Wool Roll Milk Bread with Char Siu Filling (Tangzhong Method)
Course: Baked Buns
Cuisine: Asian Fusion
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Proofing the dough twice: 2 hourshours
Total Time: 1 hourhour
Servings: 8servings
Calories: 355kcal
Author: Marvellina
Soft and fluffy milk bread using tangzhong method (water roux method) and shaped into a wool roll is fun to make. The bread is filled with delicious char siu (Chinese BBQ pork) filling. It’s a pull-apart milk bread you will absolutely love.
Preheat a pan and then add cooking oil. Add onion and stir fry until they are soft, about 3 minutes or so. Add the bbq pork and the rest of the ingredients, except for all-purpose flour. Keep stirring until sugar melts and the seasonings coat the pork pieces. Have a taste and adjust by adding more sugar and/or salt as needed. Char siu should be sweet and savory in taste. When you are happy with the taste, sprinkle in the flour and keep stirring. The mixture will be more pasty and sticky, which is what we want. Remove from the heat and let it cools down before using. You can prepare the filling few days before too and keep it in the fridge for up to one week
When ready to use, divide the filling into 5 equal portions
Prepare tangzhong:
Place milk and the bread flour in a small saucepan. Whisk until there is no more lumps. Cook this mixture over medium heat until it is thickened, about 5 minutes or less. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely
Prepare the dough:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients and the tangzhong you made earlier. Use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 2-3 minutes for this to happen. Don't be tempted to add any liquid. You may need to stop halfway and scrape the dough off the hook and the sides of the bowl and knead again several times
Once it comes into a dough, stop the machine. The dough will not be smooth, don't worry. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. Please don't skip this step
After the rest, turn on and knead the dough again and knead for 1-2 minutes until it is a bit smoother. Then add the salt and sugar into the dough. Continue to knead until the dough is relatively smooth. You need to stop and scrape the dough off the hook and the bowl several times during this process
Once you have a smooth dough, turn the machine back on again to knead and gradually add in the softened butter a bit by a bit. The dough will turn into a REAL sticky mess again because of the butter, just keep kneading and stop halfway and scrape the dough off the hook and bowl again and continue to knead until the butter is absorbed by the dough. IT WILL HAPPEN, don't worry! DO NOT be tempted to add any extra flour. You will get a shiny smooth dough that is very elastic.
First proofing:
Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place for about 1 hour or longer. It may not double in size, but it will puff up some for sure.
Fill and shape:
Line an 8-inch round pan with a parchment paper on the bottom
Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces. Work with one dough at a time and keep the rest covered. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 10 x 5 inches. Use a pizza cutter or dough scraper to cut thin strips along the upper half of the dough (refer to the photo above). Make sure you really cut through for the wool shape to show later
Spread the char siu filling on the bottom half, leaving about 1/2 inch gap on the edge. Fold the edge over a bit and then start rolling from the bottom to the top. Place this inside athe perimeter of the round pan. Continue with the rest of the dough and filling and arrange the dough (as shown in the photo above)
2nd proofing:
Cover with a damp cloth and place at a warm place to let them rise again for another hour or until they are almost double in size again
Baking:
10 minutes before the end of 2nd proofing, preheat the oven at 340 F (170 C). Brush the bread with egg wash and put the pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown
Cooling:
Let the bread rests inside the pan for 2-3 minutes and then loosen the edge and remove from the pan onto a cooling rack to let them cool down completely
Video
Notes
If you don't have Chinese bbq pork, you can use chicken thigh or pork shoulder, diced into bite-size pieces. You can also use leftover chicken meat. Simply cut them into small bite-size pieces