Pastry Cream Bread Rolls

Author: Anita Jacobson

Courses: Bread

Cuisines: Japanese

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 3 hours

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• Pastry cream
• 500 ml milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 125 gram sugar
• 30 gram corn starch
• 30 gram all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon rum (or Grand Marnier)
• Killer toast dough
• 120 gram warm milk (38 Celsius or 100 Fahrenheit)
• 3 gram active dry yeast
• 5 gram sugar
• 260 gram bread flour (or all purpose flour) (*)
• 25 gram sugar
• 2 gram salt
• 1 egg (60 gram)
• 30 gram unsalted butter, room temperature
• Choux pastry dough
• 40 gram water
• 20 gram oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 20 gram cake flour
• 1 egg

Instructions

• Pastry cream
  1. Line a shallow baking pan with saran plastic wrap, making sure there is plenty of extra saran hanging around the tray since we will need to fully wrap the pastry cream with saran. Set aside.
  2. Heat milk and half of the sugar (62.5 gram) until simmering.
  3. While the milk is heating, whisk egg yolks with the remaining half of the sugar (62.5 gram) in a large mixing bowl. Then add corn starch and all purpose flour, and mix again.
  4. Once the milk has reach a simmer point. Pour half of the milk to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Meanwhile, heat the remaining milk in the sauce pot into a low boil.
  5. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pot, whisk constantly until the cream is smooth and glossy and you see the cream make a "burp".
  6. Pour the cream to the prepared baking pan, folding the saran wrap and pressing on to the cream. Be careful not to burn your hands. Chill until cool.
  7. Remove the saran plastic wrap, and put the cream in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla essence and rum (or Grand Marnier) and whisk until smooth. The pastry cream is ready. This can be chilled in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• Killer toast dough
  1. Mix together warm milk with active dry yeast and 5 gram sugar. Let it rest until foamy, about 20 minutes.
  2. Sieve together bread flour, 25 gram sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well, then pour the yeast solution and egg. Knead until the dough is silky and elastic, about 10-15 minutes, you can add 1-2 tablespoon of flour if it is too sticky.
  3. Add butter and knead again until the butter is fully incorporated, about 10-15 minutes.
  4. Divide dough into 12 portions.
  5. Take one portion of dough, roll into a 4" diameter circle, place 1 medium ice cream scoop (1.5 tablespoon) of pastry cream filling on the center, gather the dough edges and close the seam to fully enclose the filling inside the dough. Place on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
  6. Repeat for another 11 portions.
  7. Rest for 1 hour, or until the volume doubles.
• Choux pastry dough
  1. Preheat oven to 200 Celsius (400 Fahrenheit).
  2. In a sauce pot, boil together water, oil, and salt on low heat.
  3. Remove pot from heat, add cake flour, and stir until smooth. Cook again for 1 minute.
  4. Turn the heat off. Remove pot from heat, add egg, and stir until smooth. This is our choux pastry dough.
  5. Brush the top of each bread roll with the choux pastry dough.
  6. Bake bread rolls in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Notes

• (*) Make sure the protein content of your all purpose flour is on the high side. I use Ardent Mills unbleached all purpose flour with great success.