Gudetama Pumpkin Custard Bun

Yet another post about Gudetama, I did try to space it out a little, and try not to keep making him all the time. But he's such an easy character to craft and yet so hilariously adorable, I end up making him more often than I want, lol.


This time it's Gudetama in the form of salted egg yolk custard buns, known as Liu Sha Bao. I got this idea from a Gudetama Dim Sum restaurant in Hong Kong. I so want to visit Hong Kong so I can go check out this restaurant and all the interesting new restaurants like the Hello Kitty Dim Sum one, etc, but my husband is not keen to go. He thinks we have seen enough of Hong Kong. :( Oh well, so I decided to attempt to make some Gudetama custard buns myself instead.


I'm sharing the recipe for the custard buns in this post, I quite like it but I'm not sure if the taste is authentic. This is because I've never actually tried these custard buns in a Dim Sum restaurant before in my life, lol. (I should definitely do so the next time I go for Dim Sum!) The closest I've tried was a frozen one from the supermarket, and the custard was not exactly flowy. -_-


The buns have to be served hot, if you want to get the flowy custard effect. There are also a few tips to take note of, which I've included in the notes at the end of the recipe. To make thing easier, I used mashed steamed pumpkin to prepare the orange dough, and I used pancake mix to prepare the white dough underneath. The pancake mix dough does not need proofing. I will update the recipe again tonight with an alternative recipe for the white dough that does not require pancake mix


You need to leave the custard fillings in the fridge for around 6 hours, so I would suggest that you prepare the custard fillings a day earlier and keep it in the fridge till you are ready to wrap the buns.

GUDETAMA PUMPKIN CUSTARD BUN

Ingredients:
Custard fillings:
35g salted egg yolk
50g icing sugar
50g custard powder
40g milk powder
75g butter, room temperature
1 tbsp evaporated milk

Pumpkin Dough:
240g plain flour
45g cornflour
3g yeast
30g sugar
100ml water
50g mashed steamed pumpkin
10g salad oil

Plain Dough:
100g morinaga pancake mix
1/2 tbsp salad oil
30ml water

Method:

1. Steam the egg yolks for around 8 minutes. Let cool and mash it up.
2. Cream butter with sugar, before adding in the rest of the ingredients, including mashed egg yolk. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours. 
3. Just before preparing the dough, take out the custard and portion into balls of around 15g each. Wrap with cling wrap and keep in the freezer as you proceed to prepare the dough for the buns.

4. To make the pumpkin dough, sift plain flour and corn flour. Add in the rest of the ingredients, use your hands to knead into a smooth dough. 
5. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough proof for half an hour. 
6. To make the white dough, sift pancake mix and add in salad oil.
7. Add in water gradually, use your hands to keep mixing till the dough comes together.
8. Dust work surface with some flour, use your hands to knead till the dough becomes soft and smooth. 
9. Divide the pumpkin dough into 15 portions of 30g each. I did not weigh the white dough, as I find it easier to just split it up into 15 portions.

10. Roll out the pumpkin dough, make sure the centre is thicker, roll out the edges thinner. Place a custard ball in the middle and seal it up.

11. Roll out white dough, place the pumpkin one on top of it.

12. Use a food marker to draw on Gudetama features before steaming on medium heat for around 6  minutes. You can steam one to test out the timing first. Wrap a cloth around the cover to prevent water from dripping onto your buns and spoiling the design. After 6 minutes, open the cover just a little to let out excess steam for a minute. Serve hot.

Notes:

• Wrap the filling evenly making sure it is sealed properly. 
• Do not oversteam.
• Do not be greedy and put too much filling 
• Buns have to be served hot in order to get the flowy custard effect.
• If you can’t get hold of Morinage pancake mix. You can also use 135g plain flour and 1tsp baking powder to 70ml water. You need to add in 1 tbsp of sugar and a pinch of salt as well. Sift flour and baking powder, add in the rest of the ingredients and mix till the dough comes together. Cover the dough and leave it for half an hour before you start rolling out.