This pineapple bun toast is a short-cut, lazy but smart way to make Hong Kong pineapple bun (菠蘿包, bo lo bao in Cantonese). The pineapple bun is a classic Hong Kong pastry that has a sweet, buttery and crispy topping over a soft, light bread.
There are actually no pineapples involved in bo lo bao. It’s called pineapple bun because of how the criss-cross pattern on top of the bread resembled a pineapple pattern.
does pineapple bun toast actually taste like pineapple bun?
Yes! The hardest part about making traditional pineapple bun (or any bun) is the bread. It’s time-consuming and difficult to perfect.
But I think the star of the show is actually the crispy butter topping. So instead, we’ll skip out the whole bread making process by using pre-made bread. All you have to do is make the topping, which is easy and completely do-able, especially for non-bakers like me.
what type of bread should I use?
You can use any bread you prefer. I would recommend using milk bread or something similar that is sweet and fluffy. Regular white bread works perfectly fine too. I also heard that sweet Hawaiian bread rolls goes really well with this recipe too!
ingredients for making pineapple bun toast:
- 2 slices of bread
- 40g soft unsalted butter
- 40g cake flour* (or all purpose / plain flour)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)
do I need to use cake flour?
- You do not need to use cake flour. You can substitute it with regular plain flour. HOWEVER, the reason why I used it for this recipe is because cake flour gives a lighter and fluffier texture, which is the kind of texture we want when baking.
- If you do not have cake flour, you can make a substitute at home by measuring 1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour, removing 2 tbsp, and replacing it with 2 tbsp of cornstarch; then sift it together twice to aerate the flour mixture.
steps:
- Preheat the oven to 230˚C / 446˚F.
- Mix softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add flour and mix well.
- Spread a thick layer of the butter mixture on the slices of bread evenly. Using a knife, gently create cross-hatch marks.
- Brush the surface with egg wash.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Enjoy!
more asian dessert recipes:
Pineapple Bun Toast (菠蘿多士)
2
servings10
minutes10
minutesIf you’re ever craving for classic Hong Kong pineapple bun but too lazy to make it, try making Pineapple Bun Toast instead!
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Ingredients
2 slices of bread
40g soft unsalted butter
40g cake flour (or all purpose / plain flour)
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk (for egg wash)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 230˚C / 446˚F.
- Mix softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add flour and mix well.
- Spread a thick layer of the butter mixture on the slices of bread evenly. Using a knife, gently create cross-hatch marks.
- Brush the surface with egg wash.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Enjoy!
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