Sweet buns

Method

Tangzhong

1. Into a small saucepan, add the whole milk and bread flour and cook it over a medium heat, whisking until it reaches a thick paste like consistency.

2. Scoop the mixture into a pan and set it aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Dough

1. Take the fresh cardamom pods and crack them open. Pour the seeds into a pestle and mortar and crush them to a fine powder.

2. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cardamom, bread flour, salt and yeast. Split half a vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the beans into the dry mixture.

3. Add the cooled tangzhong paste and crumble this through with your fingertips. Set the bowl to one side.

4. Add the milk, cream, egg and sweetened condensed milk to a small saucepan. Over a low heat, stir it until it reaches 46-48C/114F-188F and then immediately take it off the heat and pour it over the dry ingredients.

5. Stir the mixture together with a spatula and a plastic dough scraper, until there are no more dry ingredients at the bottom. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

6. Add in the cold cubed butter and with the dough hook, knead for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the sides if needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

7. Remove it from the bowl and shape it into a tight ball on the work surface, before lifting it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and proof for 1 hour.

8. Remove the proofed dough from the bowl and lift it onto your work surface – no need to flour it.

9. Cut the dough into 75g portions, you should get 12-14.

10. Cup your hand around the dough in a ‘C’ shape and rotate it underneath your fingers and palm, to create a smooth, round ball.

11. Lift each ball onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. You will fit 6 balls per tray. If you have it, spray the balls with an oil spray and cover them with cling film. If not, cover them loosely with a clingfilm. Proof them for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until doubled in size.

12. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 175C/345F non-fan assisted (160C fan assisted).

13. Whisk together the egg wash ingredients and use a pastry brush, to cover the whole bun. Place them into the centre oven (you will likely need to swap the trays halfway through baking). Bake them for around 25 minutes or until golden brown all over.

14. Remove them from the oven and lift them off the tray, straight onto a wire cooling rack. Cool for at least 30 minutes. 

Almond Filling  

1. Add all of the ingredients except the milk into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on a medium-low speed for 1-2 minutes, until slightly smoother (there will be some chunks of flaked almond).

2. Slowly add the milk until you have a smooth mixture. Add it into a piping bag and set it to one side.

Mascarpone Cream

Note: You’ll want to split this into two batches as the cream isn’t stabilised so if you try and pipe it all in one go, it will go quite grainy by the last few buns.

1. Add all of the ingredients into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk until you have a medium peak, being very careful not to over whip it.

2. Add the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle. 

Assembly

1. Using a knife, cut a triangle out of the top of each bun and set the lids to one side.

2. Pipe the almond cream into the gap, filling it to the top.

3. Pipe the cream in an anti-clockwise spiral motion on top of 6 of the buns.

4. Place the lid on top, pressing down slightly to press the cream outwards.

5. Finish with a dusting of icing/powdered sugar and serve. Whisk the remaining cream ingredients and repeat the process for the final 6 buns.