It was one of those really strange days. We had a dim sum lunch with family, then the kids were whisked off to the aquarium, so the LAM and I went home and I just felt totally lethargic.
I was probably suffering from food coma.
I lazed around for a couple of hours, and finally convinced myself that I should go make SOMETHING.
Well, what I did feel like making was some bread.
So I started making a tang zhong starter. But that meant I had to wait for the starter to cool to room temperature before I could use it.
In times like this, I am just so glad I can turn to the 40 minute bread recipe. No waiting. The bread can be made in 40 minutes from start to end.
I like.
So I made the dough. For step-by-step instructions, see here.
Once the dough was made, divide it into 12 portions, each weighing about 80-85g. Flatten and roll each portion of dough into a disc.
Place about 2-3 tablespoons of cheddar (or any cheese you prefer) on the middle of the dough.
Gather the edges.
Pinch to seal.
Place the bun into the hole of a greased 6-hole muffin pan.
Cover the buns with a damp cloth and rest for 10 minutes.
Brush with egg wash.
And sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake at 220°C for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops of the buns are golden brown. Cool the buns in the pans for 10-15 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE ALL MY ON-GOING WORKSHOPS
Recipe Card
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (280ml) warm water
- 1/3 cup (83ml) oil
- 2 tablespoons (about 16g) active dry yeast (or instant yeast)
- 1/4 cups (56.25g) sugar
- 1 1/2 (9g) teaspoons salt
- 1 egg
- 3 1/2 cup (or about 476g) bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)
- 1 cup (115g) Cheddar
- Parmesan, grated for garnishing
- Heat oven to 220°C.
- In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.
- Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes) The dough will be a little sticky. I oiled my hands, knead it one to two times, and it became really easy to shape. If your dough is too wet, add a little more flour and knead a few times.
- IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MIXER, just hand knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
- Form dough into 12 balls. Flatten and roll each ball into a disc.
- Place 2-3 tablespoons of cheddar in the middle of the dough. Gather the edges and pinch to seal.
- Place each dough in a hole of a well-greased 6-hole muffin pan.
- Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Glaze with egg wash. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- To keep rolls soft, wrap with cling film and keep in an air-tight container (I keep the rolls in cling film in my oven.)
- If you keep the rolls in the fridge, warm in the microwave oven for about 20 - 30 seconds to soften.
- 1. Dough is too wet or sticky? Add a little oil and hand knead a couple of times. The dough should become easy to work with. Still too wet? Add a little less water.
- 2. You can use any oil. Maybe not peanut oil. Unless you want a peanut-y bread. Olive oil, Canola oil, Sunflower oil, Grape seed oil... all can be used.
- 3. Personally, I have not had any problems with the bread being too yeasty. If you find it so, change the yeast and try different ones till you find one that you like.
- 4. Conversion of flour from cups to grams: This is a conversion I got online. You may still need to adjust.
- 5. Oven temperature: Every oven is different. You need to understand your oven, so if you have one that tends to be hot, lower the baking temperature, and vice versa.
- 6. I do not recommend that you reduce the yeast quantities because this is a quick bread. You need the yeast to make it work. Similarly, you need the sugar to feed the yeast so it works.
- 7. You can put any filling you like in this bread. It is very versatile.
- 8. You can also glaze with milk (full-fat, low-fat, skim, etc), sprinkle any toppings you like.
- 9. I don't recommend that you rest the dough for more than 10 minutes. From feedback I received, the bread may be less soft.
- 10. You can use 1/2 bread flour, and 1/2 wholemeal flour, or 100% plain flour. The results are the same. You can't use top flour. There isn't enough protein to form gluten.
- 11. Every environment differs. You may live somewhere humid, or dry, or hot, or cold. If in doubt, check what other bakers recommend that you do for the weather conditions you live in, and experiment! You may need to tweak timings/ baking temperature, etc. Don't give up!
Wow 40 minutes bread! I usually will spend about 5 hours for the first proofing of my dough. Your cheese buns looks good!
Diana, this is really good for those days when you are impatient for a bun! Amazing that you can have these yummies in under an hour.
Diana, is it a must to use the muffin trays?
Hi only if you want them to be in this shape.
Wow! Yummy bread!
Ok. 40 minutes bread! Looks attractive. I’ll definitely try it out.
Thanks Amy. Looking forward to coffee this week!
40 min cheese bread
Sounds interesting
Thanks for the recipe. Is easy to follow but my bread becomes harder the next day. Kindly advise.
Hi Catherine did you store the bread in an air tight container? If it hardens a bit, you can zap it for 10 seconds in the microwave oven and it will soften again.
I made these today and they are crazy easy and heavenly!!!! Thank you so so much for sharing! It’s a foolproof recipe!!!!
Awesome! So glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Hi, my dough seems to be very very stickly,even I kept adding flour,is it that because I use hand to knead instead of electric mixer?please advice thank yiu
This dough can be sticky. Either add less liquid or a bit more flour until it is workable.
Hi, Any idea if I can omit egg? Thanks!
Hi Wen this, I really have no idea. Why don’t you try and see what the result is like?
I m an invoice just started trying to bake and I love ur recipes! They don’t failed me like other recipes I found on Internet. I have just made this lovely bread but I found my bread a bit too dense. Any idea how to solve the issue? Is it becos I have added more flour as the dough was v sticky?
Hi Bernice Thank you so much! Yes the more flour you add, the tougher your bake will become. Next time maybe add a tad less liquid so you can work with the dough without having to add more flour?
I tried the same dough recipe with ham and cheese with less water and it worked. Thank u!
Awesome! 🙂
That’s awesome! Seems easy & effoient! Will try it out
Hi,
Thanks for the recipes! I finally conquered my fear of making buns. Super nice and fluffy!
Awesome Rachele! Hears to more bun baking to come! 🙂
Hi, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. Is it possible to turn this into a loaf bread?
yes of course!
That’s good. Thank you. 🙂
Hi
my husband feels the bread is a little too sweet – if i cut down on sugar, will it affect the bread much?
It should be okay.
Thank you Diana for sharing this quick and easy recipe. The buns look great! I am going give a try. Have a wonderful day ahead!
Am gonna try this!!!
Hope you like it 🙂
I tried it today, Diana. It is awesome! Thank you for always providing us foolproof recipes!! : )
You are most welcome Michelle! Keep baking! 🙂
Hi, need to knead till windowpane? Do we really knead all kinds of bread recipeS to windowpane? TIA
Hi Diana, can I replace water with milk to make milk bread?
sure
Diana I really regretted for not trying this recipe earlier. Super easy and fast. The result is superb. Normally I spend at least 3 hours to make buns. Thanks again for this fabulous recipe.