Soboro Ppang (Korean Peanut Streusel Bread)

Our challenge for December is a nifty little Korean roll, stuffed with bean filling and topped with a peanut streusel.  Called soboro, or gombo bread, it's actually quite similar to anpan and I took the opportunity to marry the two ideas.  Anpan is made with a yudane or tangzhong, both essential in a good milk bread, as are these sweet rolls.  There are many options for filling, the anko/sweet red bean paste, a coconut pineapple jam, like our host kitchen tried, extra streusel, or they may be plain rolls simply baked with the streusel topping.  

Aparna made the point that as bread isn’t a traditional in a country like Korea, it possibly came there through Japan from the Portuguese.  Considering the similarity to anpan, I find this highly plausible.  Even the name soboro, comes from the Japanese word for mince (meat or fish), and the peanut streusel topping is reminiscent of kinako/roasted soy flour used as topping for many Japanese sweets.  I do like anko, though I prefer the smooth koshian to the coarse tsubuan, but what I really like is the delicately flavored and smooth shiroan/white bean paste.  We get to try it on occasion in our Japanese snack boxes.  (Kiddo has taken Japanese for four years so it's a fun cultural supplement.)  I have made it before and decided to go for it again with these rolls.  IF you want to make your own, there are many recipes out there, but I HIGHLY recommend getting the baby butter beans (baby limas).  I used up some dried navy beans, which are acceptable for shiroan, but it only takes 10 minutes to skin soaked butter beans and two hours to skin the itty bitty navy beans if you don't want to just blitz and sieve.  (I think skinning yields a smoother texture, so I was stubborn this time.)

Peanut allergy?  I would suggest using sunbutter (sunflower seed butter), tigernut butter, or tahini in place of the peanut butter.  Those are all peanut/treenut safe options.  But use something, because this crispy, buttery shortbread topping is not to be missed! 

(I tried both plain shiroan, and some where I mixed in powdered peanut butter.  While the PB flavored shiroan was good on its own, the rolls were hands down best with the plain shiroan, both texturally and flavorwise.)  The streusel dough tastes like peanut butter cookie dough, which is dangerous.  I turned the leftovers into super light biscuits with a little added egg white water.  The topping bakes up like crispy PB shortbread and is best the day it is baked but may be re-crisped a little in the oven or air fryer.  The finished buns were delightfully soft and light.

I did freeze and reheat mine in the air fryer, 10 minutes at 300ºF, wrapped in foil, then opened up the top and another 2 minutes at 350º to crisp up the topping.  You can add a couple drops of water to the bottom of the foil to ensure the roll is closer to fresh baked.  I am utterly in love with that plain shiroan filling!

We would love for you to bake along with us this month and try out these crispy topped rolls.  Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results.  If you would like to post your results with a Buddy badge on a blog, let us know in the comments or on the Facebook page.   

Soboro Ppang
makes 10 rolls

For the streusel:
⅓ cup (75 g) butter, at room temperature
4 tbsp (64 g) peanut butter
⅓ cup (90 g) brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp (4 g) vanilla extract
1 ⅛ cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
½ tsp (3 g) baking powder
1 tbsp (8 g) cornstarch

 For the tangzhong:
⅓ cup (80 g) water
2 tbsp (16 g) whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour

 For the dough:
all the tangzhong
⅓ cup (85 g) lukewarm milk
1 large egg
2¼ cups (290 g) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp (36 g) sugar
¾ tsp (4 g) salt
1 tsp (~3.2 gm) instant yeast
2 tbsp (28 g) butter, soft at room temperature

~1 cup (240gm) water (to adhere the streusel to the dough)

Red Bean Filling - shop bought or homemade (430g) (14.3-oz can) sweetened, mashed red beans (or you can make your own with adzuki beans, many recipes are out there)

White bean filling - shop bought or homemade

Get baby limas or butter beans and avoid the 
tedious job that navy beans will present!

Super smooth, beautiful shiroan.  Worth the time?
With bigger beans, yes.

Peanut Streusel:

Mix together the butter and peanut butter in a bowl until smooth.  Add in the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.  Add the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch and mix until you have a crumbly dough. Cover and set aside at room temperature until needed.

Prepare and set aside your desired filling - red bean filling, white bean filling, a portion of the streusel, or pineapple coconut jam - see host kitchen's post

Prepare the tangzhong:

Mix together the water and flour in a small saucepan.  Over medium heat, whisk until the mixture thickens and there are no lumps. Let it cool to room temperature before using.

Make the dough:

Combine the tangzhong together with the milk in a stand mixer. Whisk in the egg until smooth.  Add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast and knead using the dough hook on medium low speed for 5 minutes.  Scrape down the sides, if necessary.  Add the butter and continue kneading with the dough hook on medium low for 5 minutes.  The dough should be soft and elastic, just short of sticky. 

Form the dough into a ball.  Cover and let rest in a warm place for about an hour or so until doubled in size. 

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Once the dough has doubled in size, divide into 10 or 12 equal pieces.  (I had ten 54g rolls.)  Shape each piece into a smooth ball. If the dough feels too sticky, generously flour your hands. Let them rest for 10-15 minutes.

With floured hands, get one piece of dough and if using filling, flatten the dough to make a small cup. Stuff with a heaping teaspoonful of the filling of choice. You can roll the sweet bean paste and pineapple-coconut filling in to balls to make filling the dough easier. Pull up the sides of the dough and pinch together to seal. Repeat until all the dough pieces are filled.

Add a tsp of cornstarch to a cup of water and mix well.  Dip the smooth side of the dough into the water-cornstarch slurry.  (I used the extra egg white from the topping instead with a couple tbsp water, it kind of worked the same-ish.)  Scoop two heaping tablespoons of crumbled peanut streusel onto the countertop and press the wet part of the dough ball into the streusel.  Try to stick as much of the streusel onto the dough as possible, it make take some pressing and poking.  Don’t worry if the dough flattens a bit, it will rise while baking. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.

Smaller crumbles will bake up prettier, IMO.  My first rolls
had smaller crumbles and then later ones got a little thick.

Place six pieces of dough on each baking sheet. Carefully reshape each dough into a circle if needed. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes. They should be puffy to touch.

Bake them in a preheated oven at 375ºF for about 13 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. When done, they should be golden brown on top.    Cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  

The rest of the Bread Baking Babes

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
  
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories - Karen