I remember a number of years ago the shop downstairs used to sell curry bread- soft bakery buns filled with a spicy potato filling- and I used to go downstairs to buy some bread with my helper and we would always pick up some curry buns or kaya buns for a snack. And these are just like that. 

These buns are made using the Five Thousand Dollar Bread Recipe. No the bread doesn't cost $5000 and neither did I pay $5000 to eat the bread, the chef who wanted the recipe for this bread paid $5000 to get the recipe. Plenty of bloggers around the region have tried out this bread recipe with amazing results. This is quite similar to my Kopitiam Milk Buns- they both start out with an overnight sponge. 

I think I'm officially converted from tangzhong believer to overnight sponge fan. Overnight sponges make work so much easier- you don't have to do everything in one single day, and starting the bread the day before and letting it sit the fridge improves the flavour of the bread by giving the yeast a slow rise and time to ferment before adding it to the dough, so you don't have to wait for long proving time the next day to develop a full bodied flavour in your bread. The gluten also relaxes, giving the bread a soft and chewy texture, and gives a nice springy dough without much effort in your mixer. 

The sponge for this bread dough has more liquid as compared to the one in the Kopitiam Milk Buns, and the interesting part is that this recipe uses both cake flour and bread flour! I'm not sure why though, maybe the amount of protein in the dough using the proportions of both flours in the recipe gives a more tender bread. 

This recipe makes 12 nice large buns- and if you can't finish them all in one go, feel free to bake them and freeze them wrapped tightly in aluminium foil or in a resealable bag and warm them up whenever you need them! They also keep a good number of days in an air tight container in the fridge. Just warm them up in your oven or microwave for comfort food on the go! :)

Starter 

105g bread flour 

45g cake flour 

12g sugar 

3g instant yeast (1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp) 

100ml water 

Mix all the ingredients for the starter together and leave in the fridge overnight, loosely covered. 

105g bread flour 

45g cake flour 

48g sugar 

1/4 tsp salt 

12g milk powder 

1 egg 

36g room temperature butter

1 egg (egg wash) 

Curry potatoes (or a filling of your choice) 

Mix all the ingredients for the main dough (except the butter), with the starter, until smooth and sticky. 

Add in the butter and knead until a smooth and elastic dough is formed. 

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave to prove at a warm place for an hour or until about doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls. 

Roll out each ball into a rough circle and fill with a heaping tablespoon of curry potato filling. 

Bring the ends of the dough up, pinch them together and twist tightly, 

Roll the dough into a round ball using the palm of your hands and place on a lined baking sheet, the twisted part facing down. 

Do the same for the rest of the dough.

Cover the buns loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and prove for 1 hour. 

Lightly brush the tops of the buns with egg wash. 

Bake in a preheat 160 degrees celsius oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.