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Pineapple bun

Pineapple bun

菠蘿包
BakedCakes and pastryServed hotWeekendKids like itMediumhands-on 45 min · start to finish 3 hr 30 min

“Fresh from the oven. One is enough.”

Ingredientsserves 4

雜貨舖Flour· bread flour 375 g: 25 g for the tangzhong, 350 g for the dough; plain flour 100 g for the topping375 g bread flour plus 100 g plain flour
雜貨舖Sugar· 55 g in the dough, 40 g in the topping95 g
雜貨舖Salt5 g
雜貨舖Milk powder· full cream; one tablespoon in the dough, one in the topping14 g
雜貨舖Yeast· instant yeast5–6 g
街市Chicken egg (hard-boiled)· one whole egg in the dough; two yolks only, one for the topping and one for the wash3
街市Fresh milk125 ml
雜貨舖Butter· softened; 30 g in the dough, 40 g in the topping70 g
雜貨舖Bicarb soda· in the topping⅛ tsp
雜貨舖Baker's ammonia· optional; the bakery's crumbly, cracked crust comes from ita pinch

Method

  1. The tangzhong: whisk 25 g of bread flour into 125 ml of water until there are no lumps, cook on low, stirring, until it thickens to a paste that holds a line (about 65°C), cool and cover. Make it the night before, or at least an hour ahead. The tangzhong is why the bun is still soft the next morning.
  2. The dough: mix 350 g of bread flour, 55 g of sugar, the salt, one tablespoon of milk powder, the yeast, one egg, the milk and all of the tangzhong, and knead until smooth: ten minutes in a mixer, fifteen to twenty by hand. Add the 30 g of soft butter and knead on until it passes the windowpane test, a piece stretching to a thin window without tearing. An under-kneaded bun is dense.
  3. Cover and rise until doubled: sixty to ninety minutes in a Hong Kong kitchen, longer in a Sydney winter, in the oven with only the light on. An under-risen bun is dense too.
  4. Knock the dough back, divide into eight (about 85 g each), round each tightly seam-down and rest fifteen minutes on a lined tray. Meanwhile make the topping: beat 40 g of soft butter with 40 g of sugar until pale, beat in one yolk, then sift in the 100 g of plain flour, a tablespoon of milk powder, the bicarb and the ammonium bicarbonate and fold to a soft paste. Divide into eight and chill ten minutes.
  5. Flatten each ball of topping between two sheets of baking paper to a disc about 9 cm across and 2 to 3 mm thick, lay it over a bun and press it gently down the sides. A topping that is too soft or too thick slides off and does not crack; chilled and rolled thin, it opens by itself as the bun rises. If it will not crack, score a diamond pattern with the back of a knife.
  6. Second rise, uncovered, forty-five to sixty minutes until puffy. Brush the topping with the beaten yolk.
  7. Bake at 170°C fan for fifteen to eighteen minutes until the crust is golden and cracked into its checks. Cool on a rack ten minutes. Eat warm; split with a slab of cold butter it is 菠蘿油, which is the café's page.

Take care

  • Contains egg, milk and wheat. Ammonium bicarbonate gives off ammonia in the oven: use only the pinch given, in a thin topping that bakes through, and ventilate; never taste the raw topping. Do not taste raw dough (raw flour and egg).

The story

The pineapple bun began as an English sweet bun that Hong Kong bakers found too plain and crowned with a sugar-and-butter crust that cracks in the oven into pineapple checks; there is no pineapple in it. It is on Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage list, and the 茶餐廳's 菠蘿油 with its slab of cold butter is the café's answer to it. For a Hong Kong child in Australia it is the bun a visiting grandmother asks for first.

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.