Cranberry Cream Cheese Bun - Barcook? Not Quite Yet

I have never quite intended to bake this, definitely had not planned on putting up another bread post so soon after my recent Hokkaido Milk Bread post. Alan of TravelingFoodies had contacted me and asked me if I have a working recipe for the Cranberry Cream Cheese flat bun. He is a big fan of Barcook's popular out-of-the-oven-this-minute-gone-next Raisin/Cranberry Cream Cheese bun.

I have come across recipes for this in 65C Bread by Yvonne C and have also seen this at one of the classes conducted by Valerie Kong. So I was quick to respond to Alan, telling him that this is not so uncommon. And honestly, if you are already familiar with the Tangzhong/Water Roux/Sponged dough  method of baking bread, the mystery factor of this bread evaporates.... or so I thought.

So, I told Alan that I will take this up as an assignment and try to post it soon.
I chose to work with this basic sweet soft bun recipe and tried to hunt around for a cream cheese recipe. I could have easily turned to Valerie Kong's recipe but I don't think I should publish it as she is still running classes.

The sweet soft bun delivered as it always did. In fact I thought it turned out even softer than before - could this be the result of deliberately suppressing the rising dough with a baking sheet weighing down on it during proofing? I have no proof... :)

The challenge of making this was filling the buns with the cream cheese. The dough, interspersed with cranberries, was more difficult to shape and seal. I tried to introduce a more generous amount of cream cheese filling to my first few buns but they promptly start to leak as I shaped them. As a result of which, I was intimidated into just piping a small dollop of cream cheese filling. They bake well without the filling bursting out of the dough in the oven but the end result was a far cry from the creamy lava-like ooze that makes Barcook's bread so addictive.  My bread tasted more like just a plain cranberry bun with a hint of cheese... my dollop of cream cheese filling practically disappeared!



I am going to repeat this again with less cranberries and see if I will be able to get more filling into the dough. Also, I suspect that my cream cheese filling could be too fluid - it would probably wrap better if I chill it more to thicken it.

So anyway, my colleagues helped me to clean them up. The buns had the 'looks' but not the substance... :( Check back later for updates for my second attempt....


Recipe :

1 portion of Sweet Soft Buns - See here.
50g          Cranberries, soaked in water for 30mins to soften

1. Follow the method as stated in the sweet soft buns. Add in drained and dried Cranberries just before first proofing.

2.After first proofing, divide dough into 40g portion and shape them into balls. Let these proof for 10mins.

3. Flatten dough with a rolling pin and pipe a generous portion of Cream Cheese filling onto the flattened dough. Seal and shape into a ball.

4. Space out filled dough on a baking tray. Press down on the dough with a second baking sheet. Let it proof like this 60mins.

5. Transfer the baking tray with pressing tray into oven and bake at 210C for 12 mins.

6. Remove from oven, remove the pressing baking sheet and allow to cool.


Cream Cheese Filling (Adapted from Alex Goh's The World Of Bread)
(A)
50g             Butter
80g             Icing Sugar
(B)
250g           Cream Cheese
Pinch of salt
(C)
2                Egg Yolks
(D)
20g            Corn flour

Method for Cream Cheese Filling :

1. Cream (A) until well combined.
2. Add (B) and cream till well blended
3. Add (C), cream till smooth
4. Add (D) then (E) and mix till well blended
5. Refrigerate till firm.

(The portion above will yield more than you need, the excess can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for 3 days.