen in us. So talking about the bread dough. Regular maida in your kitchen will do the job. You need sugar, salt, milk (basic ingredients from your kitchen) and yeast. 

For yeast – I have an article written on yeast. Just go through this to have a better understanding of the ingredient. What is yeast?  How does it work? Kinds of yeast available in India?

Which is the yeast, one should go with for baking bread at home?  Which yeast is the easiest to use? You will find all these answers here. All About Yeast

Making dough for the custard buns- 

Let me not forget to mention that accurately measuring the ingredients is important to achieve good results. Use a scale to be more precise about the quantity. AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale with LCD Display (Batteries Included) , 5Kg (Black)

I have used a Water roux (Chinese: tangzhong, Japanese: yu-dane). It is a paste of flour cooked in water or milk which improves the texture of bread, making it soft and fluffy. For tangzhong the flour is cooked at 65°C in the liquid which causes its starch to gelatinize.

It is a method used for Asian bread. It’s a mixture of 1 part flour to 5 parts water, cooked until the starches in the flour gelatinize and the mixture thickens. Once it cools, you simply add it to the other ingredients and knead.

Kneading 

You can knead the dough by hand or with the help of a machine. In my opinion, when we knead the dough with hands, it adds to our bread baking skills. It helps in knowing the character of the flour and hydration. And course there are several, time and energy-saving shortcuts available to us making the life easy. Food processor (with dough kneading blade), stand mixer, and even electric hand blender with hook attachment will save you from hard work. You can choose whichever way, it will turn up into a delicious outcome. 

When kneading in a machine dump all the ingredients including tangzhong in and let the machine do the job. When kneading with hand, follow the same technique which you use for making everyday roti dough. You combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead for a brief time. 

Once it has come together, tip it over on the kitchen counter. Start by holding a part of the dough slightly pressed down on the surface and push it with the heel of your palm and bring it back towards you. The dough will snap and tear at first because the gluten has not developed yet. But gradually you will start to feel the difference. Don’t be tempted to add extra flour to knead, the bread will end up in a dense bun if you do so. When kneading with hand bench scraper is your best friend.
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Continue kneading and bring back the dough with slight rotation and repeat the action of pressing down, pushing away and bringing back. Soon you will find the rhythm and you will start to notice in the flexibility and smoothness of the dough. To reduce the muscular stress, you must leave the dough to rest after every 5-6 minutes of kneading for one minute. This helps the dough to relax. 

Continue kneading in the same way for 15 – 20 minutes until the dough looks uniform and smooth. It will have a slight sheen and would be elastic to the touch. 

I have mentioned developing the gluten in the passage above, if you are keen to know more about gluten, how it works and is helpful in bread baking, you can read here.  Gluten and Bread Baking

Tip- The liquid measurement given in the recipe is a guide.  It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go.  This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If the dough is too dry, add the reserved liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency.  This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

Once you reach to a satisfactory smooth, elastic texture, you fold the dough to make a smooth surfaced dough ball. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen cloth. Allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (45 minutes to an hour).

Tip – Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on the climate and environment. The humidity and temperature at your place will influence how your dough rises.

We have vanilla flavoured custard in the middle of each bun. You can make custard using eggs or you can substitute it with a store-bought custard powder to make a smooth custard. 

Custard is one of those basic easy recipes which can be tricky at times. Do you know the difference between creme brûlée, creme caramel, pastry cream custard, and the custard made by adding starch? Its quite an interesting read and you will know what are precautionary.

You will need smooth, 100% lump-free, slightly thicker (not runny). It should have a mouthfeel. Remember, it thickens on cooling.

Types of Custards

One very important step is to cover the custard with a cling wrap when it’s done (slightly cool) making sure that the cling is touching the surface of the custard. This prevents skin formation on the top. Before using, slightly whisk, and you are good to go. 

Shaping the dough 

When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. 

Slightly flatten it with gentle hands. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 12 equal parts. I suggest don’t pull off the dough ball to make portions, rather cut it. Try your best to keep the smoothness alive. The less you fidget better it will be. 

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Shape each portion into ball and place on parchment-lined trays, leaving about 5 cm between each. Flatten each with the palm of your hand until about 2 cm thick and 8 cm in diameter. 

Use back of a glass to make a large indent (about 4 cm wide) in the centre of the buns, leaving a 2 cm border. 

Use a balloon whisk to whisk the chilled vanilla custard and then spoon into the indents to fill. Making sure not to overfill them as the custard might flow over the bun while baking. Brush the sides of each bun with some milk. 

Let it rest for another 30 minutes or more (till it doubles in size) on the kitchen counter to rise. Bake at 180* C for 20 minutes. As the buns are done and they come out of the oven brush some melted butter on the top. 

INGREDIENTS:

Tangzhong:

35g flour

168g water

Main dough:

320g flour

1 1/8 tsp instant yeast

3 tbsp  sugar

2  tbsp  milk powder

¾  tsp salt

33g butter

100g fresh milk or water (If you use water, please increase milk powder to 3 tbsp (24g) in total)

Topping:

Prepared custard to fill in the centre  –   Custard Recipe 

Some Milk to brush before baking 

Melted butter to brush after baking

METHOD:

How to make tangzhong:

In a saucepan, combine flour and water.  Mix with whisk or spatula until no lumps.

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently until the mixture becomes thicker.

Remove from heat and transfer to a clean bowl to let it cool.  Tangzhong can be used straight away once it cools down to room temperature. It can be stored in the fridge up to a few days The chilled tangzhong should return to room temperature before using.

Bun:

Put all main dough ingredients (except butter) and all the tangzhong dough in a bowl of a stand mixer and knead for 3 – 5 minutes or till the dough comes together. Add in the butter and continue kneading for another 12 – 14 minutes or until achieve window pane stage (the dough at this stage should be able to be pulled and stretched into membrane). If the dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time.

Let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until double in size in a large greased bowl, covered with cling film or a damp kitchen towel.

Shaping the dough 

When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. 

Slightly flatten it with gentle hands. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 12 equal parts. I suggest don’t pull off the dough ball to make portions, rather cut it. Try your best to keep the smoothness alive. The less you fidget better it will be. 

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Shape each portion into ball and place on the lined trays, leaving about 5 cm between each. Flatten each with the palm of your hand until about 2 cm thick and 8 cm in diameter. 

Use back of a glass to make a large indent (about 4 cm wide) in the centre of the buns, leaving a 2 cm border. 

Use a balloon whisk to whisk the chilled vanilla custard and then spoon into the indents to fill. Making sure not to overfill them as the custard might flow over the bun while baking. Brush the sides of each bun with some milk. 

Let it rest for another 30 minutes on the kitchen counter to rise. 

Bake at 180* C for 20 minutes. 

As you take the buns out of the oven brush some melted butter on the top and transfer onto a wire rack to cool. 

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