More Buns...

I'm hiding the bun's ugliness round the other side of the bun!

I was so pleased with the BBQ Pork Buns (Baked Char Siu Buns) that I thought I'd expand a little and try out some more fillings.  Hubbs likes Red Bean Filling and when I first tried making buns from my Alex Goh book, he pointed at the Matcha Red Bean Buns but I had decided to make the Butter Coconut Buns - I said I'd make them next time and he's still waiting as that next time hasn't come round for him yet!  As EEWIF has such a great sweet bun dough recipe I thought I'd make a batch and fill with red bean.  I have a can of red bean paste and my mum gave me a can of whole red beans (from Tesco).  I thought I'd combine the two so I would get a paste with more texture - a bit like the Japanese filling but less dry.  It kinda worked - but some of the canned whole beans are a little too hard.  Perhaps they could do with being cooked a little longer?  Or maybe mashed a little?

I split my dough into 16 pieces this time instead of 10 and filled half with the red bean paste.  I then wrapped and transported it to my mum's to finish off.  I figured that they'd still prove in their 35 minute journey to mum's.  As it turned out, they didn't travel that well as they stuck to one another and didn't look like the flower shapes I wanted them to be.  I still baked them and they were the most ugliest buns ever!  Not round as I'd cut the edges to replicate flower petals and besides, they were pretty close neighbours with one another and some were beginning to merge as one!  So I'm blushing with the memory of their misshapeness!  The inside of the bun looked okay though!

Wanted a photo with steam coming out of the filling.  I guess I'd have to grab a steaming hot bun and be standing in a walk-in freezer to get that shot!

With the other half of the bun dough I decided to make ham and cheese buns as in EEWIF blog as I thought they looked so good.  These I thought were very tasty (although I didn't do the cheese & mayo topping) and I really love that bread dough recipe!  It's really, really good!  I think it's as good as from a Chinese Bakery!

This was my breakfast a few days ago, see the airy bubbles in the ham 'n' cheese bun?  The other is a toppled over nutella & almond spiral - I ran out of ham 'n' cheese.

I still want to make Tuna Bun as these are my fave buns from Hong Kong Bakery!  So deliciously soft and savoury!  My older bro' likes Bolo Bao (Pineapple Buns) so I guess I'll make those too in a couple of weeks when he visits my mum.  There is a half-term holiday at the end of October and he usually spends a few days with mum so she can get to see her granddaughter Sophie.