Furikake Pretzel Buns | Recipe
c’mon baby let’s do the twist.
these are the only buns in our oven.
the only buns in our oven.
As we’ve been quarantined inside, it seems like all of are trying to find our inner baker inside so we decided to give it a try too. We've been sorely missing our Chinese bakery runs, so I decided we would be our own bakery while at home together. Fluffy Chinese style buns, wrapped into pretzels topped with furikake, scallions and sesame seeds. We also made creamy cheddar cheese dipping sauce (lactose free of course) to dip it with!
milk bread recipe adapted from Cynthia Chen McTernan of Two Red Bowls and Kristina Cho of Eatchofood! Both have many amazing recipes, check them out!
for the dough:
1/2 cup Lactaid milk
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp butter (we used coconut based)
for the tangzhong:
6 tbsp water
2 tbsp bread flour (or all purpose flour)
to top:
egg wash: 1 egg + splash of milk + dash of sugar
furikake (use as much as you like, I go crazy)
3-4 scallions chopped
sesame seeds
let’s make a dough baby:
This recipe needs pretty much at least half the day to do, you need to proof the dough for 2 hours at room temp or overnight in the fridge. Good thing you’re home all day.
First, let’s make the tangzhong, it helps create the fluffy texture in milk buns / bread that we love. Heat 6 tbsp of water + 2 tbsp flour and whisk until it’s not clumpy. Once the texture is gel-like, remove from heat and set aside.
Heat the milk up in the microwave 10-15 seconds and set aside.
Mix bread, salt, yeast + sugar in a large bowl / stand mixer.
Combine milk, tangzhong + egg in a separate bowl until evenly mixed.
Add wet ingredients slowly in with the dry ingredients, if using a stand mixer use a dough hook on low speed and increase to medium speed until evenly combined. Dust flour to the sides of the bowl and scrape any bits of the side into the center to help mix everything evenly. If kneading by hand, do so for 4-5 minutes until the dough ball is roughly smooth (use additional flour dusting if needed).
Add butter in, kneading / mixing in 1 tbsp at a time until well mixed in before adding the next.
Cover the dough baby with a silicone lid or damp towel for 1-2 hours at room temp or place overnight in the fridge.
After proofing, knead the dough out for 2-3 minutes, and then divide it into 8 equal pieces to make mini pretzels or 4 large pieces if you want to have larger sized ones. Roll each piece out into a thin rope and into the pretzel twist. You can roll your pretzels with any of these methods here, I preferred the twist bc idk what is going in the lasso one. Cover with a damp towel as you finish each one so they don’t get crusty + dry. Let them proof for an additional 40 minutes.
Poke the dough, if the surface bounces back after poking it. It’s ready to finally bake.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Whisk the egg wash together and brush egg wash onto the pretzels.
Add furikake, scallions + sesame seeds on top.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
You can melt some vegan cheddar cheese, some chopped scallions + a 1 tbsp of Lactaid milk in a small saucepan to dip your pretzels with.
Ta-da! You’re your own Chinese bakery for today!
