Cheese Stuffed Gochujang Buns

If you’re a fan of GBBO, you may have witnessed one of Dylan’s handshakes from Paul on bread week for his Gochujang Buns. Well, I’ve done them 3 times in the last week, only once following Dylan’s winning recipe, and they’ve all been amazing- we made burgers last night on buns weighing 140 g each, regular buns 5 days ago, sharing most of them, but I did enjoy a cheese and veggie Sammy (avocado, thin-sliced cucumber, pickled red onion, pepper jack and kewpie mayo), see photo below, and the cheese-stuffed buns today.

Read on and give it a try! I’d love to hear how you make it your own!

My version:

Tangzhong

3 T flour
4 T water
2 T milk

Dough

1/2 c milk
28 g butter, melted and cooled
400 g flour
1 tsp kosher salt
4 T brown sugar
1 T honey
3 T Gochujang
1 1/2 tsp yeast
36 g Sourdough starter, optional
2 eggs, separated
1 head of garlic, roasted in olive oil, chopped
Sesame seeds, optional

For tangzhong, put the water, milk, and flour in a small pan, stirring until smooth. Heat over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool.

Heat butter, milk, and honey just until butter melts; cool slightly. When the mixture is about 110 degrees, add yeast and 1 T sugar and starter if using; set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, remaining sugar, Gochujang, and salt. Stir the egg into the cooled butter mixture, add to the flour mixture along with tangzhong. Mix well, then knead by hand or a stand mixer, adding additional flour, 1 T at a time if needed. Set aside, covered for 1 hour, or until nearly doubled in size.

After rising, gently turn out onto floured surface. With oiled hands, shape into rough rectangle, add chopped roasted garlic, distributing over surface. Roll dough up, kneading it a few times.

Divide dough into 75-80g pieces. Roll into a tight ball and place on baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise until almost doubled. Preheat oven to 350; brush egg wash over top; sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired; bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and enjoy.

For cheese stuffed buns, roll dough into rough rectangle. Place 1 T of cheese of choice (I tried smoke gouda, mozzarella, and pepper jack- all were delicious!) at one end; at opposite end, cut 4 or 5 slits in dough, being careful to not cut all the way to the end; starting with the cheese side, roll tightly, pinching the ends closed, ending with the suits on top. Cover, let rise as above. Same baking temperature and times.