Delicious Tuna Mayo Buns/Roll

Tuna Mayo buns

Tuna and mayo is one of my favourite combinations. Add a little bit of diced onion, a pinch of salt and sugar, lime or lemon juice..diced tomatoes..yummm! Spread on toast and I'm in heaven! When made into a bun or roll it's even better! Melted cheese on top...and swirl extra mayo...ok ok..enough said. It's a favourite recipe which I stumbled upon in Che Mat's Blog..Dapur Tanpa Sempadan. I fell in love with his blog ever since I stumbled upon it and I've never looked back. Visiting his blog is part of my daily ordeal. A MUST. Just look at his food presentations, the fool proof recipes, the gorgeous bowls and plates..and not forgetting his beloved TEAPOTS! Ye tak Che Mat???hehe..

Anyway, his blog is very informative, and the link above actually shows a step by step to make these lovely buns. I did make some changes to the recipe, but I stay true to the bun recipe as its very crucial to get light airy cottony soft buns. I make these buns a few times a month, and even sell some upon order. So far only praises for these buns by my friends who have tasted them. 

So far, I've tried various canned tuna's...some in water, some in oil, some in chunks and some shredded or flaked. I would suggest you get the ones that are not already in mayonnaise as I prefer to add just enough mayonnaise of my choice to the tuna flakes. We all have our favourite mayonnaise right? Besides that, I prefer to use tuna flakes so as not to get bits that are too chunky when I roll the buns..and it makes it easier to spread too. Ok, now for the recipe...and readers...this recipe is a keeper. Even better than the ones sold in bakeries....well to me at least :)

Tuna Cheese Roll / or as I call it..Tuna Mayo buns

Source: Mat Gebu

Ingredients:

250g bread flour (high protein flour)

50g castor sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

10g powdered milk 

1/4 teaspoon bread improver

1/4 teaspoon bread softener

30g egg (crack 1 egg, stir a bit and weigh the correct amount needed - the remainder can be used as an egg wash for the tops of the buns before baking)

6g instant yeast

20g butter

125ml warm water (if you are going to use a breadmaker, just use normal filtered tap water)

Ingredients for the tuna mayo:

1 tablespoon butter melted

1 tin tuna, discard all liquid and fork through the big pieces

2 1/2 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 onion diced (I used 1/2)

1 spring onion / chives ( I used fresh minced parsley, dried versions too are ok)..save some for the topping

1 limau kasturi ( I used lime juice or lemon juice - just enough to the taste)

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

salt and sugar ( I added a little bit of sugar to give it an all round flavour) 

Just enough shredded cheddar cheese

* I added 1 medium tomato diced and sometimes I add finely chopped red chilli pepper

Instructions:

For the Dough: Put the yeast into the warm water and leave aside till it bubbles. Put all the other ingredients together except the butter. Add the yeast mixture and mix evenly till it forms a dough. Add the butter and knead the dough till elastic and firm (just around 20 mins). Make sure the dough is gathered around the side into a round ball, and place in a bowl and wrap with plastic cling wrap. Leave for 45 mins until risen.

Other Methods: (MY ONLY METHOD I FOLLOW) only because I'm lazy..haha

Combine all ingredients above in a breadmaker, choose the setting "dough" and press the "on" button. Wait till finished (my panasonic breadmaker sets the time for dough around 2 hours 20 mins).. follow your own breadmaker setting for dough.

Tuna Roll Instructions:Combine all the ingredients for the tuna filling except for the melted butter. Stir to combine and set aside. Take out the proofed dough, punch down the dough to remove the air, dust some flour on the bottom and top of the dough and roll flat till you get a square shaped flat dough. Brush melted butter all the square shaped rolled out dough. Spread the tuna filling evenly..but leave some space at the ends of the dough. Roll the dough as you would a swissroll and pull it tightly. Cut into 10 pieces. placed the cut rolls into paper cups that are of 4 inch diameters...enough space for the dough to rise further. Leave to rise for another 45 mins. When it has fully risen, brush the remaining egg wash on the tops, sprinkle the extra chopped parsley and shredded cheese and black pepper. Bake in the a preheated oven of 190C for 25 minutes. (from my experience, it took only 14 mins for me until the tops are a lovely rich golden brown). If you are not too sure about the timing, best best to take out the buns are when the tops are golden brown. Place on cooling racks after removing from the oven

 

Tuna Mayo buns in cupcake cases fresh from the oven

Tuna mayo buns in bun cases..more room to rise

I decorated mine with a squeeze of chilli sauce and extra mayo..sooo good!

Butter buns using Japanese-style sweet bun dough recipe

Snowy butter buns

I love butter buns! Just imagine a soft bun with butter and sugar melted in the centre and soft snow powder on the top almost like a doughnut. When you bite into the bun, you get the soft bread..some sweet salty butter and a white moustache. Hehehe... Anyway, it's one of my favourite recipes in my collection. I first stumbled upon this recipe in Mamafami's blog. I love to go to her blog for scrumptious looking bread and great recipes. Then I followed her link to another wonderful blog My Kitchen Snippets. After doing my homeowork a little on how to make the water roux, I decided to give it a try. Since then, I've never looked back and I use this recipe almost every week but with different fillings and toppings! Here is the recipe, enjoy!

Japanese style sweet bun dough recipe

Source: Mamafami and My Kitchen Snippets

Makes 16 buns

Ingredients: 

375g bread flour
100g plain flour
35g milk powder
75g caster sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 sachet (7g or 2 1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml (approx.) lukewarm water – adjust according (I need only 130 ml)
40g butter, cubed

1 egg + a bit of water (for egg wash the buns)

Water-Roux Paste/Tang Zhong:
25g (just under 2 tbsp) bread flour
125ml (1/2 cup) water

Preparation for the Water-Roux

1. Mix the flour and water in a small saucepan. . Cook over low to medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches 65ºC. It should have thickened to a paste at this stage, which is when you stir you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat; place a cling film over the paste and leave until lukewarm, or room temperature, before using. (Alternatively if you don’t have a thermometer, cook as before until it starts to thicken, then continue to cook for about 1 more minute before removing from heat.)

Note: This water roux can be kept in an airtight container after cooling in the refrigerator for 1 day if not used immediately. However DO NOT USE if it turns grey in color, that means it has gone bad.

Preparation for the dough:

1. Fit the mixer with the dough hook attachment. Sift bread flour, plain flour, milk powder, caster sugar and salt the mixing bowl. Add in the yeast and mix well. Add in the water roux and beaten egg. Turn on the mixer and slowly add in the lukewarm water until the dough form into a nice ball of dough. (You might not need all the water. I used only 130 ml of it)
2. Continue to knead for 10 minutes and add in the butter. Continue to knead until all the butter is incorporated into the dough and the dough is smooth and elastic. Take the dough out from the mixing bowl and give it a final few kneading by hand. Form it into a round ball and let it to rise until double in size in a large greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a wet towel or cling wrap (It took me an hour to proof the dough but it all depend on the weather and environment on the day you make the bread)
3. Punch down the dough gives it a few knead and divide the dough into 16 equal portions. The easiest way to divide is to cut the dough into 4 parts and from there divide each into another 4 portions. Form each into a ball and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
4. Shape and fill the buns with fillings. Place the buns in baking sheets that line with parchment paper. Cover the buns and let it rise until double in size (it takes another 30-40 min) Brush the buns with some egg wash.
5. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

                                       

                                  Various buns using the same Japanese-style sweet bun dough

How to make the butter buns.

1. Prepare the dough using the recipe above. As I use a breadmaker, remove the dough after the allocated time for dough function. Cut the dough into 16 even portions. Roll them into individual balls and let sit for 10 mins.
2. Cut butter into cubes (up to you how much butter you want.Well I like mine really buttery).
3. Flatten the dough balls slightly and put a teaspoon of sugar or brown sugar in the centre. Put the butter cube on top of the sugar and gather the sides of the dough to the centre to seal the buns. Make sure you seal the buns well or else the butter will leak out in the oven. 
4. Another option would be to score the top (making a pocket at the top) of the buns after putting in the filling..so that the butter won't leak to the bottom.
5. Leave to rise double in size and bake as stated in the original recipe above, till golden brown. Remove from oven and place on racks to cool.
6. After leaving to cool on the racks, sift snow powder on top.

* you can also fill the buns with various fillings such as red bean, kaya, spicy curry chicken and potato..custard, cream cheese..anything your heart desires. You can even leave it plain if you like.

                                      

Cheese stick buns and plain buns using this recipe