Pillowy soft dough with sweet red bean paste filling. Anpan used to be a must-buy for me before the varieties of buns increased along with the number of bakeries islandwide. Bought this packet of red bean paste from Daiso and used my favorite dough recipe with mashed taro to bake 6 buns in a rectangular pan.
Anpan
290g plain flour 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast 150g steamed taro 1 tablespoon raw honey 1 egg 50g water 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 20g cold butter, cubed 35g x 6 red bead paste ** white sesame seeds
** I use ready-made Azuki red bean paste from Daiso.
In a mixer bowl, place plain flour, instant yeast, mashed and cooled steamed taro, raw honey, beaten egg and knead with a dough hook attachment on the lowest speed (KA 1). Slowly add the water with the mixer running, you may need more or less of the water stated in the recipe. Watch the dough, when the ingredients come into a ball, stop adding and turn off the mixer. Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes.
After resting the dough, sprinkle the sea salt on the dough. Start the mixer running on its lowest speed again to knead the dough for 1 minute, before adding cubed butter, one by one. Knead until the dough reaches window pane stage, this is when the dough becomes very smooth and elastic, and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the bowl from mixer, cover and bulk rise for 1 hour.
After an hour, the dough will rise and increase its volume, punch it down to release the gas, and transfer to a clean work top. Flour hands and worktop with flour to help with shaping if the dough is sticky. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Flatten a piece of dough on the work top and place 1 x 35g red bean paste in the middle. Wrap the azuki bean paste inside the dough and shape it into a ball. Place it in a greased tin or pan, seam side facing downwards. Repeat for the remaining 5 pieces of dough. Let them sit in a draft-free place to rise for another 50 minutes.
Just before baking, sprinkle some white sesame seeds on top of each bun. Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 23 minutes.
Remove the bread from the pan immediately after baking, and let it cool on a rack completely before serving.
MONO and CO 