chestnut cream gomboppang buns
holaaaa friends,
it’s officially day 3123081 of quarantining! okay, it’s been a full month but it’s felt like foreveRrr!
i was going through my photo album from the past 30 days indoors and all of the things that happened in early march seem like literally forever ago. there’s so much that’s been going on in the world especially with all the constant updates with the news, that it makes it seem like not AS many eventful things have happened in the walls of my apartment.
work has been incredibly busy and has occupied maybe 90% of my time and brain space. ON THE OTHER HAND, BECAUSE the markets have been down, merman’s workload has slowed down a bit so he’s VOLUNTARILY become my resident jip saram aka house person. merman has cooked DELICIOUS breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, and i feel sooo lucky that HE ENJOYS GETTING A KICK OUT MAKING USE OF WHATever WE HAVE in stock to make SHAKSHUKA with LEFTOVER PIZZA SAUCE OR CHICKEN MOLE TACOS with MOLE WE MADE IN 2019 AND STORED IN THE FREEZER.
OUTSIDE OF EATING and working, WE’VE SPENT TIME LISTENING TO A BAZILLION PODCASTS, WATCHING NETFLIX, AND MY FAVORITE: BLASTING MUSIC AND DANCING LIKE DING DONGS TO RELIEVE SOME STRESS AND PATHETICALLY ATTEMPT TO BURN OFF the CALORIES FROM MY DAILY INTAKE OF CHOCOPIE.
ok and……BACK TO EATING.
WHEN I FINALLY HAD ROOM TO COME UP FOR AIR FROM WORK, I felt that TIME WOULD BE BEST SPENT MAKING SOMETHING TO MUNCH ON TO OCCUPY THE BOREDOM IN MY MOUth. my mouth craved something savory, crisp, carby, light, and simple so i opted for my faaavorite cracker recipe. in the past, i rolled these crackers out for special occasions and gatherings with friends and set them as an accompaniment to a bowl of dip or a cheese board. this time around, it was just to fulfill my snack craving!
making these crackers also checked off one of the most important rules for consumption during #quarantining, which is to stretch high demand items like toilet paper and flour.
btw, is flour supply down because people are stress baking or is it because we all have time to grow our own sourdough starters? where has all the flour gone in all the land of brooklyn?! on every grocery store run that i’ve made in the past month, the shelves have been fully cleared of any kind of flour - even the gluten free kinds. i luckily had my brother snag a few bags of flour before coronavirus, but i’m now down to my last 10 cups of flour, and i don’t know when i’ll be able to replenish my supply.
this recipe definitely makes good and full use of just 2 cups of flour. it yields 16 long and flat sword-like strips of crackers that can be cut down into a lot of smaller bits. you can also throw in almost anything into the dough like dried herbs, seeds and ground nuts, garlic that’s borderline sprouting, parmesan cheese, whatever is just about to go bad and is dried for the most part will work here!
these crackers reminded merman of everything bagels so he naturally cured salmon (which is another way to preserving and stretching the goods in your fridge) so that we can enjoy them together like we would with salmon lox bagels. all i have to say is that i fully appreciated the feeling of having a little decadence but in actuality, we were preserving and stretching what we had.
xo, christine
p.s. if you were wondering…as for stretching the toilet paper, don’t worry. i’m not peeling 2-ply into 1 or using 1 square at a time. i’m actually challenging myself to use juuuust enough before tearing into the other side. hahahahaha >:]
chestnut cream gomboppang buns
ingredients
milk bread dough
tangzhong: 1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup milk + 2 tbsp pastry flour
yeast starter: 1/2 cup warmed milk + 1 tsp cane sugar + 2 tsp active yeast
wet ingredients: 1 egg + 2 tbsp condensed milk + 1/4 cup water
dry ingredients: 2.5 cups pastry flour + 1/4 cup cane sugar + 1 tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp softened unsalted butter
gomboppang craquelin
wet ingredients : 8 tbsp softened butter + 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter + 1/2 cup cane sugar + 1/2 tsp kosher salt
dry ingredients: 1 cup pastry flour
chestnut cream
whipped cream: 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream + 1/2 cup powdered sugar
chestnut paste: 10-12 cooked and peeled chestnuts + 2 tbs condensed milk + 4 tsp heavy whipping cream + 1/4 tsp kosher salt
raspberry jam
1 cup of any tart raspberry jam!
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special equipment
sheet pan, parchment paper, plastic cling wrap, rolling pin, 2 piping bags, 2 wide piping tip
grocery store list
dairy: whole milk, heavy whipping cream, 1 stick unsalted butter, egg
baking: pastry flour, cane sugar, powdered sugar, active yeast, kosher salt
other: peanut butter, condensed milk, raspberry jam, cooked chestnuts
notes
milk bread dough
remove butter from the fridge and bring town to room temperature.
prep tangzhong: in a small sauce pan, whisk together milk, water, and flour until flour is evenly incorporated. turn the stove on to low heat and continually whisk for about 2-3 minutes until the mixture turns into a loose white paste. transfer tangzhong to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.
prep yeast starter: microwave milk (30 seconds) in a heat-proof in bowl until milk is lukewarm. stir in sugar until dissolved. add yeast and stir until it has mostly dissolved. allow the yeast to sit out for at least 10 minutes and until the top has formed small bubbles on the surface.
dry ingredients: in a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. set aside.
wet ingredients: in a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg, condensed milk, water, and cooled tangzhong until evenly incorporated.
pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together until the dry has absorbed the wet using a spatula, electric mixer with dough hooks, or your hands! then slowly incorporate the yeast starter into the bowl to further hydrate the dough. continue mixing and kneading for 4-5 minutes until the dough forms into a “lumpy clumpy” shape. at this point, toss in 1 tbsp of softened butter and massage into the dough. do this 2 more times until you’ve incorporated a total of 3 tbs of butter. knead the dough for 2-3 minutes making sure that the dough has stretched enough to form those strong gluten protein networks.
first proof: place the dough in a bowl, cover with saran wrap, and place somewhere warm - the dishwasher or the oven with the light on for 2 hours. the dough should double in size.
gomboppang craquelin
while the dough is proofing use this time to prepare the craquelin and filling. in a mixing bowl, toss in softened butter, egg, and peanut butter and mix together using a fork or whisk until evenly incorporated. incorporate the cane sugar first into the wet mixture, and then the flour.
transfer mixture onto a larger sheet of parchment paper, form into a ball and then flatten into a disk. place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the disk, press down, and roll out until the height of the paste is about 1/8 inch high. carefully transfer to lay flat in the freezer.
chestnut cream and raspberry jam
in a blender, combine chestnuts, whipping cream, condensed milk, and salt. blend until its a smooth paste, feel free to add 1 tbsp of whipping cream if the paste is to thick for your blender to fully blend the chestnuts down.
in a large bowl or stand/hand mixer, whisk the heavy whipping cream on high for 2-3 minutes until a stiffer whipped cream has formed. toss in powdered sugar and whisk for 1-2 more minutes until a stiffened whipped cream has formed. transfer chestnut paste into the whipped cream and fold into the cream using a spatula until evenly incorporated.
transfer chestnut cream into a piping bag. in a separate piping bag, scoop in 1 cup of raspberry jam. tie up the ends of both piping bags and store in the fridge.
baking and assembly
second proof: once your dough has about doubled in size (a little more is fine), dust a working surface with a little flour, transfer the dough to the surface and press down to remove some air from the dough. lightly knead the dough, then roll out into a log shape. cut the dough into 12-14 pieces, and form each piece into a ball shape. leave your pieces on your working surface (for the sake of less dishes), cover with plastic wrap, and allow them to rise for an additional 30 minutes.
third proof: during the second proof, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your sheet pan with parchment paper. after the second proofing, roll each dough one more time, and place onto your pan leaving at least 1.5 inches between each piece and the edges of the pan. cover with saran wrap and allow to proof one more time for another 20-30 minutes in that same warm area.
during the third proof, remove the hardened craquelin from the freezer and carefully cut out 12-14 circle shaped disks using a baking ring or jar top. each disk should be at least 1 inch wider in diameter than the surface of the rolled dough. also have a butter knife in handy to loosen the craquelin from the ring/jar top. after the third proof, place each disk while still hardened atop the rolled dough.
bake for 13-15 minutes or until the tops have turned into a light golden brown. remove from oven and transfer onto a cooling rack.
once the buns have cooled, using a piping tip, open up the bottom or side of the bun and wiggle around to create space for the cream and jam. pipe in cream and then jam. if this is a hassle, you can also carefully cut the buns in half horizontally and pipe the cream and jam on each side.
phew. take a breather, pat yourself on the back, and enjoy!
