Hojicha Hot Cross Buns 焙茶小餐包
Hojicha Hot Cross Buns 焙茶小餐包
Yield 9 buns
Ingredients
Whole milk, 240g
Hojicha leaves, ground,10g
Yeast, 6g
Sugar, 10g + 35g
Egg, 1
Lemon zest, from 1 lemon
Bread flour, 375-400g
Salt, 4g
Unsalted butter, 50g, at room temperature
Raisin, 150g, soaked
Topping Ingredients
Water, 45g
All purpose flour, 38g
Hojicha leaves, 2g, ground
Syrup Ingredients
Water, 15g
Granulated sugar, 15g
Hojicha leaves, 1g, ground
Instructions
Soak the raisin in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water and set the raisin aside.
Cook the ground hojicha leaves in milk for 5 minutes over medium low heat, don’t let it boil, maintain a soft simmer. Pour the milk tea through a fine sieve, use a spoon or spatula to press the tea ground to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set the milktea aside to cool down to about 110-115F.
Pour the milk tea into a mixing bowl together with the yeast and 10g of the sugar to activate the yeast. Give it a few minutes until it’s foamy. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the sugar with the lemon zest. Use your hand to mix everything together. Once the yeast is activated, add in the lemon sugar and the egg. Mix.
In a separate bowl, combine 375g of the flour and the salt together. Add the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixing bowl. Knead until it becomes like a dough. Add in the butter cubes, 1-2 at a time, continue to knead the dough until it’s not sticky anymore. ** After adding in the butter the dough might be very sticky to start, add in more flour if needed but keep in mind that after several minutes of kneading once the gluten starts developing and the flour has the chance to absorb the moisture, the dough WILL be less sticky and very easy to handle.
Once the dough is ready, knead in the raisins. Note that the raisins at this stage should already be dry, not wet at all. Knead until the dough is smooth again and all the raisins are kneaded into the dough. Transfer the dough to an oiled container, cover and let it rest until it’s doubled in volume.
Preheat the oven to 400F, butter a 9” x 9” baking dish.
Divide the dough into 9 equal portions. Cover and rest for 10 minutes. Roll each dough into ball shape. Place the dough in the prepared baking dish. Cover and do a final proofing for about 30-60 minutes- when you press the dough, it should slowly spring back half way.
While the dough is proofing- make the topping. Combine all topping ingredients together and transfer to a piping bag or a ziplock bag. Cut a small opening at the tip.
Pipe the topping onto the proofed dough one horizontal line and one vertical line through the center of each dough, making a cross pattern on top.
Bake the bread for 22-25 minutes. While the bread is in the oven, make the syrup- combine all the syrup ingredients together, simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.
Right out of the oven, brush on the syrup. Cool a little. It can be served warm or at room temperature.
