Pineapple Buns 菠蘿包

Pineapple bun is a sweet topping pastry popular in Hong Kong, Macau, and some other areas in southern China. It is known in Cantonese as bor lor/ polo boa, in which “bor lor/ polo” means “pineapple”, and “boa” means buns. As a child I used to scrap the sweet topping to eat and leave the buns.

To activate the yeast and to make a stretchy dough:- Add 10 grams of dried active yeast into a bowl and activate it by adding 100ml warm water. Whisk till it forms a smooth paste. Set aside and let it froth for 15 minutes. Whisk again to make it frothier.

You want stretchy, elastic dough. So the more you stretch and knead the dough the softer and lighter the buns will become. I recommend stretching the dough for 15 minutes. The mixture will start out very sticky but during the pulling and stretching process the dough will become very smooth and soft.

Makes: 12
Prep Time: 40 mins
Cooking Time: 25-30 mins
Resting time: Overnight + 2 hours

Bread Ingredients
350 grams bread flour
40 grams caster sugar
30 grams milk powder
140 grams butter
150 ml milk
1 teaspoon salt
3 free range eggs

Yeast Ingredients
80 ml warm water
10 grams dried active yeast

Topping Ingredients
150 grams flour
80 grams caster sugar
60 grams butter
10 grams milk power
2 tablespoons condensed/evaporated milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon milk

Glazing ingredients
1 egg yolk

Methods
• In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry bread ingredients. In a separate bowl add in all the wet bread ingredients, whisk well. Stir in the activated, frothy yeast.

• Knead the wet, sticky dough for 20 minutes until it forms into a sticky, elastic, smooth dough. Cover and rest for in the fridge for 2 hours or best overnight.

• On a floured surface, cut the dough into 12 portions. Cover with a cloth and rest for an hour that’s because you want the dough to rise.

• In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry topping ingredients then add in the wet topping ingredients all into the same bowl. Mix well. Separate topping dough into 12 portions, roll into balls and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 190 degree Celsius, 170 degrees Fahrenheit = gas mark 5.

• Remove topping balls from fridge, with hands gently pat until the balls are flat, place a flat topping on the top of each one of the rested flour dough. With a knife, make criss- cross shapes on the toppings. Repeat with the rest.

• In a bowl, separate the egg yolks from egg yolks. Beat the egg yolks. Brush only the criss- crossed toppings with egg yolk and bake on the top shelf for 30 minutes. Place a tray of water in the bottom layer of the oven. This helps to add moisture into the bun.

©Winsesweewok2014