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Coffee Buns

They say you can’t have your cake and eat it, too—but what about coffee?

Coffee and bread are a staple pairing in many countries. It’s not uncommon to dip your pastry of choice into a cup of coffee, be it pandesal with kapeng barako or pain au chocolat with café au lait. 

But marrying them into one bun? We have once-small, decades-old Malaysian bakeries Rotiboy and Papparoti to thank for that.

With a crisp bittersweet topping and a buttery, airy interior, coffee buns are a comforting way to get your caffeine fix at any time of the day. The perfect way to wake (or stay) up!

Let me know if you try this recipe! Check out this recipe on TikTok, too.

coffee bun

RECIPE: COFFEE BUNS

Yield: 12 coffee buns
Work Time: 30 mins. active, 90 mins. wait
Bake Time: 18-22 mins

INGREDIENTS

  • Dough

    • 400g bread flour
    • 50g granulated sugar
    • 8g instant dry yeast
    • 4g fine salt
    • 200g whole milk
    • 55g egg (1 large)
    • 50g unsalted butter, softened

  • Filling

    • 75g butter (unsalted or salted), cut into 12 cubes and kept in the chiller

  • Coffee Topping

    • 8g instant coffee powder
    • 10g hot water
    • 70g powdered sugar 
    • 80g unsalted butter, softened
    • 80g all-purpose flour
    • 50g egg

METHOD

  1. MIX. In a large bowl, mix bread flour, instant dry yeast, and sugar. Add milk and egg. Mix by hand or in a stand mixer w/ the dough hook until absorbed. Add softened butter and continue kneading. Once the butter is absorbed into the dough, add salt.
  2. KNEAD. Knead until the dough is smooth, stretchy, and passes the windowpane test, about 5-10 mins. See tips.
  3. PROOF. Shape the dough into a ball. Place into a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap, and proof for 60 mins. or until doubled in size.
  4. PREP TOPPING. Mix butter and sugar until well-combined, then mix in egg. In a separate bowl, dissolve instant coffee in hot water. Add the coffee to the butter mixture, then add flour. Stir until paste-like. Keep chilled until ready to pipe.
  5. DIVIDE. After proofing the dough, uncover and punch down. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 60-65g each. Shape into balls, cover, and rest for 5 mins.
  6. SHAPE. Gently flatten each piece by hand, with the edges being thinner than the center. Place a cube of cold butter and seal the edges together. Roll into a ball, and place seam-side down on parchment-lined baking trays, spaced apart. (I do 2 trays with 6 buns each).
  7. PROOF. Cover the buns with cling wrap and proof in a warm area for about 30 minutes or until at least doubled in volume. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C.
  8. PIPE TOPPING. Fill a piping bag with a ½-cm opening with the chilled coffee topping. Once the buns have doubled in size, pipe the topping—swirling from the center until about half of its surface is covered. Do this one tray at a time, right before baking.
  9. BAKE. Bake at 180°C for 18-22 mins., or until the buns are golden underneath the coffee topping. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

TIPS

How do I know when to stop kneading?
There are many variables in making dough! Total kneading time depends on your arm strength, mixer speed, & more. As a rule of thumb, start slowly to incorporate the ingredients. Once it comes together, increase speed to medium or knead by hand more vigorously. Here are the main visual cues to know if your dough is well-kneaded:

    • The dough is much smoother.
    • The dough is very stretchy and less sticky.
    • The dough passes the windowpane test.

Use quality butter.
Second to the crisp coffee topping, the best part of the coffee bun has to be its buttery, airy interior. For the best flavor, use the best quality butter you can find!

Pipe evenly.
Start by piping only 50% of your buns’ surface. The goal is to have an even amount of coating for ALL buns—you don’t want to end up with a few *fully* coated buns, with the rest being quite bare. Only add more when you have extra! Don’t worry, the coffee topping will drip down as it bakes—covering a larger surface area.

Store and reheat.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The coffee topping will inevitably soften with time, so reheat in the toaster or airfryer at 180°C for 2-5 mins. to re-crisp.

Thank you for checking out my recipes! Let me know when you try them out. If you have any questions, comment below or reach me on TikTok/Instagram!

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