Bo Lo bao

I didn't know how to spell this best to justify how it should be pronounced. I googled "How To Pronounce Bolo Bao" but nothing came up. Apparently it's also known as pineapple buns cos the topping makes it look like a pineapple...I don't see it.

Anyway to digress first, these buns were not the highlight of the day sadly. A and I very adventurously ordered a LIVE CRAB from Henderson To Home which we (I say we but I was too terrified and A did most of the work) had to kill, clean and cook. We placed it in a styrofoam box with ice packs through the day and it would make these squeaky noises from time to time. Very unnerving. I half expected it to flip open the lid and run amok in my flat. Thank God George was not that type of crab. We resorted to several Youtube videos and A's mum's advice before the deed was done; and eating it involved my hammer. It was definitely an experience.

Back to the buns. Bolo baos have a special place in my heart because I was eating one the morning I developed severe abdominal pain and subsequently had my appendix removed. I still love them despite this not so beautiful memory.

I was more confident of using yeast now that I've worked with it several times. I was slightly worried about mixing of the dough with my stand mixer as it's a really lousy one. In the end I had to hand knead the dough for about 15 minutes and it could have probably done with even more time.

The recipe was easy to follow from https://healthynibblesandbits.com/pineapple-buns/. Several components to piece together but worth it.

Bo Lo Bao by Lisa Lin - recipe makes 12

I halved everything in the recipe and it turned out ok! 6 bunbuns in my tumtum

Tangzhong apparently makes bread lighter and more fluffy, used in many milk bread recipes

20g (2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour 10g plain flour

75g (1/3 cup) water 38g water (my scale doesn't do 0.5s)

Dough

Safflower or any neutral oil for greasing bowl

145g (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) whole milk 73g semi-skimmed

18g (1 1/2 tablespoon) granulated sugar 9g

7g (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast 1 + a bit tsp

490g (3 1/4 cups) bread flour 245g

3g (1 teaspoon) kosher salt 1/2 tsp Maldon

80g (4 tablespoons) sweetened condensed milk she says you can use 3 tbsp of sugar instead if you don't have this. I forgot and added 2 tbsp but it was fine

1 large egg 28g worth of egg - I whisked the egg and measured

55g (4 tablespoons) butter, melted 28g, melted in a microwave

Topping

55g (4 tablespoons butter), at room temperature 28g, left out for ~1h

135g (2/3 cup) superfine sugar 70g caster

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 tsp

egg yolk half, no I didn't measure

1 tablespoon whole milk a dash

120g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour 60g plain

1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 tsp

1/8 teaspoon turmeric a sprinkle - for colour

Egg Wash I used the leftover half an egg + egg white + half an egg yolk + a dash of milk

1 large egg

1 tablespoon whole milk

Make the Tangzhong

1. Whisk the flour and water inside a saucepan until the flour dissolves

2. Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir the mixture frequently. In about a minute, the flour will start to thicken. Don’t walk away during this process as you can quickly burn the tangzhong! Once the flour develops into a light paste, turn off the heat.

Took me more than a minute. Because I used half the flour and water, I was afraid it wouldn't work but in about 3-4 mins it really started to thicken. Pretty neat stuff!

this was pre-cool, mind the cracked bowl

3. Transfer the tangzhong to a bowl to cool. It will thicken as it cools.

Prepare the Dough

1. Grease a large mixing bowl with oil. Set it aside. 

2. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the milk for about 40 to 45 seconds. Add the sugar to the milk. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the milk. It should be around 110ºF to 120ºF. It’s okay if you are just several degrees off. 

40-43C works like a charm

3. Add the yeast and stir to hydrate the yeast. Let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients. After 5 to 8 minutes, the milk/yeast mixture will foam up.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread flour, salt, condensed milk, egg, melted butter, tangzhong and the foamy milk/yeast mixture. 

5. Fit the mixer with the dough hook. Mix the dough on low for 10 minutes. If the dough completely spins away from the dough hook after a few minutes, turn off the mixer. Readjust the dough right into the center of the bowl and position the dough hook in the center of the dough. Run the mixer on “stir” for 15 seconds or so before you increase the speed to low.

6. After 10 minutes, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a surface and knead it several times. The dough shouldn’t be sticky, so you do not need to flour the surface.

7. Shape the dough into a ball and place inside the greased mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic or silicone mat. Let the dough rise in a warm area for about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, until the dough doubles in size. 

My lousy mixer made the dough really bitty and wasn't combining well so I had to hand knead the dough. I kneaded for about 15 minutes and this video was really useful in helping me decide if it was ready to be proofed. It was pretty springy but could probably do with more kneading - I just got lazy and tired. I read somewhere that you can never overknead by hand! Thankfully it wasn't a sticky dough so easy to work with.

Prepare the Topping

1. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the flat beater attachment. Cream the butter on medium-low until it is light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the superfine sugar in two batches. The mixture will look very crumbly at this point, and that’s okay.

I used very little butter in a big bowl so could barely cream it. Think my whisk merely softened the butter and made it stick to the sides of the bowl. Nevertheless it turned out ok. Helpful to know that crumbly is fine.

2. Next, add the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla, and mix on low until just combined. 

3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and turmeric. Add half of the flour to the bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix on low until the flour is combined. Then, add the remaining flour and mix again. Once all the loose flour has been incorporated, increase the speed to medium-low, and keep mixing until the dough starts to come together into large chunks. 

4. Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a surface. Gather it up into one large ball of dough. Transfer this to another bowl and cover it with a towel or silicone mat until the buns are done proofing.

Shape the Buns

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Once doubled, punch down the dough to release excess air. Turn the dough onto a work surface.

Left it for about 1.5h and they really rose! So satisfying to punch.

3. Divide the remaining dough into 6 equal pieces (74 to 76 grams each). Take one of the pieces of dough and knead it several times to get rid of any air bubbles. Then, shape this dough into a ball and transfer it to the lined baking sheet, seam side down. The dough should be about 2 inches in diameter. Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces of dough.

Each piece was about 71g for me. I did not shape them well but thought the topping would cover it anyway hehe. Did I measure them? No.

4. Cover the balls of dough with a towel and let them rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes, until they increase to 1.5 times its size (about 3 inches in diameter). 

I left them for 30mins cos I couldn't wait

5. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. If you want more golden looking pineapple buns, preheat the oven to 385ºF. Position an oven rack to the center position.

I used 385F which was about 195-200C

Add the Topping and Bake

1. While the buns are proofing, divide the dough for the topping (about 27 to 29 grams each). Roll each piece into a ball.

Mine was about 27g

2. Take a plastic storage bag, and cut off the zipper. Continue cutting the bag along the edges so that you have 2 large sheets of plastic. You’ll be rolling the topping in between these plastic sheets.

3. In a small bowl, prepare the egg wash by whisking an egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of milk.

As above, I used the leftover eggs

4. After the buns are done proofing, start rolling out the topping. Take a ball of the topping dough and place it on the center of a plastic sheet. Lightly flatten the dough out with the palm of your hand. Then, cover the flattened disc with the other sheet of plastic. Roll out the dough until you get a circle that is 3.5 to 3.75 inches wide. 

Did not measure it...I probably rolled it a little too much with the pin cos the end product had a lot of overhang

ft. Ikea plastic bag

5. Peel off the top sheet of plastic, turn the topping onto your hand and carefully peel off the other sheet of plastic. 

6. Drape the topping over one of the buns. The topping shouldn’t cover the bun completely. The topping can burn if it touches the bottom of the baking sheet. Continue rolling out the topping and draping it over the buns.

It didn't burn thankfully

7. Brush the tops of the buns with egg wash. 

8. Bake the buns for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden. 

Baked for 14mins!

9. Let the buns cool on the baking sheet for several minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy the buns while they’re still warm! That’s when they are the tastiest.

INDEED

Et voila! I am quite proud of myself ^^ As said before, I definitely could have kneaded the dough some more. Anybody wanna sponsor a mixer?

Nic x

Update from previous post: yes halving the recipe worked for the kaya buns! This time I got to the stage where the buns were sitting in the tray before the second proof. They sat in the fridge overnight and taken out 1h before baking the next morning to be proofed at room temperature. These days there is no getting out of bed till at least 9am but yes I got my ass out of bed at 7:45 to do this. Not a very strong kaya taste I think it needs stronger flavours like pandan extract or something. But the dough was as yummy mmmm