Salted Duck Egg Yolk Cheese Buns
Incredibly gooey, soft, and fluffy, these salted duck egg cheese buns combine some of my favorite ingredients. I grew up loving salted duck egg yolk everything from summers in China, but never found raw ones in the US until recently at 99Ranch. Tied with pancetta, mozzarella, and sharp cheddar, the filling is a savory, stringy explosion — somehow just bordering rich. A classic bun base offsets the surprise inside, and this bread recipe can be repurposed for just about any filling sweet or savory.
Ingredients:
Filling:
8 salted duck egg yolks, raw
50g pancetta or bacon, diced
125g shredded mozzarella cheese
75g shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Bread:
300g bread flour
190g whole milk
20g granulated sugar
4g salt
20g butter, cubed and softened at room temperature
Steps:
Bake egg yolks at 320º F in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the pancetta in a saucepan over medium heat until the fat renders and pork bits are almost crispy gold. Put the pork bits without the oil into a medium sized bowl. When the yolks are done, crush them into a paste with the back of a knife/spoon and add the paste into the bowl. When both pancetta and yolk paste are completely cool, add the shredded mozzarella and sharp cheddar cheese into the bowl.
Thoroughly combine the pancetta, yolks, and cheeses. Using your hands, divide the filling into 8 equal portions and roll them into balls. Place the balls on a baking sheet covered on top with plastic wrap and send them into the fridge.
In a clean bowl, add bread flour, whole milk, granulated sugar, and yeast. Using your hands or a stand mixer, knead the dough for around 10 or 8 minutes, respectively. Then knead in a cube of butter at a time until completely incorporated. Continue kneading the dough for another 10-12 minutes until smooth and elastic. By this point, your dough should pass the window pane test — you can stretch the dough into a thin membrane without any tears or breaks.
Lightly grease a new bowl and proof the dough until doubled, around 1-2 hours.
When the dough has doubled, gently punch down some of the air and roll the dough out onto a work space. Divide dough into 8 equal balls—you can eyeball it or weigh it out—and let rest for 10 minutes while covered with some plastic wrap.
Take your filling out of the fridge. Taking one ball, roll it out into a circle and place the filling into the center. Encase the filling with the dough and tightly pinch off the opening with no gaps or tears. Take care to close off the opening because when baking, the cheese is most likely to burst out from under the bun where the opening is.
Repeat this step for the rest of the filling and balls. Place the buns on a baking sheet about 3-4 inches apart. Cover with plastic wrap and proof the buns for another 20 minutes until twice as big. Preheat your oven to 320ºF oven. (Check notes for temperature)
Dust the top of each ball with a little bit of flour as if snow on the top of a mountain. Using a knife, cut a cross-shaped opening in two slits on the top.
Bake buns for 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye on them to prevent burning.
Let cool to room temperature and enjoy! Beware the cheese filling inside; it will still be hot.
Additional Notes:
A 320º F baking temperature is for convection ovens; use 25º F degrees higher at 345º F for regular ovens.