For a long time now, pineapple buns, or bo lo bao, have been my unequivocal go-to choice whenever I walk into a Chinese bakery. I blow right past the char siu bao, the coconut buns, and the hot dog buns…and mosey right on over to these fluffy, delightfully quirky looking yellow half-domes of buttery, sugary joy. They. are. the. best.
Peanut Gallery: “So, Sarah…if pineapple buns are in fact your favorite, what were you doing posting recipes for all those other ‘second tier’ buns before this one?”
Great question. Let’s discuss.
So for all you readers who might not have heard of this yellow, delightfully crumbly bakery treat, I’ll preface with the fact that there is no actual pineapple in the recipe. This did not stop 9-year-old me from making up elaborate rationalizations for the name, assuming that pineapple must be somehow involved in the pineapple bun’s unique topping. I could actually fake-taste the subtle pineapple flavor, fancying myself a pineapple bun connoisseur. I was the wine snob of the bakery aisle, tasting flavors that weren’t actually there.
When I later found out that I’d been living a lie (and that in actuality, the name “pineapple bun” comes from the pineapple-like pattern of the baked topping), I basically gave up on the prospect of trying to figure out what went into making a pineapple bun. Some kind of strange, kitchen sorcery was obviously involved.
Wellllll I recently decided to finally take up the challenge and I’ve since unlocked the pineapple bun mystery. Despite some very complicated recipes floating around the internet, it’s really not a difficult thing to make! Building off of our trusty, simple milk bread recipe, I tested and came up with the pineapple bun recipe laid out below. It’s a straightforward process, and all the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. Hurrah!
Here are the things you need…no one said these were diet pineapple buns.
Pineapple Buns Recipe Instructions
After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
After the bread dough has proofed for an hour, put the dough back in the stand mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a circular bun, and place on a baking sheet. Cover the buns with a clean, dry kitchen towel and let rise for another hour.
While that’s happening, make the topping. Add the dry milk powder to a mixing bowl. If your dry milk powder has some larger clumps, crush them up with your fingers so it’s uniformly powdery.
Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar. Stir to combine. Add the shortening, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Use your hands to mix everything together into a dough. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
When the pineapple buns are done rising for a second time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Separate the topping dough into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls.
On a clean surface, roll out each ball into a flat circle…
…and place one onto each bun. (It helps to use a spatula to transfer it over.)
It’s important to note here that you don’t want the topping circle to cover the entire bun. It WILL expand as it bakes.
Brush with egg yolk. This will give the buns their bright yellow color.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes on a baking sheet. You’ll see the topping start to crack into that signature pineapple pattern. Success!
Allow to cool a bit on a metal cooling rack before serving. These are great when they’re warm out of the oven, but in my opinion, they’re even better the next day. Right out of the oven, the topping is almost crunchy. But if you let them cool and store them in a plastic zip top bag overnight, they’ll be soft and crumbly the next day, just like the Chinatown bakery buns I love.
They’ll last for a few days stored in the fridge. To bring them back to their original, out-of-the-oven state, just pop them into the microwave for 10-15 seconds, and they’ll be soft as ever.
Pineapple Buns
Ingredients
For the bread dough:
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
- 1 cup milk (at room temperature)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
For the topping dough:
- ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup superfine sugar (it’s very important that it’s superfine)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
To finish the buns:
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Start by making the bread dough. In the bowl of a mixer, add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt (in that order). Using the dough hook attachment, turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.
- After 15 minutes, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
- After the bread dough has proofed for an hour, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a circular bun, and place on a baking sheet. Cover the buns with a clean, dry kitchen towel and let rise for another hour.
- While that's happening, make the topping. Add the dry milk powder to a mixing bowl. If your dry milk powder has some larger clumps, crush them up with your fingers so it’s uniformly powdery.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar. Stir to combine. Add the shortening, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Use your hands to mix everything together into a dough. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
- When the buns are done rising for a second time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Separate the topping dough into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls. On a clean surface, roll out each ball into a flat circle and place one onto each bun.
- Brush with egg yolk and bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes.
Something went wrong. The buns ended up being way too large and did not get done until almost 30 minutes of baking. I followed the recipe to the letter.
Hi Tina, oh no—I wonder if perhaps your oven runs a little cold or wasn’t quite up to temperature? We keep an oven thermometer in our oven, because when the oven says it’s preheated, it’s actually 25 degrees colder than the temp we set it to!
Hi Sarah,
I hope to make this recipe soon! I was wondering how to make the buns smaller (like dim sum sized) and add custard. Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth, you could divide the dough into 20 pieces to make them smaller, and then try this recipe for the custard filling: https://thewoksoflife.com/nai-wong-bao-custard-buns/. You can probably also reduce the baking time by a few minutes since the buns will be smaller.
Where do you get the fluted circular baking paper? I can’t find it anywhere!
Hi Billy, they’re actually paper muffin/cupcake liners that we flattened!
Hi. I’ve made these buns several times and they are fantastic. I was wondering if they can be made ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator until ready to bake? If so, would I need to wait 1 hour for them to poof before baking them? Thanks
Have you ever used SAF gold instant yeast with this recipe? I tried and it tasted incredibly yeasty.
Hi Susan, if making these ahead, I would make the dough, and then proof it in the refrigerator overnight for the first proof. The next morning, take the dough out and let it come back up to room temperature for about 1 hour. Knead for 5 minutes, shape the buns, proof again, and then bake.
I’ve been making these pineapple buns for the last 8 months. I have received so many compliments and everyone loves eating them. I find 12 buns are way to big so I divide the dough into 18 pieces. They are the perfect size now. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome, Fannie!
Is it possible to use butter or coconut oil instead of shortening?
Hi Jade, I think either would work as a substitute. I think butter might be more stable than coconut oil.
Hi there! I was wondering if you have a version of these with the filling? These are my husbands favorite pastry but prefers the ones with the filling and since we moved out of state we no longer can get them from our favorite dim sum place.
Thank you!
Hi Marissa, which filling are you referring to? There are red bean pineapple buns, roast pork pineapple buns, and coconut pineapple buns. We do have a recipe for the roast pork filled ones: https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-pineapple-buns-pork/.
If you’re looking for coconut filling, see this recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/coconut-buns-cocktail-buns/
And if you’re looking for red bean filling, see this recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/red-bean-bread/
Hope that helps!
Can we use the custard filling from this recipe in here??
https://thewoksoflife.com/nai-wong-bao-custard-buns/
Hi from Canada! Love you and your family for representing the Asian community in the culinary scene. I have made this recipe and the milk bread recipe once. I followed the recipe exactly but my Milk bread always comes out underdone at the bottom of the bread and even with extending the cooking time it doesn’t always work or it does and it drys out the rest of the bread. Do you have any advice? Thank you!
Hi Jenn, it sounds like the bottom of your oven may run cold. I do have some advice.
Proof the buns on top of large flat pieces of parchment paper (so you can easily lift them without jeopardizing the rise).
Then try putting a baking sheet in your oven to heat up while the oven is pre-heating. When the oven is hot and your buns have finished proofing, carefully transfer the buns to the hot baking sheet and baking as normal.
The heated baking sheet should help the bottoms bake through better!
Hi from the UK here :-)
Question: Is the 350°F (~175°C) for a fan assisted oven? The reason I ask is because I usually reduce the temperature by 20°C for fan compared to a standard electric oven.
Comment: Thank you for this recipe, I’m making this on the weekend for my Mum – I’m so nervous! Hoping it’ll stand up to the Chinatown bakery standard…
Hi Thomas, it’s for a standard oven. You could also bake it in a fan-assisted oven (we call it “convection” here in the U.S. for any American readers wondering the same thing). Just use a lower temperature. you can adjust the temperature 15°C lower (or 25°F lower, if you’re in the US!)
Thanks for confirming Sarah – I took a chance this weekend before your reply and lowered the temp and they turned out great. The batch has already gone…
Lastly I’m really liking the new website design (On mobile anyway) – It looks great!
Thanks so much!
Hi,
I love this recipe. What does the powdered milk add to the topping. I noticed some other recipes don’t use it, but contain similar ratios.
Hi P, I think the powdered milk gives the topping that familiar texture, as well as some flavor.