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Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Buns

Popular Korean street food and snack buns that are mildly sweet, savoury, buttery and garlicky with a cream cheese filling.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Resting Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 25 minutes
Course breads
Cuisine Korean
Servings 6 Buns

Ingredients
  

For the Buns:

  • 125 ml 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
  • 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
  • 1/8 cup milk powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
  • Egg wash (optional) I use milk

For the Sweet Cream Cheese:

  • 1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 1/2 tbsp powdered/ icing sugar
  • 1/8 cup heavy cream I use 25% fat cream

For the Sweet-Savoury Garlic Butter

  • 120 gm salted butter
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic minced or crushed into paste
  • 1/8 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped parsley or dried

For the Topping:

  • Panko style breadcrumbs

Instructions
 

For the Bread:

  • You can do this by hand or with a stand mixer. Your final dough should be soft, smooth and elastic enough to pass the “window-pane test” - where you stretch a small piece of dough and it doesn’t break easily allowing light to shine through it.
  • Put all the ingredients for the buns except the butter, into the bowl of your mixer (or large mixing bowl if you’re kneading by hand). Mix till combined. Add the butter and knead. Add more milk, if required, and knead well.
  • Check to see if it the dough passes the window-pane test. Shape the into a smooth ball. Place in a lightly-oiled bowl and loosely cover it. Let it rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm place till almost double in volume.
  • Gently deflate the dough to get rid of all the air. Knead with your hands for another 3-5 minutes. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape each into a smooth round ball. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking tray. Cover loosely and let them rise for 30 to 40 minutes.
  • Brush with milk or egg wash. Bake them at 180C or 350F for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let them cool on a rack completely.

For the Sweetened Cream Cheese:

  • In a large bowl, whisk or blend the cream cheese and sugar together. Whisk in the cream till smooth. Refrigerate if not using immediately. Fill into a piping bag with plain nozzle. Set aside till required.

For the Sweet-Savoury Garlic Butter:

  • Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Whisk in the crushed garlic/ paste, mayonnaise, and honey. Adjust to taste. Whisk in the egg and parsley till smooth. Keepa aside

Make the Cream Cheese Garlic Buns:

  • Slice each bun bread roll into 6 equal sections, making sure not to cut all the way through the bottom. Think of the bun opening out into a flower with six “petals/ leaves”.
  • Pipe a reasonable amount of the sweet cream cheese mixture in between the sections of the bun.
  • Carefully hold the bun cut side down and dunk into the sweet-savoury garlic butter without the cream cheese falling out. Turn bread roll upside down and make sure the bun is completely and well coated. Drain excess back into your garlic butter bowl.
  • Place the coated bun on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other buns. Sprinkle the tops with Panko bread crumbs. Pipe a largish blob on the middle of the buns where the ends of the slices of the buns meet.
  • Bake them at 165C (330F) for about 15 minutes till the top feels crisp and the bread crumbs a light golden brown. Serve warm.