Baked Curry Chicken Buns (Tang Zhong Method)

Baked Chicken Curry Buns (Tang Zhong Method)

Baked Curry Chicken Buns (Tang Zhong Method)

Course: Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine: Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 35

Proof the dough: 2

Total Time: 2 55

Servings: medium buns

Calories: 238kcal

Author: Marvellina

Soft and fluffy baked chicken curry buns made with the tangzhong method and filled with a savory chicken potato curry. These bakery-style buns stay soft for days and are perfect for meal prep or freezing.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

Tangzhong:

15 g bread flour
90 g whole milk

Dry ingredients:

Wet ingredients:

80 g whole milk plus more as needed
1 large egg about 50 gr without the shell, lightly beaten

Ingredient to add last:

40 g butter softened
½ tsp salt
30 g sugar

Egg wash:

1 egg beaten
1 tsp water

Easy chicken curry filling:

1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 small onion peeled and diced
300 gr boneless skinless breast/thigh cut into small cubes
1 large potato peeled and cut into small cubes
½ cup chicken broth
1 stalk green onion finely chopped

Spices:

1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder optional if you want it spicy

Seasonings:

Salt to taste
¼ tsp sugar

For brushing:

1 Tbsp Butter melted

Instructions

Prepare the filling (Need to be done the day before):

Preheat a skillet or wok over medium to high heat. Add cooking oil. Add onion and stir fry for about 3 minutes or until the onion is aromatic and soft. Add chicken cubes and stir fry until they turn opaque. Some liquid will ooze out too. Add the potatoes, and spices and stir to mix. Add chicken broth. Bring to a gentle simmer and then cover to cook until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through and liquid is absorbed. Add seasonings to your taste. Sprinkle in the green onion and give it one last stir to mix everything
Allow filling to cool down completely before wrapping

Prepare tangzhong:

Place milk and the bread flour in a small saucepan. Whisk until there is no more lumps. Cook this mixture over low-medium heat until it reaches 65 C (149 F).
Remove from the heat and cover with a plastic wrap, touching the tangzhong so the skin won't form. You can use it on the same day once it has cool down, but I highly suggest using this the next day. It improves the taste of the bread. Store this in the fridge

Prepare the dough:

If you use active dry yeast, mix the yeast with 2 tablespoons of warm milk you are going to use in the recipe to bloom the yeast. Let it sit for 10 minutes until it is foamy and bubbly.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients and the tang zhong you made earlier. Use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough on speed 2 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. This is an important rest that bakers refer to as an autolyse (though in our case it's a short one. Read my post above for detail)
After the rest, turn on and knead the dough again on speed 2 and knead for 1-2 minutes until it is a bit smoother. Then add the salt and sugar into the dough and 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. I promise it's worth the effort!
Once you have a smooth dough, turn the machine back on again and increase the speed to speed 4 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. This may take about 10-15 minutes. The dough must pass a windowpane stage, meaning when you stretch a small portion of the dough slowly into a thin sheet, it won't break

1st 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.
The dough will double in volume and when you push your index finger into the dough, it won't collapse

Shaping:

Punch the dough down, divide into 12 balls. Cover these dough loosely with a plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes. Make sure you don't skip this part of resing the dough before shaping
Flatten one dough and roll into about 4-5-inch circle. Place about 1-2 Tbsp of the filling in the middle.
Gather the edge of the dough to enclose and pinch to seal the bun.
Place the seam side down on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover with a plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel

Final proofing:

Let the buns proof again for another 40 minutes or until they puff up again to about 50% or more of their original size. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash.

Baking:

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). My oven is conventional, bottom heat only. If your oven uses top and bottom heat, you may want to lower the temperature by about 20 degrees.
Place them in the oven (3rd rack from the top) and let them bake for the 20 minutes. It will be golden brown on top. Remove from the oven, brush with some melted butter and let them cool down in the pan for about 3 minutes and then serve while they are still warm or at room temperature

Storing;

Leftover buns need to cool down completely before storing. Wrap each one in a plastic wrap and put them in air-tight container and keep them in the fridge for a day or two. For longer storage, Put them in a freezer bag or an and keep in the freezer for up to one month.

Reheating:

If frozen, thaw them overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for an hour or so. Loosely wrap the buns in aluminum foil and reheat in oven or toaster oven or air fryer at 350F for about 10 minutes to warm up, or simply warm it in the microwave oven for about 1 minute or until heated through

Nutrition