Chinese Bakery Inspired Raisin Coconut Twists
These Chinese bakery inspired Coconut Buns are made from an incredibly rich, buttery, soft, and slightly sweet brioche bread, laced with ribbons of sweetened coconut filling and dotted with raisins.
Servings: 6 buns
Ingredients
Brioche dough
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 - 3 tablespoon of milk room temperature, 28 - 42 g
- 2 teaspoon of active dry yeast
- ¼ cup of granulated sugar 45 g, divided
- 2 cup all-purpose flour 265 g
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 4 ounce unsalted butter thin slices, room temperature, 113 g
- Extra flour for rolling as needed
Coconut Filling
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut 135 g
- 1 cup powdered sugar 100 g
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil 13 g, melted
- Handful of raisins
Egg wash
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tablespoon milk or water
Instructions
- Make the brioche dough: mix 2 tablespoons of milk together with 1 teaspoon of sugar, and sprinkle the active dry yeast on top. Let it bloom for about 10 minutes. The mixture should puff up, if not repeat this step to ensure yeast is working.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the remaining sugar, flour and salt and whisk to evenly distribute.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, lightly beat the eggs with a hand whisk. Add the bloomed yeast mixture along with the flour mixture to the beaten eggs. Use the dough hook to knead on low speed (speed 2) for 15 minutes.
- Check occasionally to see how your dough is looking, if it is too dry, sprinkle in the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk. By the end of 15 minutes, it should pull away from the side of the bowl.
- Leave the mixer on speed 2 and add the softened butter, a few pieces at a time, allowing the butter to combine with the dough before adding more. This will take about 10 minutes. Then let the mixer knead for another 10-20 minutes or until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
- Scrape the dough out on a lightly floured counter and shape into a ball. Place it into an oiled glass bowl and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
- At this point, you can let the dough ferment in the fridge overnight, or let it double in size (approximately 1-1.5 hours) and move on to the next step.
- Make the coconut filling: add unsweetened coconut and powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the egg and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and pulse until a paste forms. Set aside.
- Assemble the coconut buns: let the dough come to room temperature if you just remove it from the fridge and make sure it has doubled in size before working with it.
- Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop. Deflate the dough and divide it into 6 equal portions. Knead each portion into a ball and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
- Roll each ball of dough out into a rectangle about 4”x6”. Spread 3 tablespoons of coconut filling on top of the dough. Roll into a log and cut in half lengthwise leaving about half an inch intact at one end. Twist the two sections into a braided bun. Press a few raisins into the exposed filling.
- Place the buns on a lined baking pan, leaving about 2” of space between each bun. Drape a tea towel or plastic wrap over it loosely, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 - 2 hours until at least double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Beat an egg with a tablespoon or water or milk to make egg wash. Brush any exposed part of the dough with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking sheet.
Notes
- Always check that your yeast is working properly before continuing with the recipe to ensure success. If the yeast doesn’t puff up when bloomed in liquid, it is best to start over. Otherwise, your dough will not rise.
- Rising time can vary, depending on the environment: temperature, humidity, barometric pressure. The dough will rise faster in warmer weather compared to colder weather, in higher altitude compared to lower altitude, etc.
- Cutting the butter into thin slices will help it incorporate into the dough easier than cubes.
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature or it will not incorporate easily.
- This dough is very buttery so it shouldn’t need a lot of extra flour for rolling and shaping.
- Invest in a kitchen scale to measure all your ingredients correctly. Using weight actually makes the prepping a lot faster.
- Don’t be afraid to knead this dough for a long time. The longer you knead the more gluten develops, which gives the dough its structure so it can be handled and shaped easier. This dough needs to be kneaded for at least 30-40 minutes.
- Using oil on your hands and the countertop when shaping and rolling the dough can prevent you from adding too much flour and risk drying out the bread, making it too hard.
- If you don’t have a food processor to make the filling, simply mix by hand but make sure to choose a more finely shredded coconut.
Nutrition
Serving: 166g | Calories: 583kcal
