Coffee Buns

We really don't lack for anything here, and there are so many wonderful and tasty things that are easily (and most of the time cheaply) bought here. There's a little bread shop that is in one of the malls that I love to walk past and smell the wonderful aroma. My Thai teacher first told me about coffee buns, but when I first saw them they didn't look like anything I would want to try. I waited a long time to finally try one, and it was probably a good thing I did! If I had started eating them when we first came to Thailand I'm not sure I would have been able to stop!

Even though food is often inexpensive, I still like to be able to do things at home. That way I get to control more factors such as the quality of ingredients I use. I'm not sure I really had any of those thoughts in mind when I tried making coffee buns, I think I really just wanted to see if I would be able to make them when we went back on furlough. People in the States might want to try them.

These buns use tangzhong or a water roux starter. Apparently this is an ancient Chinese method that was used in making their steamed buns. This helps keep the bread soft for up to five days after baking. I got my roux made in preparation for making the buns last weekend, but then we ended up taking Pawn's grandmother to the hospital. So Monday found me in my kitchen creating.

The buns are a bread dough that is wrapped around a mixture of butter and powdered sugar. Then before baking a mixture of butter, powdered sugar, and coffee flavoring is piped in a swirl pattern on top of the buns.

Ms. Nung was still at the house when I wanted to bake them so I just went ahead and brought them out. Ms. Nung and Pawn wanted to finish them up so they were busy swirling the mixture on top. They did a much better job than I would have anyway!
I started off the process, but it wasn't long before Ms. Nung was filling up her own bag to pipe!She's the real professional anyway! I got tickled when she asked why the buns weren't round. :) I'm just inexperienced at doing a lot of bread making I guess!
I'm not really sure how to describe what the piped mixture does on top of the bun except that it creates a crust over the top and sides of the buns. If you looked closely at the buns, you would be able to see where the yellowish color stops which would be the end of the piped mixture.
The butter mixture on the inside disappears leaving behind a really moist pocket and delicious flavor. The buns definitely had the aroma of coffee but not much of the flavoring. I think next time I would add more coffee flavoring.

I'm probably not going to be making these often here because they're very fattening, and I don't need them sitting around my house. It's definitely a recipe worth making when you're going to have friends around who can help you eat them right out of the oven.