Baked custard bun - the ALMOST epic fail...

Freshly baked and ready to eat! :) 

I recently ate this in a restaurant about 2 weeks ago with some friends. It wasn't baked but steamed variety. I really liked it but there was something missing. I've had this type of bun before back home and this time around it did not quite meet my choosy tongue/taste buds' expectation. And sure enough I though to myself why not make the bake version instead of the steamed one just to try. 

The custard consistency you'll need. Looks like custard dough! :p

Flatten dough

So off I went looking around WWW for the baked recipe. I finally found one here and think to myself looks easy enough. As I was going through the recipe, I realised that the person who wrote this must be of Asian origins. Don't get my wrong, there are lots of Asian people out there with strong English command blogging like your typical ang moh. The reason why I suspected it its because of the way it was written. 

These looks huge rather than your typical teaspoon sized. 

Ready for baking! 

I got really confused at one point having to guess (teka-teki time bah) what is she trying to express. On top of that there wasn't any photos posted as to explain how the recipe should look like once it was mixed in or cooked or wrapped up... 

Fresh from the oven. My whole wheat custard baked buns. :)

One reasons why I would not even read through a sewing tutorial if there is no photo as to show or even inform stupid people like me how the item should look like each step or every important step. Oh the perils of trying to follow a recipe or sewing tutorials on line.  

If anyone is interested in this recipe, please follow the ingredients as per link here but here is the method my version. 

For the Custard

1. Warm milk in a small pot over low heat. The milk should be just warm not hot. 
2. Mix your flours and sugar together in a bowl. 
3. Beat the egg yolks until pale in colour and almost double in volume. Add in the sugar flour mixture while stirring it; you switch off your mixer and stir it. Otherwise you'll get flying sugar flour everywhere. 
4. You then pour your warm milk in slowly while mixing it with your mixer switched on, on low please. Please retain your small pot for step 6. 
5. Once it is well blended, add in your butter and vanilla. 
6. Now you transfer the custard mixture into the small milk pot, using low heat to cook the mixture until its very thick* while constantly stirring it. This is to avoid the bottom being burnt and also mixture curdling too fast. Otherwise you can always use double boil method. * Thick as in you can spoon it and roll it consistency. 
7. Once the thickness consistency is achieved, switch off the heat and transfer it into a bowl. Cool the custard down before chilling it for an hour or so in the fridge. 

For the bun

1. While the custard is "chillaxing" in the fridge, mix everything except for the butter and olive oil to create the dough. 
2. Add in your butter. Knead the dough until it has an elastic feel.  
3. You then pour in olive oil but do not mix it. Just rub it around the dough. Cover your dough and leave in a warm room to poof for about an hour or until double in size. 
4. Punch down the dough and make 15 rolls. 
5. Make the same amount of chilled custard filling, a teaspoonful for each ball. 
6. Flatten the dough rolls with your palm, insert your custard filling and warp them up. Roll them as best as you can, make sure that there is no holes. Otherwise you'll get leaky buns. 
7. Arrange the buns on a parchment lined tray, cover them with cling film and let them poof again for an hour. I used my brownie tray for this. 
8. Preheat your oven at 200°C. Using a mixture of 1/2 egg (the rest from the bun recipe), 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of milk, you egg wash your buns. Bake your buns for 15 mins. 

SIDE NOTES

1. As I am using whole wheat flour for this recipe, I used 1 1/4 tsp of yeast instead of 1 tsp. 
2. Please make sure your butter is at room temperature as it will incorporate really well and quickly into the dough. 
3. Also since my kitchen is not as warm as in say any typical SEA homes, I normally poof my bread dough in a warm oven! LOL... Works for me. Warm your oven at 100°C for about 15 mins, switch it off and wait for 10 mins BEFORE putting your dough in a covered bowl to poof as per recipe. Best to use stainless steel bowls for this. 
4. As I am using vanilla paste as opposed to vanilla extract. Yes I am such a snob in this! :p Between extract and paste, I prefer the paste as it brings out the real vanilla flavour. With extract not so much and you'd have to use much more than paste or beans. Plus I really like the tiny tiny flakes of vanilla in my baked goods. 
5. This custard recipe will yield you more custard filling than dough. I might have to make more dough tomorrow to finish off the custard filling on hand. Perhaps using all purpose flour this time.