Bunny Soft Milk Buns
Time to bring in some fun to the breakfast table or tea breaks with your kids with shaped milk buns!
Managed to get my hands on some cute bunny cookie cutters here to try out something different on the infamous Soft Milk Buns.
WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE BUNNY BUNS & REMAINING DOUGH :
6 x Bunny Cookie Cutter measuring 7.5cmL x 6cmW x 2cmH
(or any other shape you prefer)
6 x Baking Paper cut measuring 11cmL x 9cmW
(if you are not using an AF, just putting a layer of baking paper on top of your baking pan will do)
2 x Mini Bread Pan measuring 10cmL x 18.6cmW x 5cmH
DOUGH SHAPING METHOD :
1) Once your dough (refer recipe here) has completed its 1st proofing you will get a dough weighing approximately 450g –480g. Portion out the dough to 300g for the Bunny buns and the remaining will be for two mini loaves since this method is only using 6 cookie cutters
2) Roll the mini loaf dough & bench it (let it rest) for 15mins
3) With the 300g Bunny bun dough, further portion it out to 6 parts of 50g each & bench it for 15mins
2) Use a rolling pin, smooth out each Bunny bun dough to remove any air bubbles in it. You will notice that the dough stretches out & contracts back again after a few seconds. What you want is for the dough to contract back to form a thicker layer before you press down your cookie cutter so it rises to a taller bun later
3) Tear out the remaining dough around the cookie cutter & put aside the extra bits of dough. Remove the cookie cutter & shift the shaped Bunny bun dough onto the baking paper (cut earlier). Put the cookie cutter back on the dough following the shape. Repeat for the remaining 5 dough. Each Bunny bun dough should now weigh 30g each
4) Cover the Bunny shaped dough with cling wrap or cloth & leave it for 2nd proofing for a duration of 1 hr to 1 hr 10mins
5) Take the remaining dough removed out from the cookie cutter to combine it with the mini loaf dough. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the whole dough. You should be working with an approx. 290g dough at this point. You can split the dough into 2 portions weighing 145g each to be shaped into the 2 mini bread pans
6) Cover the mini loaves with cling wrap or cloth & leave it for 2nd proofing for a duration of 1 hr to 1 hr 10mins
7) Once Bunny bun dough have doubled in size (or after 1 hr), transfer the dough into pre-heated Air Fryer (refer AF Baking Method below). Once Bunny buns are baked, continue baking the remaining mini loaves (you should be able to bake both loaf at the same time as the mini bread pan will be able to fit an AF XXL)
AIR FRYER BAKING METHOD BELOW:
1) Pre-heat AF @ 140degrees for 5mins
2) Bake @ 140degrees for 15mins. Different Air Fryer size may affect ideal temperature. I’m using Philips XXL AF. High temperature will have your buns to rise too fast & cause big air holes below your crust (hence the dent in)
3) Leave buns in AF for 2mins before removing to be cooled on rack. Try to cool it down outside the tray with baking paper removed to avoid a soggy bottom (cooling on rack — with holes below allows for hot air to travel out of the bun) Cover with cloth for it to cool down to prevent crust from deflating due to sudden temperature change and keeps the buns from drying out.
(if the bottom of your buns become moist due to moisture heat, just flip your buns over and throw it in the AF to bake for 1min @ 140degrees)
4) Serve if you must but I prefer to keep mine overnight for breakfast the next day. After cooling on the rack, I move them into my air tight Lock & Lock container
Hope this helps and do keep the fun going by trying out different shapes as well! You can also purchase Edible Markers online to make your animal shaped buns look more cutesy!
CLICK HERE to see how the Bunny Soft Milk Buns look like after bake
MORE RECIPES HERE :)
