黒豆ミルククリームパン kuromame milk pan.

If there's anything that I love more than cakes, it's bread. And I mean yeasted ones, not those loaf-shape cakes masquerading as bread. I adore anything from those rustic chewy loaves to sweet pillowy buns but I happen to be more biased towards the latter because I have a not-so-secret sweet tooth and I ate more of those as a teeny tot.

I've made lots of bread before I started blogging. There were some truly memorable ones- super fluffy and soft but they hardly compared to this one. These buns managed to stay soft not just for the few hours after baking but also way longer than that. This is what sets this recipe apart from the other ones I've tried. I bet the buns could have been even softer if I'd baked them for 8 to 10 minutes instead of the 12 instructed. Basically, you don't want them to colour or you'll have that hard crust.

I filled these buns with a milk cream and topped them off with japanese black beans which are mildly sweet. This combination is inspired by my recent trip to Japan where I bought a bun with the same description. If you're wondering how black beans and milk can go together, it really does! You have to try it to know it. Plus, there's a bakery here in Singapore that does a mean ミルクパン that I absolutely love so I was pretty darn excited about these buns.

I think this is my favourite amongst the buns I've made so far. The milk filling could have been a little richer just like the bakery's but there's no harm done. I should have found a way to cram more black beans on top. Yumm-eh. Next time, I'll cut down on the baking time to get some truly super soft buns.

This has become my favourite basic (not sweet) bun dough recipe. I hope that you give this a try too!

Basic Bun Dough
slightly adapted from Kokken69
makes about 480g of dough

Water Roux:

50g bread flour
75g boiling water

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. Cover with clingwrap and store in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Bread dough:

6g active dry yeast
160g bread flour, plus extra flour if needed
40g plain flour
20g sugar
2g salt
50g lukewarm water
1 egg
40g unsalted butter, room temperature

Milk cream filling, below
Some sweetened black beans

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and set aside for 5 minutes or until it begins to foam up.

In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the flour, sugar, egg and yeast with water. Start mixing at slow speed for 2 minutes. Add salt and continue to mix until the a ball of dough is beginning to form.

Add the water roux and continue to mix for 3 minutes. Add the butter and increase the speed. Continue kneading for about 15 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and is able to pass the window pane test. Place dough in a separate bowl, cover with clingwrap and allow to proof in a warm area until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into six 80g portions and set aside on 2 lined baking trays (I used a silicone mat to avoid a hard crust on the bottom) for 10 minutes for the dough to relax.

Flatten a piece of dough and spoon about 2 tbsp of milk filling in the centre. Seal the edges tightly and replace it back on the baking tray. Repeat for the remaining balls of dough. Brush the surfaces of the dough balls with an egg white and press some sweetened black beans in. Press down lightly with the lightly-oiled bottom of another baking sheet and leave it like this while the buns proof again until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Transfer the buns with the baking sheets still pressed on them into the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Milk Cream Filling

20g cake flour
25g sugar
1 tbsp skim milk powder
170ml whole milk
15g unsalted butter
a few drops of vanilla extract

Whisk the cake flour, sugar and skim milk powder together in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat the whole milk until simmering and pour into the dry ingredients. Whisk until the dry ingredients have dissolved then pour it back into the saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for until the mixture has thickened. Pull the saucepan off the heat and stir in the unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Set aside to cool before refrigerating until set, at least 2 hours.