Chinese Pineapple Buns Food

PINEAPPLE BUNS

Steps:

• Start by making the bread dough. In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to "stir." Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.
• After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
• After the bread dough has proofed for an hour, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a circular bun, and place on a baking sheet. Cover the buns with a clean, dry kitchen towel and let rise for another hour.
• While that's happening, make the topping. Add the dry milk powder to a mixing bowl. If your dry milk powder has some larger clumps, crush them up with your fingers so it's uniformly powdery.
• Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar. Stir to combine. Add the shortening, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Use your hands to mix everything together into a dough. If it's too dry, add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
• When the buns are done rising for a second time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Separate the topping dough into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls. On a clean surface, roll out each ball into a flat circle and place one onto each bun.
• Brush with egg yolk and bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes.

BOLO BAO (CHINESE PINEAPPLE BUNS)

Steps:

• Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, lukewarm water, and 1 cup lukewarm milk in a very large bowl. Add yeast and let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 10 minutes.
• Add 2/3 cup melted butter and 2 eggs to the bowl with the yeast mixture and mix well. Add 7 cups flour, 1 cup at a time and mix in; when dough comes together, start kneading until elastic but still sticky. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
• Divide dough into 36 equal pieces; cover and let buns rise for 1 hour more.
• While buns rise, beat 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter together in a bowl. Add egg yolks, 4 tablespoons milk, and baking soda. Combine 2 cups flour and baking powder in a separate bowl; add to the sugar-egg yolk mixture. Refrigerate cookie topping at least 1 hour.
• Flatten 1 bun in your palm; place a spoonful of red bean paste inside. Squeeze edges together to cover filling and roll bun back into a ball. Let filled buns rise again, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Divide cookie topping into 36 equal balls. Flatten the balls and use a knife to make shallow hash mark lines resembling pineapple skin on each. Place 1 topping on each bun and place them on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.