”You have to taste a culture to understand it.”

– Deborah Cater

Pastry cream buns

Step by step video tutorial
Serving Size:
Makes about 18
Time:
Prep time: 1 h
Rest time: 1 h
Cook time: 15 min
Difficulty:
Medium

Ingredients

Yeast dough:
  • 25 g (2.7 tbsp) fresh yeast or 10 g (3.5 tsp) dry yeast
  • 25 g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 250 ml (1 cup) milk
  • 200 g (7 oz) butter
  • 450 – 500 g (3 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting and kneading
  • a pinch of salt
Cream pastry:
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
  • 500 ml (2 cups) milk
  • 50 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
  • a pinch of salt
Crumbles:
  • 45 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 25 g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter (cold)
  • a pinch of salt
Top:
  • a few berries
  • 1 egg

Directions

Making the dough
  1. Crumble fresh yeast in a bowl, add about half a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of flour.
  2. Warm up milk in a pot on the stove, so that it is fine to touch, and pour a little in the bowl with the yeast.
  3. Mix the yeast with the sugar, flour and milk, and leave it to activate, start growing.
  4. Put the rest of the milk back on the stove to heat and add to it butter, the remaining sugar and a pinch of salt. Slowly heat the milk till the butter and sugar melt.
  5. Remove the pot from the stove and let the milk cool a little.
  6. Pour the milk in a big bowl and add the yeast to it.
  7. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add flour.
  8. Mix and knead the dough for a few minutes till it holds together, is smooth and can be shaped into a ball. If the dough feels too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time. Too much flour will make the dough harder, therefore it is important not to add too much flour.
  9. Cover the bowl and put in the fridge for half an hour (or longer if you are not ready to bake yet).
Making the pastry cream
  1. Warm up milk a little, so that it is fine to touch.
  2. In a big bowl beat the egg yolks with sugar till they are light and fluffy.
  3. Add vanilla to the egg yolks.
  4. Sift and mix in the flour.
  5. And gradually add and mix in the warm milk.
  6. Pour everything back in the pot and put on the stove to heat on medium low heat. Slowly stirring, heat till the cream thickens.
  7. When the cream has thickened, remove it from the stove and put aside.
Shaping buns
  1. Cut the dough in about 50 – 60 gram pieces and shape each piece into a ball.
  2. Flatten the middle of the ball leaving round and fluffy edges.
  3. Put parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on a baking tray and dust with flour.
  4. Arrange the buns on the baking tray leaving some space around each as they will grow while baking.
  5. Cover the tray with a clean towel and let the buns rest for about half an hour.
Assembling and baking
  1. Set the oven to heat to 180° C or 400° F.
  2. Push the mids of the buns a little down if they have grown a lot and fill each with about a tablespoon or two of the pastry cream.
  3. Break an egg in a glass and whisk it a little. Spread the egg around the round edges of each bun.
  4. The buns can be baked like that or you can add some berries on top of each bun for more colour and flavor contrast.
  5. To complete the look of the buns I make crumbs by mixing flour, sugar, cold butter and a pinch of salt. And spread the crumbs on top of each bun.
  6. Bake the cream pastry buns for about 12 -15 minutes till the sides have nicely browned.
  7. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Notes

  • For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are made with weighed ingredients using grams. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience.