If you ever go to a traditional, authentic Hong Kong bakery, you’ll be able to find soft milk buns, pineapple buns, sesame bread rolls, and sausage buns. I grew up on these Hong Kong style sausage buns where I had them for breakfast or afterschool snacks, and they are my favourite Hong Kong buns of all times! The bun outside is basically a soft milk bun that is fluffy and chewy with a sweet, buttery flavour. When you take a bite, the juices of the sausage bursts in your mouth, neutralising the bun’s buttery flavour with savoury goodness. It is this perfect harmony between the sweet and savoury flavours that makes sausage buns incredibly irresistible!
Learn how to make Hong Kong style sausage buns from scratch and share it with your family. There are no complicated steps in this bun recipe, although it does take some time. But hey ho, nothing beats a home baked bread made by yourself right?
Table of contents
Ingredients for Hong Kong style sausage buns
- Sausages: This recipe produces 6 sausage buns, so you’ll need 6 sausages.
- Bread flour: Most of my bread recipes use bread flour as this gives the buns a fluffy and chewy texture.
- Yeast: A leavening agent that aerates the bread dough to yield a light and airy texture.
- Salt: Salt holds an important role in breadmaking – it enhances the flavour of the buns and strengthens the dough structure, allowing it to rise during fermentation at a controllable rate.
- Sugar: Sugar activates the yeast to help aerate the dough and contributes to the sweetness of the bread.
- Milk: This adds extra notes of sweetness and milkiness to the buns and also creates a softer bun with a nicely caramelised crust.
- Unsalted butter: This gives a buttery flavour to the bread and tenderises the bread dough to yield a soft and fluffy crumb.
- Yogurt: This is completely optional but adding in yogurt when making the dough makes the buns even softer! The acidity in yogurt helps break down the gluten in the bread flour to yield an extra soft texture.
How to make Hong Kong style sausage buns
- Combine all the ingredients in a mixer bowl, leaving the butter for later use.
- Using a dough hook, knead the dough in the kitchen machine for around 5 minutes.
- When the dough begins to form a ball, do a windowpane test (see how-to below).
- Add in butter, then continue kneading for 10 minutes. Do a windowpane test again (see how-to below).
- Shape the dough into a ball and proof it for 1 hour (or until it doubles in size).
- Pat the dough to release air bubbles.
- Divide into 6 equal pieces, then shape each piece into a ball. Cover them with cling film or a damp cloth and let them rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll the rough balls into a rectangular shape. Tuck and roll up the long side towards yourself.
- Pinch to seal the seams, then roll into a rope with a length of two and a half sausages.
- Tuck in the rope end then swirl it around the sausage. Tuck in the other end. Pinch to seal the ends. The front and back end should be on the same side, which is the bottom side of the bun.
- Repeat the steps for the other dough pieces (see below for details and tips on shaping a sausage bun).
- Proof the buns for the second time (about 1 hour).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Gently brush egg wash on the dough surface and bake for 15-16 minutes.
Tips on shaping Hong Kong style sausage buns
Dust some bread flour on the dough and the work surface for easier shaping.
By sprinkling some flour on the work surface, this reduces the dough’s stickiness, allowing you to roll out and shape the dough more easily.
Be sure to pinch and seal the seams.
After dividing the dough into 6 pieces, roll the rough balls into a rectangular shape, then roll up the long side towards yourself. Pinch and seal the seams so that you can easily roll out into a dough rope with a length of two and a half sausage.
Be sure to swirl the dough rope tightly.
As you begin to shape the sausage bun, ensure the dough rope overlaps with the rope end. The dough should be shaped tightly enough to hold its form until baking, otherwise the dough rope will become too loose and separate from each other as the buns proof for the second time.
Be sure to tuck in and seal the ends of the dough rope to keep its intended shape all the way to bake time. The front and back end should be on the same side, which is the bottom side of the bun.
I used to love enjoying the soft milk bun first and leave the sausage for the ultimate enjoyment. But these days I found biting into both the bun and sausage gives you a perfectly delicious combination!
What is a windowpane test and why should I do it?
A windowpane test is to verify whether your dough is strong and elastic enough to hold the bubbles as it rises and stretch even more when it is baked in the oven. If the dough doesn’t pass the test, it’s probably under-kneaded so some more kneading would do the work! You could also cover the dough with cling film and let it rest for 15-20 minutes to develop the gluten structure before performing another test.
How to do a windowpane test?
I normally perform the test twice during the kneading process before proofing the dough to ensure the gluten has been well developed. I do a test before adding in butter by pulling out a small piece and stretching it out gently. The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point, and as it tears apart, the holes should have rough edges.
For the second test (performed after kneading the dough with butter added), the dough should be more easily stretched out without breaking. You could use a finger to poke a hole and this time, the hole should be smooth without rough edges. This means the dough is ready to rise!
How to know if the dough has properly proofed?
Dip your finger with some flour and make a dent in the dough. If it bounces back slowly and halfway only, it means that it has fully risen.
These Hong Kong style sausage buns are easy and fun to make at home! Perfect for breakfast on a busy weekday morning, but also great for a tea-time snack, they are soft and fluffy with a tender and chewy crumb. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with them!
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Hong Kong Style Sausage Buns (腸仔包)
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen machine
- 1 Electronic scale
- 1 Dough scraper
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Silicone baking mat chopping board works well too
Ingredients
- 6 sausages
- 280 g bread flour
- 1 tsp instant dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 25 g sugar
- 75 ml milk
- 1 large egg (60g)
- 50 g yogurt (optional – replace with an equal amount of milk)
- 30 g unsalted butter
For the egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients into the mixer bowl except butter (for later use). You can whisk milk and the egg together beforehand to better incorporate all ingredients.
- Knead on low speed to mix the ingredients well, then gradually raise the speed. Knead for 5 minutes.
- When the dough begins to form a ball, do a windowpane test (see Note 1).
- Add in unsalted butter, then continue kneading for 10 minutes. Do a windowpane test again (see Note 2).
- Take out the dough from the mixer bowl and shape it into a ball.
- Place it back into the mixer bowl, cover it with cloth or cling film and proof it for 1 hour (or until double in size) in room temperature.
- Pat the dough to release air bubbles. Divide into 6 equal pieces and work on one piece at a time.
- Shape each piece into a ball then pinch to seal the seams.
- Cover the dough balls with a damp cloth or cling film and let them rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll the dough into a rectangular shape then tuck and roll up the long side towards yourself.
- Pinch to seal the seams then roll into a rope with a length of two and a half sausages.
- Tuck in the rope end then swirl the dough rope around the sausage. Be sure to shape the buns tightly to maintain its form during the 2nd fermentation. Pinch to seal the ends. The front and back end should be on the same side, which is the bottom side of the bun.
- Repeat the steps for the other dough pieces.
- Proof for the 2nd time (about 1 hour or until the buns double in size).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Brush egg wash on the surface of the sausage buns.
- Bake for 15-16 minutes.
Notes
- Do a test before adding in butter by pulling out a small piece and stretching it out gently. The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point, and as it tears apart, the holes should have rough edges.
- For the second test, the dough should be more easily stretched out without breaking. You could use a finger to poke a hole and this time, the hole should be smooth without rough edges. This means the dough is ready to rise!