Pretzel Burger Buns

Though the Victoria Day weekend is over, it lives on in my heart... and my bread basket. I made a large batch of homemade burger buns for the veggie burgers my mum grilled, and to give it a special twist, I also made a different kind of bun... these ones have the outside texture and saltiness of a pretzel, with the inside pillowy-softness of a roll. I used a specially-designated pretzel salt for the outside, but any coarse salt will do.

These are really good with a pat of butter on their own, or for sandwiches. One good idea is to make elongated buns to use with hot dogs. In any case, these are a welcome addition to any grill-oriented feast or celebration.

Pretzel Buns
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

For the Dough:
4 1/2 C. All purpose or bread flour
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
1/4 C. Whole milk powder
2 TBSP (30 g.) Butter, softened
3/4 Tsp. Salt
1 3/4 C. Water
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 30 g. Fresh yeast

For the Water Bath:
8 C. Water
1 TBSP Salt
1/4 C. Baking soda

To Top:
About 1/4 C. Coarse salt

Mix the yeast, water, and malt powder. Whisk together the flour, salt, and milk powder, and add the water mixture, kneading until a soft dough forms. Add the butter and mix until incorporated. Let rise in a covered, greased bowl for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled.

Divide into 10-14 pieces and shape into balls. Let rest for 20-30 minutes- in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200℃ and bring the water bath ingredients to a boil in a wide, large pot. 

Using a slotted spoon or spatula, lower the dough balls into the boiling water bath and let cook for 30 seconds. Flip and let cook another 30 seconds, then remove and put onto a parchment-lined baking pan.

Score the tops of the buns with a sharp knife in an 'X' pattern and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Hörnchen/ Sweet Crescent Rolls

This is one of my all-time favourite bread recipes, straight from 1969 East Germany. I've got this retro cookbook full of recipes suited for a time and place where expensive ingredients were lacking, so these rolls were originally designated to be made with margarine- still, butter is naturally better if you can get it. It's a very good roll to make for a sunday breakfast because you can make the dough in the previous evening, let it rise in the fridge overnight, then shape and bake it fresh in the morning.

This basic dough recipe is one that I use for many other sweet buns and breads, and I have made many rolls with fillings such as chocolate, nougat, cinnamon sugar and jam with great success. You can sprinkle the rolls with seeds or sugar or leave them plain, or skip the eggwash to make them totally eggless. If you reduce the sugar to about 15 g., you can even make a savoury version to serve with cheese inside. With their light, tender insides and golden outsides, these babies go with anything.

Hörnchen (From Das Backbuch- Verlag Für die Frau Leipzig, 1969 ed.)
Makes 8-10

500 g. Bread flour
100 g. Sugar
1 TBSP or 1 packet vanilla sugar
80 g. Butter or baking margarine, room temperature
1/2 Tsp. Salt
250 ml. Cold milk
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 10 g. Active dry yeast
Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
1 Egg or 2 TBSP melted butter, to wash

Whisk together flour, sugars, salt and zest, if using.

Combine yeast and milk to dissolve. Add to flour mixture and knead until smooth.

Knead in butter or margarine in pieces until completely incorporated.

Let rise in a covered, greased bowl overnight in the refrigerator.

In the morning, preheat oven to 200℃. Cut dough into two pieces. Roll out each on a floured surface into a large rectangle. Cut into triangles using a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Cut a slit in the base of each triangle to make it easier to roll into a crescent. Once shaped, let rise 20-30 minutes covered.

Brush with beaten egg or melted butter and bake for around 20 minutes, or until golden-brown and a thermometer poked inside registers 190℉. Let cool for about 10 minutes before eating.

Rosinenbrötchen mit Quark- Raisin Buns with Quark + Stollen-Brötchen

Plain buns on the left and raisined ones on the right.

In the long list of bread and bun recipes I'm finally getting around to posting, here's one of my favourites- soft, moist, rich raisin buns enriched with fresh cheese. You can use the quark recipe I've posted, or some farmer's cheese that's been processed well in a food processor with some extra butter. 

Many flavours work well in this dough, though I kept it simple- you can add some spices, some citrus zest or use a different dried fruit like cranberries or currants. You can even omit the fruit entirely (I did this with half because not everyone in my family appreciates the deliciousness of dried fruit...). These are one of the things I love to make for important holidays like Christmas and Easter as part of the breakfast menu, but I also love to freeze leftovers to eat later on... they're especially good with butter and jam, but are also delicious on their own. The "Stollen" version I give makes a nice off-season treat when you crave the flavours of Stollen but Christmas is still far off.

Rosinenbrötchen mit Quark
From ketex.de

For the Sponge:
200 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
150 g. Milk, 2 to 3.8%
20 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. active dry yeast

Mix all well and let rest, covered, for 45 minutes in a warm place.

For the Final dough:
Sponge
300 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
100 g. Butter, at room temperature
50 g. Sugar
100 g. Topfenquark (20% m.f.), or well-ground 12% twarog/farmer's cheese plus 25 g. butter (You can double this quantity for a moister, denser dough- just add about 5 minutes baking time)
8 g. Salt
2 Egg yolks
175 g. Raisins, light or dark
1 TBSP Diastatic malt powder, or honey

beaten egg yolk, condensed milk, cream or melted butter, to brush
Pearl sugar (optional)

Mix all but the butter and raisins and knead until smooth. Add the butter in small pieces and continue kneading until it's incorporated. Add the raisins and once they're evenly distributed, cover the dough and let rise in a greased bowl for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180℃. Form into buns of the desired size (about a dozen works best) and cover. Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

Brush with the desired topping. Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if you like. Bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

For "Stollen-Brötchen":

Add a pinch of saffron to the milk in the sponge and heat until steaming. Let infuse 30 minutes before using.

To the above recipe, substitute a mixture of 100 g. sultanas and raisins, 25 g. chopped orange peel, 25 g. chopped citron peel and 50 g. currants. In addition, add:

1 Sachet vanilla sugar, or 1 TBSP homemade
Zest of one lemon
1/2 Tsp. Mace
1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tsp. Cardamom
75 g. Chopped or slivered blanched almonds

To the dough; the spices and sugar in the first steps in making the final dough, and the almonds along with the fruit mixture.

Top the buns with melted butter and pearl sugar.

Kaisersemmeln/ Kaiser Buns

Kaisersemmeln in the foreground as part of an Easter breakfast spread.

What an amazing bun. It's versatile, easy and quick to make, and impressive to look at. The only tricky part is making the knot, but it's very easy once you get the hang of it- form long, well-floured "snakes" of dough, tie a loose knot and tuck the loose ends into the middle, maybe pulling them through and back again if they're long enough to get more loops.

This dough is relatively low in gluten, so it isn't as eager to return to its shape- that would pose a problem for the rolling-out.

High gluten flour helps keep together doughs with large portions of whole grain flours (which lack gluten) and chewy, porous breads, but in this case what you want is a soft bun, hence the all purpose or type 550 flour. (Note: if you live in the GTA, Starsky has a really good selection of European flours! I need to make a 'resources' page sometime.)

A brief note on what the numbers on different forms of flour mean- they refer to the amount of ash (that is, mineral) content in the flour that remains when a sample is combusted. This doesn't mean that the flour is mixed with ashes! Rather, the amount of minerals remaining roughly translates to the amount of the grain kernel left in the dough after milling, since that's where the majority of the minerals are. So, a higher number means a larger quantity of germ/endosperm and bran in the flour, defining its "whole-graininess". Different types of wheat and other grains also vary in mineral/ash content, so the number makes it easier to gauge the properties of a dough made with some flour rather than working with limited information about its origin, processing etc. The French, Italian, German and other classifications vary, but all have the same pattern of decreasing number meaning a finer, more refined flour.

Regardless of if you use all purpose or type 550 flour, this is an amazing bun, with a great flavour and texture that makes it perfect for a holiday breakfast (what I usually make them for), sandwiches, burgers, and so on... they also go down as one of my mum's favourites. So, that should really motivate you to try making them.

Kaisersemmeln
From Chefkoch.de

For the Sponge:
75 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
75 g. Whole wheat or whole grain spelt flour
135 ml. Warm water
10 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 g. Active dry yeast

Mix all until well incorporated and let rest, covered, for 30-45 minutes.

For the Final Dough:
Sponge 
350 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
140 ml Water
20 g. Butter
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
10 g. Salt

Add all but the salt and butter to the sponge and knead together. Add salt and knead for about 8 minutes, then add the butter in pieces and knead for 2 more minutes. Let dough rise, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 10 equally sized pieces. Form balls and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250℃. Roll out each ball of dough by hand on a floured surface into a long "snake". When it's long enough, you should be able to tie a loose knot. Tuck the two "tails" of the knot into the centre of the dough, and moisten it with a bit of water to help it stick. If your dough is rolled out far enough, you can pull the tail(s) through the centre hole and back up again to make more twists. (Alternatively, you can use a kaiser bun stamp, but rolling it out and tying a knot helps to give it a nice texture.) Repeat with the remaining dough. Dust with flour and let rise 45 minutes. 

Bake for 10 minutes, adding steam with a spray bottle of water at the beginning and end of the period. Reduce the heat to 200℃ and bake for another 10-15 minutes, covering the buns with aluminium foil or a baking sheet on an upper rack to stop the browning. 

Hot Cross Buns

While not traditional for my family, hot cross buns are very popular in the area where I live- so they make a guest appearance at the easter table. Some are more breadlike and some are more sweet with crosses made of icing, so mine are a kind of intermediate that's not too sweet, uses a pastry cross, and has lots of spices, orange zest and currants. 

I glazed mine with an Azerbaijani white cherry jam, but any light-coloured jam can be used. you can also skip the crosses and just make these any-occasion buns. I imagine they'd make really good bread pudding. 

Hot Cross Buns
Adapted from I Love Bake

500 g. Bread flour
1 1/2 Tsp. Gingerbread spices
1 Tsp. Salt
75 g. Demerara or regular sugar
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast
300 ml. Milk
50 g. Butter
1 Egg
Zest of 1 orange
1 TBSP Oil
50 g. Candied orange peel
80 g. Currants

For the Pastry Crosses:
1/2 C. Water
75 g. Flour

Apricot jam or marmalade, to glaze (optional)

Sift together flour, salt, spices and add sugar.

Bring milk to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add butter to melt. Add orange zest and let cool until lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in milk mixture and add to the flour mixture, along with the egg and oil. Knead until smooth, then add currants and peel and knead until well incorporated. Let rise in a covered, greased bowl for 1 hour.

Divide into 12-15 round balls. Shape into buns and cover. Let rise 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200℃.

Mix pastry cross ingredients well with a fork and pour into a pastry bag with the tip cut off. Pipe the mixture in a cross shape onto each bun.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Glaze with warmed jam or marmalade, if desired.

Flaxseed and Honey Buns

If you like buns with a sweet, nutty flavour and a soft, dense texture, look no further. These bad boys are made with as much flaxseed as I could pack in for some delicious omega-3s as well as taste, and have the mild sweetness of honey. They're also made with a large portion of whole wheat flour for a relatively wholesome breakfast.

 

You can use more or less ground flaxseed, to taste. You can also try to add some different seeds on top, or some walnut pieces to the dough. In any case, these are the best toasted with butter and honey.

Flaxseed and Honey Buns
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

2 1/4 C. Bread flour
1 1/4 C. Whole wheat flour
3 TBSP Honey
3/4 C. Milk, warm
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 7 g. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
1/2 C. Water
1 1/2 TBSP Nut oil or melted butter
1/2-1 C. Ground flaxseed
Whole flaxseed, to sprinkle on

Mix yeast, milk and honey. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Whisk together the flours, salt and ground flaxseed. Add the yeast mixture, egg, water and oil and knead until smooth. Let rise covered 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Separate into about 16 pieces and shape into balls. sprinkle with flaxseed and let rise covered for 30 minutes.

Bake at 180℃ for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts (Tangzhong dough)

Here's a belated Valentine's day post- simple, rich and soft buns shaped like hearts. Not that they need to be- but they're cute! To shape them, cut a rolled-up log of the dough and filling (like a jelly roll) into 10 segments. Cut each segment most of the way through in the middle, then turn it on its side. Imagine moving the hour hand from the minute hand on a clock so it's set to 2 o' clock to get the angle right. Then, press down with your palm.

The tangzhong makes these rolls stay soft inside for a long time, and they're not too sweet despite the nutella and cream cheese filling. The walnuts add a nice toasty touch, but obviously hazelnuts are also good.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts 

For Tangzhong:
15 g. Flour
72 g. Water
Mix well and cook on medium heat until 65℃, or until consistency is pudding-like. Let cool to room temperature before using.

For Dough:
Adapted from Kochtopf
All of tangzhong
90 g. Milk, lukewarm
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 Tsp. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
150 g. Bread flour
150 g. All purpose or type 550 flour
60 g. Sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
2 TBSP Powdered whole fat milk
1 Tsp. Salt
80 g. Butter, softened

For Filling:
125 ml Nutella (half a small jar)
50 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Powder sugar
1 TBSP Hazelnut oil
1/2 C. Walnut pieces

Prepare the filling by mixing the nutella, cream cheese, sugar and oil until smooth, then stirring in the walnuts. Set aside for later.

For the buns:

Mix the flours, salt, sugars, and powdered milk with a whisk.

Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the egg. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones to form a smooth dough, adding more milk or flour if necessary to get it soft and pliable. Add the butter in pieces until well incorporated. Let rise, covered, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Punch down dough and form a large rectangle. Spread the filling and roll up, then cut into 10 pieces. In the middle of each piece, cut a slit about 2/3 of the way in, then pull apart the two sides about 45 degrees while laying it rolled-side-up. Press down to form a heart shape. Let the buns, once shaped, rise for about and hour.

Bake at 180℃ for 18-20 minutes.

Körnerbrötchen/Grain and Seed Buns

I had many recipes for körnerbrötchen, so many that I forgot which actually turned out to be the best of the bunch... but I can now guarantee that this was the champion among them. The long rise time and preferment create a surprisingly soft and light bun, with the whole wheat and spelt flour still providing plenty of flavour. The grains and seeds can be varied depending on what you have have (sometimes I like to add walnut pieces) and so can the flours- you can also use just whole grain spelt or whole wheat instead of both. The use of diastatic malt and steam in the oven creates a thin, crispy crust to contrast with the tender insides, and an extra sprinkling of seeds on top creates toasty, nutty flavour. While I may not be going to a real German bakery any time soon, these are good enough to pass.

Körnerbrötchen
Adapted from chefkoch.de

For the Preferment:
160 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
160 g. Water
2 g. Fresh yeast, or 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast

Mix all well and allow to stand, covered, at room temperature overnight.

For the Soaker:
150 g. Mixed seeds, e.g. Sunflower, flax, sesame, poppy, pumpkin
50 g. Grain flakes, e.g. Rolled oats, rye, barley (Note: I used 200 g. of a King Arthur mix of grains and seeds for both these quantities)
18 g. Salt
200 g. Water

Dissolve the salt in the water. Toast the seeds and grains lightly in a large, unoiled skillet pan over medium heat until fragrant, if desired. Mix the seeds, grains and salty water and let stand covered overnight.

For the Final Dough:

All of above preferment and soaker
450 g. Bread flour
100 g. Whole grain spelt flour
50 g. Whole grain rye or wheat flour
250 g. Water
10 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 g. Active dry yeast
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey (optional)
1 TBSP Vital wheat gluten (optional)

Additional flour, oil to grease bowls
About 1/2 C. Grains and seeds, for tops of buns

Mix water with yeast and malt/honey, if using. Mix the flours and gluten in a large bowl or stand mixer and add the water, along with the preferment, and knead until homogeneous. Add the osaker and continue kneading until smooth.

Let rest for 2 hours in an oiled, covered bowl, stretching and folding the dough after 40 and 80 minutes have passed.

Stretch and fold the dough one last time, them stretch out into a large rectangle over a floured surface. Divide into 12-16 pieces with a sharp knife, either triangles or rectangles. Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220℃. Dampen the tops of the buns with a spray bottle and sprinkle on additional grains and seeds.

Bake for 10 minutes, spraying at the beginning and end with water from a spray bottle to create steam. Reduce the temperature to 200℃ and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Übernacht Sonntags-Brötchen - Infinitely Adaptable Overnight Buns

There are few things in the baking world simpler and more versatile than this recipe. It's my go-to for when there's been a glut of sweet things around the house, and I want to make the Sunday breakfast on the savoury and simple side while letting people customize to what they want. And buns are awesome in that they're basically personal breads- the German name pretty much translates to that. Breadlings. Nice.

Real bakeries are already staffed by the wee hours of the morning to ensure that there's bread to sell at opening time, but most of us don't want to (or in my case, simply can't due to sleeping family members) get up at 4 to start making bread for breakfast. Even though many breads are supposed to rest in the fridge overnight, they also often need to warm up to room temperature, get shaped, rise a bit more, and so on- so they really aren't ready in time for a Sunday breakfast. In such a case, one wants something fast, easy to make the night before, and preferably not requiring much morning preparation. These fit that bill very well.

It's also very forgiving. You can use just bread flour or even all-purpose flour, more or less spelt or whole wheat, and skip the malt if you want- it just adds crustiness. The yeast can be fresh or dried, and though I always choose fresh if I can, it works very well with either. You don't even need to do the step of preheating a pan to put the bread on- it's just another way to make them more crispy, as is the water-spraying. I like crusty buns, but you can make them softer by skipping these things.

You can also go nuts with add-ins! I like the plain ones because of the attractive floureyness, but they're also fantastic with sesame or poppy seeds. You could also use caraway, or even cumin. They're also great with grated cheese added as a final touch, not so early for it to burn- just enough so that is forms a crispy delicious crust. I added olives to some on the request of my brother. 

Of course, it's nice how simple these are because they can accommodate just about any desired filling, spread or topping. Any extras can be used for sandwiches, with soup, as toast, or wherever some fresh morning-baked bread might be appreciated.

Overnight Buns
Adapted from Chefkoch
420 g. Bread flour
80 g. Spelt flour, whole wheat flour, or a mix (can substitute more regular bread flour- or use more of another flour in place of the bread flour, though more whole grains will make it denser)
1 1/2 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder, or 1 TBSP malt syrup (optional- honey also works)
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 25 g. Fresh yeast (fresh if you can!)
350-400 ml. Lukewarm water, preferably filtered
1 TBSP Salt
Toppings: Extra flour, any seeds or grains desired, or about 100g. grated cheese such as edam or gouda. Get creative!

Blend flours, malt (if powdered) and yeast (if dry). If using fresh yeast, crumble into the water and mix to dissolve. Dissolve the malt in the water as well, if it is a syrup.

Pour water onto flour and mix with a dough hook on medium-low until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Alternatively, work the dough by hand on a lightly oiled surface until it forms a cohesive, relatively nonsticky mass. The dough is quite moist, so it will never be completely unsticky, but it should cling to itself well. On drier days, you may need the larger amount of water.

Add the salt and mix on medium-high for 5-7 minutes, until the dough forms strings when you stretch a small piece apart with your fingers. This can be done by about 15-20 minutes of working by hand.

Cover in a floured or lightly oiled bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220℃. Heat up a baking tray, pizza stone, or Dutch oven. 

Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces and let rest 20 minutes covered. Using extra flour to prevent sticking, shape into desired form and slash the tops with a bread lamé or very sharp knife. Add any desired seeds or grains on top by first dusting off the flour, then spraying with water from a spritzer and sprinkling on top. 

Place the buns onto the hot pan, stone, or Dutch oven bottom. Spray the inside of the oven with water. If using the Dutch oven, cover them. Bake for 20-25 minutes, uncovering after 15 if using the dutch oven, and spray with more water after 5 and 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese 5 minutes before you plan to take them out if desired.

Let cool about 20 minutes, or 30 if using the whole grain flour.

Sourdough Ciabatta with Olives and Rosemary

This is one of my all-time favourite bread recipes. I sometimes make it with no additions, or with a larger component of whole wheat flour, but it's always beloved by everyone who tries it. It's a wheat bread with character and texture, full of large holes that give it that nice artisanal look, and has plenty of aroma even if you don't add the olives and rosemary. Of course, why wouldn't you? Olives are one of my favourite things, and baked into a fantastic loaf of bread the become even better. The rosemary's herbal, resinous flavour goes well with them, creating a bread good enough to be eaten completely on its own.

It makes a great bread to eat with cheese or herbed olive oil, as well- or for making burgers or sandwiches. You can try it with green olives instead of black, or oregano or thyme instead of rosemary, for a twist. You can substitute 200-300 g. of flour for whole wheat or spelt to give it a more distinct flavour, too.

Sourdough Ciabatta with Olives and Rosemary
Adapted from Ketex

For the Sourdough:
50 g. Whole wheat flour
40 g. Water
5 g. Sourdough starter

Mix all and let sit at room temperature for 16-18 hours.

For the dough:
Sourdough
950 g. Bread flour
30 g. Olive oil, plus more to grease 
685 g. Water
22 g. Fresh yeast, or 7 g. Active dry yeast
15 g. Salt
1 Jar of black olives, drained
2-3 Sprigs rosemary, minced

Dissolve yeast in water along with sourdough. Mix in oil. Add flour and knead for 20 minutes on medium-high using a stand mixer, or until elastic and stringy. Add olives and rosemary towards the end by hand.

Divide the dough into two halves and place each in a ziploc bag greased thoroughly with olive oil. Let rise 1 hour, after each 30 minutes stretching and folding the dough from outside the bag by flipping and twisting it. 

Let rise another 45 minutes, then stretch and fold again. Empty bags onto a floured surface and either cut into buns or allow to remain in one piece. Let rise covered for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 220℃. Bake for 30 minutes for buns, or 44-55 for a whole loaf, spraying the interior of the oven with a spray bottle of water each 10 minutes. 

Coconut Cinnamon Evaporated Milk Buns

I should write a list of resolutions for baking. First and foremost would be checking on things more often so they don't burn. These buns barely escaped that fate with a deep brown tan.

Still, these babies came out successful. I made them mostly to use up the leftover evaporated milk from the gelato I made earlier. I also used cinnamon and coconut to make them a little more interesting. They flooded my house with the sugary, vaguely buttery smell of a Chinese bakery, though they're more toothsome than Asian-style bread. They've got a nice coconutty flavour and richness from the shredded coconut I added to the dough, softness from the evaporated milk, a slight caramel flavour without too much sweetness from the coconut sugar, and a hint of cinnamon to round it off. I sprinkled the top with coarse sugar to give it some crunch and additional flavour.

These are the kinds of sweet buns that can hold their own with some whole wheat flour substituted in- I'd also be interested as to how they'd taste with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. I'd also like to try making the leftovers into a bread pudding or french toast, since it's firm enough that it won't fall apart when soaked with liquid.

Coconut Cinnamon Evaporated Milk Buns
Adapted from Roxana's Home Baking

For the Buns:
4 C. (490 g.) Bread flour
1/4 C. Lukewarm water
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast
2 Eggs, room temperature
50 g. Soft butter or margarine
1 Tsp. Salt
3/4 C. Evaporated milk
1/4 C. (50 g.) Coconut sugar, or brown sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Sachet vanilla sugar, or 2 Tsp. homemade
1/2 C. Shredded unsweetened coconut
Additional evaporated milk, raw cane sugar/coarse sugar, cinnamon and flaked coconut, to top

Mix 1/4 C. of the flour, the water, and the yeast to form a sponge. Let sit covered until spongey in appearance, about 30 minutes.

Mix the remaining flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and vanilla sugar. In a separate small bowl, mix 1/4 C. of the evaporated milk with the coconut and let sit.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the sponge. Mix it in using the dough hook attachment of a mixer on low speed, or use a silicone spatula by hand. Add 1/4 C. of the remaining evaporated milk and one egg. Once incorporated, add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining evaporated milk and egg. Add the last of the flour mixture, followed by the coconut mixture and the butter/margarine. Knead 5 minutes on medium speed, or 15 minutes by hand, until elastic and smooth.

Let rise in a greased, covered bowl until doubled, 1-2 hours depending on the ambient temperature. Once doubled, punch down and form 12 equally sized balls. Let rise covered on a greased or parchment-lined baking tray (I used brioche molds greased with coconut oil) until almost doubled, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200℃. Brush the buns with evaporated milk. Sprinkle with flaked coconut, sugar and cinnamon.

Lower the oven temperature to 190℃. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.