Tomato Cheese Buns

Before I go into my post today, I shall share a little "sad" story with you. Yesterday I met up with another fellow blogger cum neighbor cum good friend to do some bread baking. And we intent to bake Roti boy (AKA coffee buns). She had made her choice to bake the recipe from Yochana's Delight and I chose Kitchen Corner's Coffee Buns. We both agreed that we will both make the buns and see which one turns out nicer, sounds fun right? And since my friends' dough finished proofing much eariler then mine, we made her buns first. Unsurprisingly, it turn out great, the buns were nice and soft and the cheese filling was quite satisfying.

I was so looking forward to mine, as I much prefer the butter filling, just like those selling at the bakeries. Well, I wasn't sure was it my shaping skill or am I too greedy on filling too much butter into the dough....the filling oozed out during the baking and the whole scene in the oven was......."TRAGIC"!! Okay, call me drama queen, but I was so devastated....after all that kneading, waiting to proof, shaping and then....BUSTED! O well....I guess I have only have myself to blame...'cos KC's buns turned out so nice! Anyway, I was too "depressed" to take any pictures...you'll have to imagine how "ugly" they look, haha. But you know what, it's still yummy....I guess it's one of those I'm ugly but I'm very yummy bakes of mine.Anyway, back to today's post. I decided to make Tomato Cheese Buns today. Reason was I have these 2 huge tomatoes siting at my counter and ripening away and I just could not bare to letting it go to waste. Luckily I found this recipe in 孟老师的100道面包 and I never looked back. ;) Best part? It did not bust, haha!

Ingredients for Tomato Cheese Bread:
Set A:
200g Bread flour
20g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant active yeast
10g tomato puree
85ml water
Set B:
10g unsalted butter, room temperature
50g Extra sharp Cheddar Cheese (or any cheese of your preference), cut into small cubes
Topping:
5 slices of Kraft sandwich cheese
5 slices of tomato
1 tsp of dried Parsley
Pinch of black pepper

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in Set A in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes.
• Punch out the air in the dough and divide it into 5 equal portions. Roll into balls and cover to let rest for 5 minutes.
• Take one dough ball, roll out flat into a disc and place 1/5 of the sharp cheddar cheese in the middle and seal the edges tight. Place bun on baking tray lined with parchment. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
• Gently press down the buns so it flattens a little and cover to let proof for another 15 minutes.
  
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the bun tops with egg wash.
• Placed the Kraft sandwich cheese on top of the buns and then the sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle some parsley and black pepper over the top.
  
• Bake the buns in the oven for 18 to 20minutes, till the cheese melted and the are light brown on the sides.
• Remove from oven and cool on rack.

The buns were soft and it taste real good....almost like eating a cheese pizza! The tomato on top was still juicy and sweet and the sharp cheddar in the bun compliments the taste even more! The only regret was not putting some ham in the buns, that will really make it even yummier! You can even replace the sharp cheddar with mozzarella to make it into a pizza bun, how great is that....meal in a bun, haha! Do try it out, you won't regret it. ;)