Updated: Tried Christine's tangzong method: https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2020/12/hk-red-bean-bun.html
Not sure how I feel about this recipe. It took me 2 days to make it if you count the hour for the anko the night before. Actual time was about 3 hours active time and with another 3 hours proving time. The next morning, I started at 10am to make the tangzong and it had to cool down. I restarted at 1.30pm by placing all the ingredients into the mixer and this took 2 hours to prove, then an hour to form the dough (including 15 mins rest time in between), another 40 minutes to prove, and another 20 minutes to bake. I only ended at 6.30pm. The end result is that the bun was less dense (only ⅔ the vol of flour) but felt drier than the JOC two flours recipe which had equivalent volume of liquid and slightly more equivalent volume of butter. The tangzong didn't seem to have made any discernible difference. Maybe I'm not putting enough - this would be equivalent to 9% of the total flour weight.
Ingredients
Tangzong
20g regular flour (recipe didn't specify what flour so since the recipe called for cake and bread flours, I decided to go halfway with regular flour)
100g/ml water
Buns (Makes 12 buns)
195g bread flour
90g cake flour
6g instant yeast
25g sugar (reduced from 30g)
3g salt
1 egg, beaten
45g butter, softened and cubed
Filling
280 to 300g anko (either tsubuan or koshian)
Topping
2 tsp black or white sesame seeds, raw
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp melted butter (optional)
Method
1) Make the roux. Add the flour to the water into a small saucepan and use a whisk to combine till no lumps remain. Turn on a medium flame and keep whisking. The mixture should thicken up. Stop when the temp reaches 65 deg C, or you see lines in the mixture. Let it cool slightly then transfer to a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and ensure that the cling film touches the surface. This prevents a skin from forming.
2) In a mixer (I used my trusty food processor with dough hook), add the flours, salt, yeast on the opposite side, and sugar. Combine. Add the beaten egg, milk, and tangzong and beat till combined. If it doesn't come together, add slightly more milk (I need about another 5ml or a splash). Beat till elastic and stop to scrape down the bowl periodically.
3) Add the cubed butter and beat. The dough will suddenly get very sticky and but if you continue beating, it will slowly relax. After a while, it gets very elastic and becomes smooth and shiny. Check using the window pane test.
4) Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to proof in a warm place for about 2 hours until it has doubled to 2.5x its original size.
5) Beat down the dough and ensure that all air pockets have been kneaded out. Separate into 12 balls. Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
6) Flatten out each ball using the palm of your hand. Using a French or Asian rolling pin, roll the disc about 3 inches wide, leaving it thicker at the centre than the edges.
7) Place about 1.5 tbsp (I used my size 40 cookie dough scoop) of filling in the centre. Gather up the edges and pinch tightly closed. Carefully re-form into a ball and try not to flatten it out.
8) Place the formed buns onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with cling film and cloth and leave to prove for 40 minutes.
9) I was a bit disappointed to see that the buns had spread out rather than risen. (Luckily they do rise in the oven) Glaze with egg wash. Using the bottom of my rolling pin, I coated it with beaten egg, stamped it into the sesame seeds and stamped that onto my bun for the perfect round shape.
10) Bake at 180 deg C for 18 to 20 minutes (20 mins is what I had in the picture, which seems a bit too dark for my liking). I rotated and switched the trays at the 12 minute mark.
