The Chocolate-filled Mushroom-shaped Buns were a fad once upon a time. Many bakers found the shape, especially the pattern on the buns which are similar to those of the dried Shiitake mushroom so fascinating that they baked them. However, I did them a bit differently by filling the buns with chocolate chips.
Ingredients:
- For the dough:
- 325 g bread flour
- 150 g warm milk
- 30 g sugar
- 1 tsp yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 40 g butter
- Chocolate chips (2 tsp per dough ball)
- For topping
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp rice flour
- 3 tbsp water
Method:
- Activate the yeast:
- Add warm milk to a cup.
- Add sugar to the warm milk and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Sprinkle the yeast onto the milk and stir to mix them up.
- Let them sit for 10 minutes till bubbles have been formed.
- Add bread flour, salt and egg to the bowl of a mixer.
- Add the yeast mixture to the bowl.
- Knead till a dough ball is formed.
- Add butter and continue to knead till window pane is achieved.
- Grease a clean bowl. Transfer the dough ball into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.
- When the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and punch it down to degas.
- Divide the dough into smaller pieces according to the number of buns that you would like to have.
- Shape each piece into round dough balls.
- Take 1 dough ball and flatten it.
- Spoon 2 tsp of chocolate chips onto the flattened dough.
- Take the edge of the flattened dough and seal it.
- Roll till the dough is round and smooth.
- Place it into a cupcake liner.
- Place it into muffin tin.
- Repeat till all the dough balls have filled, shaped, put into cupcake liners and into the muffin tin.
- Mix cocoa powder, rice flour and water into a smooth paste. Spread the paste onto each dough ball.
- Let them proof till double in size. (When this happens, the cocoa paste will crack and form the pattern of a Shiitake mushroom.)
- Bake them in pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 25 minutes.
- Remove the buns from the muffin tin onto a metal rack.
- Let them cool down completely.