Red Bean Twist Bun

I had a great day today. I got myself busy and productive since 10 am this morning making some red bean buns. I came across this cute little red bean twist buns from a recipe book I borrowed from the library last night.

I prepared the dough in 2 ways. I chose to knead half of the dough and I let my breadmaker knead the other half. I wanted to compare the differences between the man-made vs machine made buns.

I was perspiring heavily after 30 minutes of kneading. I guess it is a good exercise for me after all but I found the dough a bit unmanageable as it was very sticky. I kept adding flour and I have no idea how much I have added. Luckily, they turned out fine when they were out from the oven.

I also found the dough from the breadmaker very sticky but at least it did not create a mess on the table as it did for the dough that I hand-knead earlier on. It was so much easier too compared to the hand-knead method as I dump in all the ingredients into the machine and let it do all the hard work!

Ingredients:

(yields 16-18 mini buns)

500 g Bread Flour (sifted)

70 g Sugar

5 g Salt

10 g Active Dry Yeast

30 g Butter

50 g Egg

250 ml Water

Filling:

Red bean paste (as desired)

Garnishing:

Sesame seed (as desired)

Method:

Dough by Manual

1. Mix the egg and water in a bowl.

2. Pour the egg with water mixture into a bowl of yeast, salt & sugar. Mix well.

3. Blend in the flour in 3 batches with a spatula/ wooden spoon. Blend until the mixture form a ball of dough.

4. Take out the dough and knead on a pre-dusted flat surface until the dough is not sticky. The dough is ready when the dough does not break easily when pulled.

5. Put the dough into a well-oiled bowl, covered with a moist cloth or cling wrap and let the dough rise until double in size. The time should be roughly about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour.

6. After the first rise, take the dough out to release the gas from the rise by lightly kneading it.

7. Let the dough rest 5-10 minutes with a moist cloth covered on top before using it.

Dough by Machine

1. Put all wet ingredients first into the baking pan followed by the dry ingredients.

2. Load the baking pan into the breadmaker and start the "Dough" function.

3. Take the dough out after the rise cycle completes.

4. Take the dough out to release the gas from the rise by lightly kneading it.

5. Let the dough rest 5-10 minutes with a moist cloth covered on top before using it.

Filling & Shaping:

1. Switch on the oven at 200 deg C.

2. Divide the dough into 50 g per piece.

3. Fill in red bean paste and seal the dough.

4. Flatten the dough with a pin roll.

5. Slice 3-4 strips elongately into the flatten dough.

6. By holding the dough end with both hands, twist inwardly with one hand while the hand twist outwardly.

7. After twisting, form a circle and twist a knot. An example is shown below:

8. Dip the twisted dough into the sesame seed.

9. Rest the doughs on top of parchment paper on a baking pan for around 30 minutes. Cover the baking pan with moist cloth or oiled clingwrap.

10. Put the baking pan into the oven and bake for around 15 minutes.

11. Take out the baked buns and let cool on a rack immediately.

12. Brush the surface with butter to enhance the taste and to achieve softer crust.

Results:

It turned out great! The machine-kneaded dough yields a better texture and taste in the end but both tasted good. However, I still need to improve my twisting and shaping skill. None of the buns were great looking as shown in the book after the bake. It tasted very nice when it was fresh from the oven. After a few hours, they did not maintain its softness but otherwise still taste great! This is a keeper. I personally think that a breadmaker is a must for those who loves baking but want to skip the messiness and tardiness of kneading process :)