Name: Chicken Curry Potato Buns
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 3 h 5 min
Cuisine: Malaysian
Ingredients: 300g chicken breast, cut into your desired size; 3 medium potatoes, around 300g, cut into small cubes; 1 large onion (diced); 3 tbsp Baba's meat/chicken curry powder, mixed with some water to become a paste; Salt & sugar to taste; 3 sprigs curry leaves; 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 150 – 200 ml water; 215g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour); ¾ tsp instant yeast; ¾ tsp sugar; Pinch of salt; 138g water; 215g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour); All the Old Dough; 3/4 tsp instant yeast; 3 tbsp (30g) brown sugar; 1 ½ tsp salt; 40g whisked egg (from 1 large egg, balance use for egg wash); 30g butter or coconut oil; 135g milk or whipping cream; Egg wash - balance of whisked egg (10g) + 1 tsp water; Cornmeal; 2 Baking Trays, lined with parchment papers

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When you have a good bun recipe, you can use the same dough to make many types of buns with different filling. Curry Chicken Potato Buns are a very common comfort food for Malaysians.

I used pâte fermentée (pre-fermented dough in French) or sometimes called "old dough" to make this soft and flavourful bread. Traditionally, bread makers take a portion of the bread dough made and save it overnight for next day baking. I made it from scratch since I did not have any ready old dough. With this method, the bread is more flavourful and aromatic due to the higher acidity and fermentation gasses produced during the slow fermentation.

Please click on Bread Making Method to understand more details.

You may also like my Sambal Ikan Bilis Buns too.

If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible. Do tag me on Instagram @Bakewithpaws if you attempt on this recipe.

How To Make Chicken Curry Potato Buns

Yields: 11 Buns

CHICKEN CURRY POTATO FILLING

INGREDIENTS:

300g chicken breast, cut into your desired size

3 medium potatoes, around 300g, cut into small cubes

1 large onion (diced)

3 tbsp Baba's meat/chicken curry powder, mixed with some water to become a paste

Salt & sugar to taste

3 sprigs curry leaves

4 tbsp vegetable oil

150 – 200 ml water

METHOD:

Heat oil in a wok or saucepan and saute onion and curry leaves. Add in curry paste and stir for a while then add in chicken and potatoes.
Add water and season with salt and sugar. Stir well. Turn down the heat and let it simmer till potatoes are soft and curry is dried. Stir occasionally and add water as needed to prevent burning.
Remove from wok once ready and keep aside to cool.

FOR THE BUNS (OLD DOUGH METHOD)

INGREDIENTS:

Old Dough:

215g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

¾ tsp instant yeast

¾ tsp sugar
Pinch of salt

138g water

Main Dough:

215g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

All the old dough

3/4 tsp instant yeast

3 tbsp (30g) brown sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

40g whisked egg (from 1 large egg, balance use for egg wash)

30g butter or coconut oil

135g milk or whipping cream

Topping:

Egg wash - balance of whisked egg (10g) + 1 tsp water

Cornmeal

Utensil:

2 baking trays, lined with parchment papers

METHOD:

For the old dough:

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl. Then add in bread flour and mix with hand until become a soft dough. Roll into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with cling film and let it proof 1 hour in room temperature (28C).
After 1 hour, place into the refrigerator overnight for at least 12 hours or up to 36 hours. Fridge temperature 2C - 4C. The next morning, take out the old dough from refrigerator to return to room temperature 30 minutes before using. You can also use directly from the fridge if you forget to take out earlier.

Kneading main dough:

Put all ingredients (start with salt, flour, yeast, sugar, butter, egg, milk/whipping cream, and old dough) into the bowl of stand mixer. Using the dough hook on a stand mixer, knead until the dough comes together, become elastic and tacky but not sticky. It takes around 12 - 15 minutes at medium speed. If the dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time.

1st Proofing:

Let the dough rise in a warm place for 60 minutes or until double in size in a large greased bowl, covered with cling film or kitchen towel.

Shaping:

Punch down the dough to release the air. Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface then divide into 11 equal portions. Shape each dough into a ball. Flatten the dough and roll into a flat circle. Spoon in about 2 tablespoons of curry filling in the centre, wrap and seal. Shape the bun into a ball. Place the buns onto the prepared baking pan, about 2 inch apart.

Final Proofing:

Let it rise for another 45 - 60 minutes or until double in size.

Baking:

Preheat the oven to 180C for about 15 minutes.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle some cornmeal. Bake at preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove bun from oven and let them cool on rack.

GENERAL NOTES:

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT & WINDOWPANE TEST

Gluten forms when flour comes in contact with water. Hydration of the flour causes the sticky and stretchy protein to form, giving structure to the bread. This makes your bread trap air and rise.

Gluten in dough can be developed by autolyse, resting, kneading or folding.

The windowpane test is used to determine whether the dough has been sufficiently kneaded. By gently pulling the dough (or you may pinch off some dough) and trying to stretch it into a thin membrane. If you are able to stretch the dough paper thin and translucent without tearing, then the gluten is fully developed. However, if you can stretch it without tearing but the membrane is not transparent, then the gluten is not yet fully developed.

However, from my experience not all the recipe can achieve a thin and translucent window pane stage easily. For example low hydration and low fat dough. For such recipes, a reasonable window pane is good enough and it can be left to rest. Gluten will continue to develop while resting. Exercising restraint to not over-knead the dough prevents the gluten from being overworked and broken. Some of you may have experienced the dough breaking during the second proofing. It is because the dough is over kneaded.

The total kneading time for me is usually 15 minutes at low speeds except brioche dough with high fat percentage or dough using liquid fat which usually takes a little longer (maybe 18-20 mins).

From my experience, I found that high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.

KNEADING TIME

For kneading, please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Timing may differ depending on the brand of flour and electric mixer used. The protein content may vary from one brand of flour to another.

FLOUR
The right flour plays a very important role in bread making. To achieve fluffy, soft and light bread, I used Japan High Gluten Flour in most of my bread baking. The protein content is around 12 - 13%.

HYDRATION

The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

PROOFING

Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on your climate and environment. The humidity and temperature at your place will influence how dough rises.

If you are unable to judge by just looking at the dough, you can do the finger poke test:

First Proofing:

Lightly flour or oil your finger or knuckle, gently poke in the centre of the dough then remove your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation then it needs more time.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back or if the dough collapses, then the it is over proved.
If it bounces back just a little, then the dough is ready to be punched down and shaping.

Second Proofing:

Lightly press the side of the proved dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation, it means the dough is under proved and needs more time before baking.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back, it means it has been over proved.
If the indentation slowly bounces back and leave a small indentation, it is ready to bake.
There will be a final burst of rising once the bread is placed to bake in the oven and it is called oven spring.

WRINKLE TOP OR SHRINKING

If your bread collapses or gets wrinkled on top after removing from oven, it could be because your dough over proved during the second proofing. Please proof until it rises 80 - 90% in size or is slightly below the rim of the pan.

BAKING TEMPERATURE & TIME

Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.

Comments

MicheleJune 28, 2018 at 4:39 PM
Hi, I’m just curious what happened to the sponge dough? I can choose to use either of the dough to make the buns? Thanks
UnknownMay 3, 2020 at 4:41 PM
Can I replace the instant yeast with sourdough starter?
SamanthaJanuary 23, 2021 at 6:05 PM
Hi Michelle, I love all your bread recipes thanks for sharing My problem is that my oven is too small to bake all the bread at once How do I prevent the dough from over proofing if I need to bake them separately
Thanks