Strawberry Cream Cheese Bun 奶油乳酪草莓面包

This is a slightly sour and sweet strawberry bun making use of the strawberry purée extracted from fresh ripe strawberries. It complimented well with the cream cheese filling :)

Yield: about 10 x 5cm-round buns

Strawberry Purée

120g fresh strawberries, hulled

15g fine sugar

15g water 

1. Cut strawberries into small bits. Toss with sugar and set aside for about 1 hour.

2. Add 15g of water and heat the strawberry pulp for about 10 minutes, till the fruit becomes soft.

3. Strain the softened strawberry over a sieve, press with a soup spoon. Discard the remaining pulp in the sieve.

4. Heat the purée collected from (3) till thicken. This process takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Allow the strawberry purée to cool down before use.

Cream Cheese Filling

90g cream cheese, room temperature

20g beaten egg

20g fine sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Mix all the ingredients  together into smooth paste.

2. Refrigerate the filling in the fridge till needed.

Bread dough

50ml strawberry purée

100ml fresh milk

20ml whipping cream

200g bread flour

20g fine sugar

1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

1/4 tsp salt

30g rice flour water roux

20g unsalted butter, softened

 

Beaten egg for glazing

Direction

1. Mix strawberry purée, milk and whipping cream into 150ml strawberry milk mixture.

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If your ingredients are cold, you may want to keep it warm in the rice cooker for 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Mix all dry ingredients, rice flour roux and 120ml strawberry milk mixture together. Slowly add in the remaining strawberry milk until the ingredients form into a lump and leave the side of the mixing bowl clean.

Stop adding the strawberry milk when the dough becomes too sticky.

3. Transfer the dough to a floured work top.  As the dough is quite sticky, it's best to knead the dough by throwing, slamming, pulling and folding.

Grab the right end of the dough, and repeat the throwing, pulling and folding process. In general, you are stretching the dough and rotating it. This process takes about 15 minutes.

4. When the dough becomes smooth, spread out the dough, and apply softened butter over it.

After mixing the butter to the dough, repeat the throwing, pulling, and folding steps, till the dough become elastic and stretchy.

5. Pull down the sides of the dough and seal at the bottom. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, spray some water, cover with a lid, and allow the dough to proof for about 75 minutes.

6. To test whether the proofing is complete, poke a finger coated with flour into the centre of the dough. If the gap remains open, the proofing is complete.

7. Flatten the dough to get rid of the trapped air.

8. Cut the dough into 10 equal portions.3

9. Roll up the individual dough, pull down the sides, and seal at the base into a ball. Coat it with some flour and place in the mixing bowl. Cover and let them rest for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, take out the cream cheese mixture from the fridge.

10. Roll out a dough into a round dough with the centre thicker than the edge.

Flip the dough over, so the smoother side will be facing outside when wrapped.

Scoop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture onto the dough.

Wrap the dough up and seal at the base.

Roll the dough over some flour, and place on the baking tray lined with parchment paper.

11. Spray some water over the doughs, and let them proof in the oven for 50 minutes.

12. Take out the doughs and preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius.

Use a sharp knife to slit open a cross over the top of the dough. Apply an even coat of egg wash over the surface.

13. Bake the bread dough in the oven at 170 degree Celsius for 15 to 18 minutes, or till the top turns golden.

14. Allow the bread to cool on the wire rack before consumption. Enjoy :)