Iced buns from school….does anyone remember these? I don’t know about other countries but I know that a lot of schools in the UK used to have these.
If your school didn’t have them, let me explain. They were just hot dog buns but with icing on top. That was it. Personally, I think they could’ve put a little more effort into the desserts they were giving us however….they were lowkey good. I can’t lie, if I saw that they had these, I was the first one grabbing them.
They are literally just bread with some icing on top but for some reason they still taste good so I wanted to try recreating them!
Tips for making the bread:
The bread I’m making for this is a Japanese milk bread. This kind of bread uses a ‘tangzhong’ which is just a heated mixture of flour and water. This makes the bread more softer and fluffier. I get asked a lot if this can be left out. For this recipe, no. The bread will end up dusty and crusty if you don’t add it. It’s an extra step but it makes the bread so much better so I think it’s worth it.
Also the yeast. I always use instant yeast for my doughs. With instant yeast you can add it in with the rest of the ingredients. However, if you’re using active yeast, you will need to activate it. So I recommend mixing the yeast with the warm milk that you will see in the recipe. Leave this for 10 minutes and then you’re good to go.
Old School Iced Buns
Ingredients
Makes: 5
- For the tangzhong:
20g plain flour
100ml water
- For the dough:
330g plain flour
30g granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
8g instant yeast
1 egg
120ml warm milk
the tangzhong mixture
30g soft unsalted butter
- For the icing:
200g icing sugar
plus some hot water
Directions
- The tangzhong:
- Add the flour and water into a pot. Mix these together then put this pot over medium-low heat.
- Keep heating this, whiles constantly stirring, until the mixture thickens. This only takes a few seconds so don't walk away from it.
- Leave this mixture in the fridge to cool for 5 minutes.
- Making the dough:
- Add all the ingredients into a bowl, except the butter. Also don't forget to add in the tangzhong you just made.
- Mix these together until a dough forms, then add in the butter and knead this for 8 minutes. This will be a sticky dough, don't be alarmed.
- The 1st rise
- Add this dough into a greased bowl, cover it and leave it to rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume. This should take 1-2 hours.
- You could also just leave the dough inside the fridge overnight and then carry on the next day if you wanted too.
- Creating the shapes:
- Once the dough has risen, divide it into 5 pieces and start making the shapes. Again, this is a sticky dough so add quite a bit of flour onto your surface.
- Create hot dog bun shapes by rolling the dough between your hands. You can do whatever size you want, mine were around 12cm long.
- Add these onto a baking paper lined tray, leaving about a 2cm gap between them. You want these to end up touching each other after they have rested and been baked, so don't place them too far apart.
- The 2nd rise
- Gently lay some cling film over these, then leave them to rest, in a warm place, for about 40 minutes. Once there is about 10 minutes left, pre-heat your over to 180c/350f.
- They won't double in size, they will just look slightly puffier and if you gently press them they should feel softer than before.
- Baking:
- Once they have rested and your oven is pre-heated, they are ready to be baked.
- Brush the top of them with a beaten egg then bake them for 20 minutes. Then once they have baked and are still hot, brush the top of them with some melted butter.
- Brushing them with the egg and then the butter are both optional, I just like to do it because it creates a more golden and shiny crust.
- The icing:
- Add the icing sugar into a bowl. Add a tablespoon of hot water to this and mix. Keep doing this until you get a thick icing.
- Once the buns have cooled, dip them into the icing, let them set for about 10 minutes and then you are done, enjoy!
Video Tutorial
@ashbaber old school iced buns 😩
♬ Soul Food - Ruck P
