Cookie Crust Wet Butter Bun (Yudane)

My first attempt in baking the popular Hong Kong pineapple buns. As the buns were not any close to resembling the pineapple pattern, so I prefer to name it by the features of the bread. 

I added a small chunk of salted butter to the center of the bread, so the melted butter would coat and caramelized at the base for added aroma😋

Some recipes I have read gave cookie crusts which were lumpy or rocky, while the recipe I followed give a crispy and fine crumb crust. The crust would only become crispy after cooling down. So, let the warm buns cool down for about 10 to 15 minutes before enjoying 😋

Yield: 10 buns

Raw dough weight: 640 g

Baking temperature:  Preheat oven to 200℃, middle rack, bake for about 12 minutes, reduce to 180℃ for 5 minutes, turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes.

Cookie Crust

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, softened

18g egg yolk

15g whipping cream

110g top flour/cake flour

15g custard powder/corn starch

1g baking powder

1g baking soda

90g icing sugar

Directions

1. Cream softened unsalted butter till light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and whipping cream till well combined.

2. Fold in the flour mixture and icing sugar till all the ingredients come together into a dough.

3. Transfer the dough to a sandwich size plastic bag or wrap in cling wrap. Keep in an air-tight container and refrigerate for 1 hour before use.

I prepare the cookie dough one day in advance and kept overnight in the fridge. Thaw the cookie dough for about 90 minutes in the container.

Bread Dough

Ingredients

230g bread flour

50g superfine wholegrain flour/plain flour

40g raw sugar

2g instant dry yeast

1/8 tsp vanillin powder, optional

50g natural yeast/sourdough, 100% hydration*

30g yudane dough^

20g multigrain soy pulp, optional#

135g low sugar soya milk, cold 

20g egg white

15~20g cold water, to be added depending on dough condition

4g low sodium salt

20g unsalted butter, softened

* 50g natural yeast can be replaced by 25g each of bread flour and water + 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast. Let the mixture stands for about 1 hour or more till double in volume, before use. You can also keep the mixture in the fridge overnight and thaw it for 1 hour before use.

^ 39g yudane dough is prepared by combining 20g of bread flour with 20g of very hot or boiling water into a sticky dough. Wrap the yudane dough in cling wrap, and cool down before use. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out the sticky yudane dough from the cling wrap.

# multigrain soy pulp or okara is the residue after brewing the multigrain soy milk. The ingredients involved organic soy bean, black beans, red kidney beans, split green peas, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnut, mung beans, and pandan leaf.

Filling

25g salted butter, cold, cut into 10 portions

Egg White Glaze

remaining egg white

1 tsp whipping cream

Directions

1. Knead the dough following your preference method. 

For my method, you can refer to my recipe Yudane Milk Bread. After kneading the dough to window pane stage, 

shape the dough into a ball, and keep in a big mixing bowl. Spray some water over, cover with a lid, and let it proof for about 60 minutes, or till double in size.

End of 60-minute proofing 👇

2. Invert the dough onto a floured work top, deflate the dough, and divide into 10 equal portions.

Shape the dough into 10 balls, cover with an inverted bowl, and let them rest for 15 minutes. 

While the dough is resting, cut the cold salted butter and keep them in the fridge till needed in next step.

3. Take a dough ball, flatten it using the palm. Place a cold cut salted butter in the center of the flat dough.

Wrap up the dough and shape into a ball.

4. Space out the shaped dough over a non-stick baking pan. Proof them in a cold oven for about 15 minutes.

As the assembling of cookie dough to the shaped dough will take up quite some time, so I have to start early. As a general guide, the shaped dough with the cookie dough have to be ready in about 40 minutes after the second proofing started.

While the shaped dough is undergoing 2nd proofing, divide the cookie dough into 10 portions, and shape into 10 balls. Get the egg-white glaze ready too.

After 15-minute of 2nd proofing👇

5. Brush a coat of egg-white glaze over all the shaped dough.

At the same time, start to preheat the oven to 200℃ for about 10 minutes.

Flatten a cookie dough between two sheets of plastic films.

With the help of the plastic film, transfer the flattened cookie dough over to the top of shaped dough.

Sprinkle a little low-sodium salt over the cookie dough.

Try not to remove the cookie dough from the plastic film by hand, as the cookie dough will break easily and pose difficulty in assembling!

6. Before baking, brush another coat of egg-white glaze over the cookie dough.

Saw the broken cookie dough at the left-hand corner.
That's was my first piece when I tried to remove the cookie dough
from the plastic film.

7. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at 200℃, for about 12 minutes, reduce to 180℃ for 5 minutes, turn off oven and continue to bake for 3 minutes, or till the crusts turn golden brown.

8. Remove the buns from the oven, and cool over a wire rack.

9. Let the hot buns cool down for about 10 to 15 minutes, or till the crust becomes crispy. The crust would be soft while it was still hot.