A busy mom can even make quick and easy buns.
Have you ever tried Japanese Cream Pan? It’s basically a delicious bun filled with light and heavenly custard cream. Back in the day, you could snag cream pan for just a dollar, but it didn’t really hit the spot until I tried making them at home. You know why? Store-bought custard cream just didn’t cut it. Then, I treated myself to some cream pan from a fancy bakery – the custard was incredibly creamy, perfectly sweet, and the bread, incredibly soft. It was at that moment that I realized – I could easily whip up this fantastic cream pan at home!
I know most moms have a busy schedule and it’s tempting to buy bread, especially if you’re not really into cooking. But if you’re even a bit curious about homemade baking, want to save money, and enjoy healthy bread, I highly recommend making your own bread at home using a bread maker. It’s a major time-saver.
And guess what? It’s a breeze. Making the custard cream? Just pop it in the microwave for a few minutes. As for the dough, let your bread maker do the hard work. All that’s left is to shape the dough, fill it with cream, and bake it to perfection.
When you make bread at home, it’s essentially just 5-6 basic ingredients. I feel much more at ease knowing what goes into it, especially when compared to store-bought bread with numerous ingredients that can stay fresh for over a week. The longevity of commercial bread worries me because homemade bread typically stays fresh for only a few days.
My friends and kids absolutely adore my cream pan. Seriously, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy my homemade Japanese cream pan. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s jump in and whip up some fresh, homemade cream pan!
The details about the home bakery can be found in the latter part of the blog.
Ingredients for Custerd Cream:
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 100ml Mik
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1.5tbsp Flour
Ingredients for the dough:
- 200g All Purpose or Bread Flour
- 20g Butter
- 3g Salt
- 20g Sugar
- 90ml Milk
- 4g Yeast
- 1 Egg
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Instructions for the Custard Cream:
- In a bowl, mix together egg yolks, sugar, milk, and flour.
- Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and heat it in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- Stir the mixture and microwave it for another minute.
- Repeat this process 2-3 times until the mixture becomes creamy.
- Once it reaches a creamy consistency, cover it with plastic wrap to prevent drying and set it aside to cool.
Instructions for the Dough
- In a bread maker, add the ingredients in this order: butter, salt, sugar, egg, milk, flour, and yeast. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture for later (for a shiny finish on the bread). Then start the bread maker in the dough mode.
- Once the dough is ready, divide it into 6 equal portions and shape them into balls. Cover the dough balls and let them rest for about 15 minutes.Roll out one dough ball with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 6 inches by 3 inches.
- Roll out one dough ball with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 6 inches by 3 inches. Place half of the custard cream made in step 1 onto one half of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over the cream and seal the edges of the bread dough. (Dividing the cream into 6 portions beforehand makes it easier to distribute evenly.)
- Gently make small cuts or incisions along the edges of the shaped bread to prevent it from bursting during baking.
- Brush the reserved egg mixture from step 2 onto the bread. Let the shaped bread ferment for about 30-45 minutes, or until it has expanded to about 1.5 times its original size.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake the cream pan for approximately 15 minutes, or until it turns a golden brown color.
- Enjoy your freshly baked cream pan!
Anpan (Red Bean Pastry)
This is a super popular Japanese Anpan (Red Bean Paste Pastry) recipe. It’s essentially the same as cream pan; just use “anko” (Red Bean Paste) instead of custard cream inside. Check it out!
