This is a super fun recipe for Asian inspired chocolate layered buns. Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps. The buns are soft and fluffy with many layers of chocolate in between the dough…
These buns are fun to make…it seems more complicated than actually it is…I mainly used basic bread recipe with tangzhong and layered with a chocolate paste. You can roll, twist, layer…in another words play with the dough. I made two kinds of buns/rolls with the same “materials”.
The bread dough was done by the help of a mixer, and the chocolate paste was inspired from the recipe at Cookpad.
I better stop “talking” here, because this post is pretty long and is loaded with pictures…I hope they can help you to visualize the rolling, twisting and layering…
Ingredients:
Basic Bread
Water roux or Tangzhong
- 225 ml of water
- 45 g of bread flour
Dough
- 650 g bread flour
- 150 ml heavy cream
- 80 ml milk
- 7 g salt
- 50 g sugar
- 20 g dry milk
- 10 g yeast
- 40 g butter
Chocolate Layer
- 15 g bread flour
- 10 g corn starch
- 10 g cocoa powder
- 50 g sugar
- 70 ml water
- 10 g butter
Method:
Basic Bread
Water roux
Mix flour and water in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly until it reaches 65C/149F. The mix will turn to a paste and you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, cover with a saran wrap film over the paste and leave until lukewarm.
Dough
In the mixer, add all the water roux, and all the other ingredients, except for the butter.
Turn the machine and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until a ball forms.
Increase the speed to “2” and let it mix for 10 minutes. The dough will be very sticky, and less sticky as the gluten forms.
Add the butter and mix for 20 minutes more. Take a small portion of the dough (like a golf ball) and stretch gently until a very thin and transparent membrane (windowpane).
If the dough tears mix for another 5 minutes until you achieve the windowpane test. The windowpane test, demonstrated that the gluten is very well developed and it will create a very light crumb. The dough should be very elastic.
Remove the dough from the mixer and place in a bowl by covering with a plastic film.
Let dough proof until the dough tripled to its original size. While the dough is proofing, make the chocolate layer.
Knock back the dough and split into 2 portions (approximately 600 g each) and let it rest for 5 minutes on the counter.
Chocolate Layer
In a small pot, mix all the ingredients together, except for the butter.
Bring the cocoa mix in a medium heat by continuously mixing. A thick paste will form.
Remove from the heat and add the butter. Mix until all the butter is incorporated.
Spread the chocolate paste on a plastic film of about 23 x 30 cm (9 x 12 in).
Place the chocolate spread in the freezer until time to assemble the bread.
Assembly
In this post I am showing two types of buns, the first one is layered and twisted. The second one the dough is rolled and presses with chopstick. Feel free to come up with your favorite way to layer.
Example One
Roll one piece of the dough out to form a rectangle of approximately 24 x 32 cm (9 ½ x 12 ½ in).
Place the ½ of the chocolate layer in one side of the rectangle. Fold in to cover the chocolate layer.
Roll it again into its original size.
Cut into the rectangle into half and place one half on top of the second one. Roll it until the initial size. Repeat the procedure again.
Roll onto a final size of approximately 18 x 35 cm (7 x 14 in). Cut into 32 strips.
Twist 2 strips together and roll it, forming a coil. Tuck the end of the coil at the bottom.
Arrange the buns in a 20 or 23 cm (8 or 9 in) round pan.
Cover the pan with a plastic film. Leave to rise in a warm place until the buns have double in size.
Brush the buns with egg wash just before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven of 350F for approximately 25 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Example two
Roll the remaining piece of the dough out to form a rectangle of approximately 24 x 32 cm (9 ½ x 12 ½ in).
Place the ½ chocolate layer in the middle and fold into third. Roll the dough long side and fold into thirds.
Roll the dough onto a rectangle of approximately 24 x 32 cm (9 ½ x 12 ½ in). Roll the dough up, start at the wider side (Swiss roll fashion). Press the edge together to seal.
Cut the roll into 16 pieces.
Use a chopstick, press the chopstick in the middle with the open ends on both side of the chopstick. Remove the chopstick and bring the two edges together.
Arrange the buns in a 20 or 23 cm (8 or 9 in) round pan.
Cover the pan with a plastic film. Leave to rise in a warm place until the buns have double in size.
Brush the buns with egg wash just before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven of 350F for approximately 25 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you enjoy this Asian Inspired recipe for Chocolate Layered Buns, you might want to check on Matcha Swirl Sandwich Bread recipe.
