Soft Choco Bun

This recipe is a combination of all the bread recipes I've researched over the internet and then I've added cocoa to make it into a choco bun. I love it because it is not that sweet (balanced by the cocoa) and then adding a sweet butter cream topping on top just gives it that really nice combination.

 Why don't you try this Choco Bun recipe at home too and discover great things when you experiment in the kitchen!
INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup bread flour

1/2 cup sugar (or less)

1/2 cup grated boiled potato

1/2 cup cocoa

3 tbsp milk powder

1 sache yeast (powder)

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

1/2 to 1 cup water (add 1/2 cup first and then add as necessary)

PROCEDURE:

-- Boil 1 potato, grate it in a cheese grater and pack it in a 1/2 cup, or you can just mash the potato, it's just the same.  I just like the potato super fine.  The potato makes the buns soft and melt in your mouth.

-- Mix all dry ingredients AP flour,  bread flour, sugar cocoa, milk powder, yeast and salt.

-- Heat water in microwave to a temperature of 110 to 120F.

-- Combine the warm water 1/2 cup with the dry mixture and place 3 tbsp melted butter as well.  Add the potato.  Add water as necessary.  Beat with a heavy duty mixer or mix using a large spoon (which I did).   

The dough should look like this.    Add water or  flour to arrive at a firm consistency.  This does not need kneading but you get tired after mixing it with a spoon so I knead it just a little to incorporate all ingredients.  Cover this with damp cloth and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or even overnight.

Take the dough out of the fridge.  Sprinkle flour in the surface of a clean and dry table and flatten your dough with a rolling pin (sprinkle flour on rolling pin as well to prevent your dough from sticking to the rolling pin).  Fold over edges to make a rectangle 8x10 in size.  (Pardon me for the picture because I wasn't able to make it into an even rectangle, that's the reason it looks that way). Brush melted butter on the inside surface before rolling it tightly.  Cut in 1 inch interval and place on a glass dish or baking pan.  Make sure they are crowded together so that they rise upward.

Now, after you've cut your buns, it's time to make it fluffier.  It's hard to make the dough rise if the temperature is cold.  You need to at least have a room temperature of 90F and sometimes it still would not rise that well.  So what I did was to throw them in the oven.  I kept the temperature to a minimum, like 100, 110 to 120F the  most and left it there for an hour to two hours.  Just remember that too much heat will torch your dough and not enough heat will not make the dough rise.

After it is nice and fluffy, remove it from the oven and preheat the oven to 350 for 10 to 15 minutes.  Bake the choco buns at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

  

After 10-12 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool a little before putting in your toppings.  You can brush it with butter and sprinkle it with sugar and cheese or choco sprinkles.  I just topped it with butter cream that I whisked and by golly it tasted so fine!!!

For the topping, I used 4 tbsp of unmelted but room temperature butter, 1 to 2 tbsp of evaporated milk and 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar.

Whisk the butter first and add sugar and milk alternately in small quantities until the mixture has a nice creamy consistency.

You can also add nutmeg or cinnamon in this mixture if you like.  Top it onto your choco bun and there you have it, a soft, not-so-sweet bun that really melts in your mouth.

【ツ】Lizette