Red bean buns (vegan friendly)

I know I say this all the time but it’s been a while since I’ve made yeast bread. Especially ones in the bun variety. These red bean bun are fluffy and is filled with a lightly sweetened red bean paste.

I’ve posted a recipe on red bean buns before but I used a matcha based dough for it  and I figured that I should post a recipe for the original version as well.

Plus, it gave me a chance to revisit and tweak my previous recipe a little bit.

This time around, I added an egg, used whole milk and swapped the vegetable oil for coconut oil to yield a richer, fluffier brioche like dough.

Oh and I added in a good heaping tablespoon of filling into each bun too because Mother deer always complains about how little filling I put into them.

Originally I was going to make regular round buns but then I got in the Valentines’ day spirit and decided to turn them into little flowers instead <3 Happy Valentines’ everyone and I don’t give hugs out very often but here are some virtual ones from me to you! 🙂

Red bean buns recipe

Ingredients (makes 10):

1 3/4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup warm milk of choice
1 egg (or 3 tablespoons coconut oil)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or butter)
2/3 cup red bean paste
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Bake away:

1. Combine the warm water, milk, 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast in a medium bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Then, sift the flour, rest of the sugar and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Add the yeast mixture, and oil into the flour and stir everything together with a fork until a dough forms.
3. Knead the dough for 20 to 30 minutes until it becomes elastic. Transfer the dough into a bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Let your dough rise for 45 minutes – 1 hour in a warm place until doubled.
4. While your dough is rising, separate your red bean paste into ten 1 tablespoon pieces. When your dough is done rising, divide it into 1o equal pieces and roll them into balls.
5. Flatten each dough ball into 1 cm thick circles. Place a piece of the red bean paste into the middle of each piece of dough. Fold the dough over the red bean paste to cover it then seal the red bean paste in by folding the edges of the circle into the center and pinch to form a tight seam.
6. Roll out the bun into a flatter circle then with scissors, make five deep cuts all the way down around the dough. Place each dough ball 2″ apart on a lined baking sheet.
7. Bake the buns at 350F for 20 minutes until golden brown.