Pineapple Bun

Ingredients

• 20g bread flour, for the tangzhong
• 100ml water, for the tangzhong
• 350g bread flour
• 50g caster sugar
• 6g instant yeast
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 20g milk powder
• 1 egg
• 120ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 40g unsalted butter, softened
• 60g unsalted butter, softened, for the topping
• 60g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tbsp custard powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp milk, to glaze
• Thick slices of cold salted butter, to serve

Before you cook

• Whisk the 20g of bread flour into the 100ml of water in a small pan until smooth.
• Cook it over low heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a paste, then cool it completely.
• Beat the 60g of softened butter with the icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Beat in the single egg yolk.
• Sift the plain flour, custard powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda over the butter and fold until it comes together as a soft cookie dough.
• Roll the topping dough into a log, wrap it, and chill it for at least 1 hour.

Steps

1. Put the 350g of bread flour, sugar, yeast, salt and milk powder into a mixer bowl with a dough hook.
2. Add the cooled tangzhong, the whole egg and the lukewarm milk, and mix on low for 3 minutes.
3. Knead on medium for 8 minutes, then work in the 40g of softened butter a piece at a time and knead for another 8 minutes, until the dough is glossy and stretches thin without tearing.
4. Cover and prove in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes, until doubled in size.
5. Knock the dough back and divide it into 10 pieces of about 60g each.
6. Roll each piece into a tight ball and set them on two lined baking trays, well spaced.
7. Cover the trays and prove for 50 minutes, until springy and nearly doubled.
8. Cut the chilled topping log into 10 discs and roll each between two sheets of baking paper into a circle wide enough to drape over two thirds of a bun.
9. Lay a topping disc over each proved bun and press the edges down lightly so it grips.
10. Brush the topping with the egg yolk glaze, taking care not to let it pool.
11. Heat the oven to 180C fan.
12. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the topping has cracked open into a crazed pattern and turned deep gold.
13. Cool the buns on a rack for 10 minutes.
14. Split a bun while it is still warm and wedge a cold slice of salted butter inside to make the classic bo lo yau.