December 5, 2017

Pineapple Buns 菠蘿包

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包
By Published: 2017-12-05
This recipe is for our reader Raymond who asked for a recipe for Pineapple Buns with the real traditional crackle cookie tops.  

I hope that this recipe is the one he was looking for, anyways this is the one that we know as the traditional Pineapple Bun, or 菠蘿包, a soft fluffy bun underneath and a crunchy crumbly crackled sweet cookie like crust on top, invented in Hong Kong in the sixties and still a standard at all Hong Kong traditional bakeries.  

A taste sensation, the cookie crust crumbles delightfully in your mouth when you bite into the soft warm tender bun.  Pineapple Bun, named for the texture of the crackle crust that resembles the real pineapple, is a real special afternoon or breakfast treat and an absolutely unique Hong Kong style bake!

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包

We made the buns with our Tangzhong Milk Bread 湯種牛奶麵包 recipe, a pretty much foolproof recipe that will yield a wonderfully soft, slightly sweet, fluffy bread that is traditionally used for pineapple bun.  

The cookie crust of the bread however proved more difficult to crack and we made several trials before we got it right.  It's actually a simple mix of butter, sugar and flour, but the proportions and thickness are important in order to achieve the right texture and crackle.

One thing that perplexed me a bit at first was that many pineapple bun crust recipes included ammonia bicarbonate (also know as ammonia powder, ammonia carbonate, baker's ammonia or 臭粉) as well as the usual baking powder.  The rumor seemed to be that without ammonia bicarbonate the crust would not crackle in the proper way.  

I did my research on ammonia bicarbonate and found that it was used as a rising agent back in the day when baking powder was not yet widely available.  The chinese name translates as 'stinky powder' due to the fact that it is actually very stinky.  Once in the food and baked however there is no longer any smell and also there is absolutely no taste of it in the bake, unlike baking powder which leaves a slight residual taste.  

So I figured that since they are both simple rising agents, I would try just baking powder by itself since I had it on hand unlike ammonia bicarbonate.  The verdict on baking powder is that it works just fine all by itself.  Give ammonia bicarbonate a try if you like, but you don't need it.  

I found that a wee bit of baking powder was quite enough to give a bit of rise and a lot of crackle to the crust.  Actually I think the crackle comes from the right proportions of butter, sugar and flour in the crust and the adequate expansion of the milk bread in the oven.

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包

Here is the sugar, butter and flour mixed with a bit of egg to bind and a touch of Bird's custard powder to kick up the flavor.  The mix is then pressed into a log and refrigerated until firm enough to slice.  The mix should be just wet enough to bind together when pressed.  

The relative dryness of the crust mixture is another key to the crackle I think.

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包

After refrigeration the crust is then sliced evenly and pressed into thin rounds.  Another key element to the crackle crust lies here.  If your crust is too thick it likely won't crackle.  Press to a maximum of  1/8" thinness by slipping it between two sheets of cling film and pressing with a flat bottomed pot or bowl.  

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包

A top hat for each little bun, cupped ever so gently over the risen dough balls.  Don't they just look nice and formal, all ready for the oven?  Don't forget the egg wash, or the crust won't become the golden brown they're meant to be!  (I forgot twice, dagummit!!)

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包

Here are my pineapple buns, see how they crackle!  No scoring necessary, these babies crackled all on their own!  Soft fluffy bun below, sweet crunchy crackle cookie crust above, no wonder these are Hong Kong's favorite bakery buns!

Another great thing is that these buns will keep quite well for 4-5 days or so in an airtight container at room temperature.  Just pop them into the toaster oven to heat and crisp up the crust and it'll taste just like fresh baked.  

If you're going for the classic hong kong style of pineapple bun with butter, or 菠蘿油, wait a bit for the bun to cool, slice bun 3/4 way through horizontally, slide in a thick slice of salted butter and you're in pineapple bun heaven!  (Our preferred way by far!!!)

Happy Pineapple Buns everyone!!  

bo lo bao, Pineapple Bun, recipe, hong kong, bake, traditional, no ammonia powder, 菠蘿包, chinese bread, chinese bun, 香港, 傳統, 麵包
Pineapple Bun Recipe 菠蘿包
(makes 8 buns)  Rise: 1 hour & 40 mins  
Prep time:    Cook time:

Ingredients:

   Bread
   Crust
  • 4 tbsp salted butter, room temperature, 57g
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup sugar, 100g
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 94g
  • 2 1/2 tbsp custard powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp butter, room temperature (extra see recipe), 14g
  • 1 egg white (or egg yolk for a more yellow color but why waste an egg white?)
  • 1 tsp water

Directions:

Make roux and then dough according to our Tangzhong Milk Bread recipe.  When the dough is having its first rise prepare the crust as below:

Cream butter in mixer until pale in color and fluffy.  Add egg yolk in and incorporate.  In separate bowl stir together sugar, flour, custard powder and baking powder.  With the mixer on low, add in dry ingredients to the butter. 

Mix just until mixture looks crumb like and sticks together when pressed.  At this point if the mixture is too dry to stick together when pressed, add extra butter 1/2 tbsp at a time until the mixture just comes together.  

Gather crust together and press all into a log, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour (or prepare one day before and chill overnight - I found the crust dough worked even better when chilled longer.)

When the bread dough is doubled in size punch down and divide into 8 equal pieces.  Shape each piece of dough into a bun by tucking the dough in towards the bottom until the surface of the ball is taut and smooth.  Place seam side down onto a parchment lined baking sheet and let rise again for 40 mins or until dough is doubled in size.  

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).  Slice chilled crust dough into 8 equal slices.  Press each slice with a flat bottomed pan or dish between 2 pieces of cling film or parchment paper until the slice is maximum 1/8" thick and can drape over the top half of your dough bun.  Place over risen dough balls and use cupped hands to very gently shape to fit the dough.

Whisk egg white with water and brush over crust and dough.  Pop into middle of oven and bake 15-20 mins or until the bun is a nice golden brown on top and bottom.  Remove and serve hot and crunchy!  Enjoy your pineapple!

Tip:  Store in an air tight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.  I usually pop in a few silica packets that I've saved from various junk healthy food packets.  When pineapple attack strikes, just pop pineapple bun into toaster oven to warm up and re-crisp the top and they'll taste like they just came out of the oven!

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36 comments:

  1. 这真的是很好吃!我去到哪都想吃菠蘿包。

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  2. Such a great recipe! I attempted to make these tonight and they turned out great! The only thing that didn’t result in a perfect bun was that my dough seemed to be too doughy/bready and not light and airy. Any suggestions on what I could do differently? I used bread flour and allowed ample time for the bread to proof.

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    1. Hi choochoo - usually if the bread seems tight it's because the dough is not wet enough. The moister the dough is the easier it is for the dough to rise up. Hope this helps! ~ellen

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  3. For the crust, what type of flour should I use ? All purpose , bread or cake/pastry ? Thank you

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  4. Is there a substitute for custard powder or can I just leave it out? I don't have custard powder.

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    1. You could substitute an equal amount of cornstarch, a tsp or so of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. ~ellen

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  5. Thank you so much for this recipe, Ellen! The Tangzhong bread came out lovely. I had more challenge with the crust. Overall, the crumbs did not bind together well and crumbled easily, even when I added the extra tbsp of butter. When I tried rolling it, it broke into crumbs and not easy to put ontop of the bao. It was not nice and moist like your photos. I made one misstep... I forgot to add the egg yolk until after incorporating the dry ingredients. Could this be the reason? Or another? Many thanks for your help and generous soul!

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    1. Hey Bliss - yes it's definitely the egg yolk! The yolk is the binder and a must so that the crust stays together. Please try again with the yolk, I promise it will come out nice! ~ellen

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    2. Hi Ellen, Thanks for your response! I tried again, adding the egg yolk at the right time, and the crust still did not come out well. Crust didn't stick together that well in the log when refrigerated, despite the extra butter. Would you have any further advice? Thank you!

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    3. Hi Bliss - It's all a ratio of the dry to the wet, so keep adding 1/2 tbsp of butter at a time, mixing in well each time, until the mixture holds together when you test it by squeezing a bit of it together in your fist. Hope that helps! ~ellen

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  6. hmmm...the top of the pineapple bun doesn't look right...

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    1. The texture...looks like the sugar ratio is off. Too much sugar compared to the ones I am used to eating

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    2. You have a point - a lot of the pineapple buns nowadays are made with 'pineapple' tops that contain more flour making them easier to make however they don't crack naturally therefore the manually pressed criss cross design on them. Our recipe is for 'pineapple' tops that crack naturally as they bake, a more traditional recipe I believe, and that have a delicious cookie like taste and texture to them. ~ellen

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  7. Sooo delicious!!! The bread was so fluffy! It did have a yeast taste when I initially bit into it, it could have been that I didn't mix it well enough since I used a spatula and then by hand and not a mixer. I think my only issue is the crust. I don't know why it started cracking after I placed it on the dough so when it went into the oven to cook, it cracked even more and left these huge gaps showing the bread below it. Do you think it's because I didn't use enough butter? It kept being crumbly unless I warm it up with my hand and then it'll stick back together. I did use the egg white wash but it didn't darken it too much. Maybe I'll try the full egg wash in the future and just cook the egg white to eat on its own. :) Thankyou for this awesome recipe!

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    1. HI Kiboyan, glad you liked our pineapple buns! For the topping, add more butter, 1/2 tbsp at a time, until the mixture keeps its shape easily when you squeeze gently it in a fist. It should be able to come together and keep its shape, kinda of like how cookie dough behaves. And yes, if you want more color use full egg wash. Hope that helps! ~ellen

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  8. Heya, so I tried to make this tonight- not my first time making bolobao, which is why I was confused- and the dough didn't really raise a lot? I waited for basically the whole afternoon, and left it now for the night too, and I also followed all quantities to a T. Could it be because I used a different kind of yeast (that I never used before)?

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    1. If the dough doesn't rise very much, it could either be because your dough is too dry or because something is off with the yeast.

      Dough needs to be sufficiently hydrated to rise. The problem sometimes is that different flour types and different levels of humidity affect absorption of water by flour. So you need to adjust hydration levels to achieve dough that is smooth, soft and tacky to the touch.

      Or it could be the yeast is not good. That's happened to me before too. Test yeast by stirring it with 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 cup warm water. Leave for 10 mins. It should start foaming if the yeast is still active. If the yeast checks out okay, add in flour, remembering to subtract 1/2 cup water from the total water amount. Hope that helps ~ellen

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  9. Just wanted to say a huge thank you for this recipe, the pineapple buns turned out perfectly and were absolutely delicious. The pineapple crust worked out perfectly without the extra butter (In fact I think with the extra butter you won’t get the beautiful cracking effect), I think maybe where other people are going wrong is not combining everything with bare hands? The heat of the hands helps the mixture form together into one piece without crumbling. We have tried 2 other recipes from YouTube and failed miserably so thank you again for restoring our faith in making successful pineapple buns! 5 star recipe!

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    1. Yay!! So glad that you enjoyed your buns!!😜

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  10. Hi there, I want to split into 16 buns. Will they be too small and how to adjust the baking time? Thank you.

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    1. Should be no problem. Just start watching the oven at 15 min mark. ~ellen

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  11. In order to make the crust as smooth as your picture, you have to use at least 3/4cup butter.

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    1. Wow, that is alot, I don't think you need that much, just enough so that the crust dough holds together well. If too much butter it might not hold together when baked. ~ellen

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  12. Used your recipe to make red bean pineapple buns for the first time and they turned out perfectly! The crust is even better than store-made ones - super crunchy and delicious :) Thank you so much for this recipe!

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    1. Hey Ana - Yay! Red bean filling sounds so yummy!! 😜

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  13. Hello, for the first rise, how long will that take? I am looking at the photos and cannot connect it to the instructions.

    Can I simply make 8 dough balls topped with the crust hat in the beginning?

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  14. The instructions for the first rise are in the recipe for the Tangzhong Milk Bread recipe which is linked in the recipe above. Please check that out for complete instructions. The first rise is for an hour or til dough is doubled. The cookie crust must be placed on last so that the dough can rise unobstructed by any extra weight. ~ellen

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  15. Hi. For the crust, what happened to 100g of sugar. It's not in the procedure?
    Cream butter in mixer until pale in color and fluffy. Add egg yolk in and incorporate. In separate bowl stir together sugar, flour, custard powder and baking powder. With the mixer on low, add in dry ingredients to the butter. Mix just until mixture looks crumb like and sticks together when pressed. At this point if the mixture is too dry to stick together when pressed, add extra butter 1/2 tbsp at a time until the mixture just comes together. Gather dough and press all into a log, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour (or prepare one day before and chill overnight - I found the crust dough worked even better when chilled longer.)

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  16. Hi LQM - the sugar is mixed into the butter along with the flour, custard powder and baking powder. ~ellen

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  17. Thanks for sharing the lovely recipe. I've made it several times now and my family really enjoy it.

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    1. Hi Cindy - You’re very welcome 😉! ~ellen

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  18. Made this today; turned out great! I will say that my buns seem to have been larger than yours, so possibly I need to work on shaping them to be taller rather than wide. But tastes amazing!

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  19. Hi Emily - so glad your buns came out yummy! To get the buns to develop up and not just out the ball of dough needs to be shaped until the ball of dough is a taut rounded shape. Do this by grabbing a bit of dough between thumb and fore finger and tucking and sticking it to the bottom of the round. Continue this tucking all around and you will see the difference in the surface tension and 'hold' of the dough round. This surface tension helps the dough to keep its shape in the oven and rise up and round rather than out. ~ellen

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