I came across this recipe for Pai Bao by Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids which looked so soft and fluffy that I had to try it for myself. Also that I had leftover sweetened condensed milk sitting in the fridge that I have been meaning to use up.
In the Cantonese language,"Pai" translates to "rows" or "line up" and "Bao" to"buns". Hence Pai Bao literally means buns baked in rows.
I wasn't sure if I had made a mistake somewhere along the way because my dough was super soft and a little tricky to handle but I floured my work surface well and went along with it and it all came together beautifully!
As usual, I let my bread machine do all the kneading and proofing for me to make things even easier. You may of course make it in your stand mixer.
Ingredients:
Make one 15 cm x 25 cm loaf
210 g lukewarm water
35 g sweetened condensed milk
300 g bread flour
25 g sugar
15 g milk powder
1 tsp salt
50 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp instant dry yeast
Egg wash - 1 egg yolk + 1 tsp milk
Here is my 1 min TikTok and Instagram video on the process.
Place all ingredients for the bread dough into pan of bread machine and run the dough mode according to the manufacturer's instructions of your bread machine.
After the dough has rested and doubled in size, remove from pan and divide into 15 pieces. Roll into balls, cover and rest for 10 mins.
Roll and flatten a ball of dough with a rolling pin to a rectangle about 10 x 12 cm. Fold one end of the wider side 1/3 towards the middle and then the other side. Place into the prepared pan and repeat with the other pieces of dough.
Cover and rest for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Brush top of bread with egg wash.
Bake for 20 mins. Check midway into baking at 10 mins if bread is browning too quickly. If so, cover with a piece of foil and continue baking for another 10 mins.
Let's bake some homemade bread together and make the house smell delicious!