Fluffy Pineapple Buns (Bolo Bao) Recipe

At the beginning of quarantine of 2020,I jumped on the bread making bandwagon right away. One of the first things I made was these Kabocha Pineapple Buns. While decent at the time, the tops of the buns didn’t crackle the way they should. Almost a year later, after a lot of research, trial and error, and tears I’ve finally made a pineapple bun that I’m very happy with. The bread is soft and fluffy and cookie crust has that signature crackle. Check out adapted fluffy pineapple buns recipe below!

For this attempt, I kneaded the dough by hand, but I highly recommend using a dough hook and stand mixer. It took me close to one hour and three broken nails to reach the necessary texture. Another pro tip is to use bread flour if you have it, but all purpose works fine as well. 

One of the hallmarks of buns from Asian bakeries is their soft and fluffy texture. In the past the buns I’ve made were fluffy the day of, but would lose the fluffiness the next day. The secret to maintaining the fluffy texture is using Tangzhong (water roux) method. Tangzhong is a yeast bread technique. It involves cooking flour and water together to create a thick slurry prior to adding the remaining ingredients, resulting in soft, fluffy bread. I have always been hesitant to try because most recipes online require you to prepare this the night before, but this recipe uses the microwave and the result is just as good.

How to Make Fluffy Buns

This is not a difficult recipe, but it is time consuming, so I would set aside a solid half day if you are attempting this. I’ve used the milk bread recipe posted by Chantel on her baking IG.

To start you’ll need to make the tangzhong. In a microwave safe bowl combine bread flour (or all purpose flour) with water. Stir the ingredients to combine and put in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and then place back in the microwave for another 30 seconds until it is a paste. Wrap and set aside to cool to room temperature.

For the bread, combine your warm milk, egg, flour, yeast, sugar, salt and cooled tangzhong in a large bowl of your stand mixer with a dough hook. If you don’t have one, you can knead this by hand but use a plastic glove because the dough is very sticky!

Knead on low-medium or knead by hand for 15 minutes or so until it comes together in a ball and the dough is smooth and stretchy. Once it’s smooth and stretchy, add your softened butter and keep kneading on medium/knead by hand for another 15 minutes until it can pass the window-pane test. The dough should be soft, super smooth and very stretchy at this point.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm place. I usually stick mine in the microwave or my oven.

Creating the Signature Pineapple Topping

While that is resting you can prepare the cookie topping. I used the recipe from Omnivore’s Cookbook, but half the recipe so there won’t be extra topping.

After an hour take your dough out and punch down the center. Divide the dough into 60g portions (will yield approximately 12 buns) Place 6 to a pan and top with your cut out cookie topping, and cover to let proof for another 30-40 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare your egg wash (egg yolk, milk and sugar). Brush a thin coat on the cookie disk and let it dry before applying a second thin layer for an extra shiny crust. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and then serve!