Milk and Sugar Mini Buns
These Milk and Sugar Mini Buns are soft and delicate bread bites that are generously sprinkled with milk powder and sugar to make heavenly treats.
I made sure that I don’t pull up YouTube in the background as I type this post or else, I am never gonna finish. I will be watching videos of Nsync and Backstreet Boys after every sentence and the post won’t be published at all.
But we are here, I made it to the last part of my writing without distraction and here, I present to you, Milk and Sugar Mini Buns.
I love minis! And I love milky stuff so these mini buns are such a joy.
They are generously sprinkled with a delightful mixture of milk powder and sugar before and after baking. The buns are soft, and because they are small, it is so addictive to pop one after another in my mouth.
Milk and Sugar Mini Buns: The Process
We will start by proofing the yeast in warm water. Let that sit for 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy. In another bowl, combine milk, egg, butter, sugar and salt. Stir in the yeast mixture.
Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour and stir well with a wooden spoon until it is combined with the rest of the mixture.
Gradually sprinkle some of the remaining flour to the mixture, little by little, just until the dough gathers into a soft ball in the center of the bowl. You may not need all of the flour.
Turn it over onto a floured board and knead for 6-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, elastic and can stretch thinly. Shape the dough into a ball.
Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1 and 1/2 hour or until the dough is doubled in size.
After rising, gently punch down the dough and using a knife, divide it into 50-55 portions. We need to make little balls that are 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter.
Shape each into a smooth ball. You will be able to make around 50 or more.
Arrange them close together in a greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel (Actually, I always use a kitchen towel).
Let them rise once again for about an hour. They should be puffy and doubled in size.
Once the buns have risen, preheat oven to 350 F. Brush the risen dough with egg wash. Combine milk powder and sugar together in a bowl. Mix them thoroughly. Using a mesh strainer, sprinkle half of this mixture all over the buns, distributing them evenly.
Milk Powder
- The milk powder I used here is whole milk powder. Brands like Nido, or Bear Brand, if you are in the Philippines, are great.
- There are also whole milk powder sold in bulk store, like Bulk Barn or baking stores.
- Some groceries also have milk powder. I love this that Walmart carries, and is always my first choice when I ran out of Nido or Bear Brand. (These are affiliate links).
Bake the mini buns for 17-22 minutes, or until they are golden. Cool them slightly, then sprinkle the remaining milk-sugar mix all over the buns again.
Don’t worry if you think there is too much powder in there. These buns won’t come out too sweet or milky- just perfect.
And those powders will sit in eventually too if you are worried about a powdery mess. It is all good!
And then, enjoy that heavenly sight of milk sitting on top of those soft mini buns. Sigh, sigh. I love that milky sweet goodness!
More Delightful Bread Recipes :
- Sweet Beehive Buns
- Chelsea Buns
- Easy Focaccia
- Austrian Buchteln
- Sweet Cheese Rolls
- Mini Cinnamon Buns with Coffee Icing
- Japanese Condensed Milk Bread
- Milk bread
- Japanese Milk Buns
- Chocolate Walnut Bread
- Choco-Hazelnut Rolls
- Swedish Cardamom Buns
Milk and Sugar Mini Buns
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (62.5 g) warm water 110-115 F
- 2 and 1/4 tsp (7.1 g) active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup (193.37 g) warm milk
- 1 large (50 g) egg
- 1/4 cup (59.97 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 cup (52.83 g) sugar
- 1 tsp (6.09 g) salt
- 3 and 1/4 cups (429.28 g) all-purpose flour plus 1/2 cup extra
- 1 large egg for the egg wash
For the Milk-Sugar Mixture
- 1/2 cup (105.67 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (67.63 g) milk powder
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl. Let this stand for about 5 minutes or until foamy. In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, butter, egg, sugar and salt. Stir well. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add 3 cups of flour and incorporate it into the mixture. Gradually add little by little of the remaining flour just until the dough gathers together into a ball as you stir. You may not need all of the remaining flour.
- Turn the dough over on a floured board and knead for about 6-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, elastic and can stretch thinly. Place it inside a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours until the size is doubled.
- After rising, gently deflate the dough and use a sharp knife to divide it into 50-55 portions. The goal is to form 1 and 1/2 inches balls. Shape each portion into a smooth ball and arrange them on a greased 9x13 inch baking pan, close together. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and let the buns rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine the milk powder and sugar in a bowl and stir well. Beat one egg and brush it on the surface of the buns. Sprinkle 1/2 of the milk-sugar mixture all over the risen buns. Bake at 350 F for 17-20 minutes or until the buns are golden.
- Allow the buns to cool slightly and sprinkle the remaining milk-sugar mixture over the buns.
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this or any recipe from the blog, I’d love to see! Please share your photos with me by using hashtag #womanscribbles on Instagram. Or tag me @sanna.womanscribbles. Thank you very much!
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My family and I love this recipe! Do you know how well it would work with alternative milks? Specifically coconut milk.
Hi Julie! I think using coconut milk will be fine in the dough. However, I have not tested that so I cannot guarantee it. If you want a coconut milk based dough, try Coconut Bread from the blog as well.
This recipe was great, I’m so glad I tried it! It was a nice treat the whole family enjoyed. I read that one bad review and was really outraged for you. I know how long recipe development, writing posts and testing recipes takes. I feel like she made the milk with the milk powder and poured that on rather than just using the milk powder as it was meant to be used. The buns were soft and delicious. I pulled them out at 17 minutes to perfection. Even the timing on the kneading was spot on. I live in Hawaii so rising is always a little shorter for me, but I already know that. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us, it’s definitely a keeper!
Hi Stephanie! Thank you very much. I am so happy that you enjoyed these. I appreciate your feedback, it means a lot!
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make it?
You can make the dough, knead it and let it do its first rise in the fridge, stored in a bowl abd covered wth plastic film. The next day, resume with the recipe as stated 🙂
This looks so good! What a simple sweet treat to make for the weekend!
Thank you, Suzanne~
So I don’t typically try out recipes with less than 30 or so reviews but boyyyyyyy am I glad I did! I’m a home baker and this is one of my new favorites. These buns were so delicious and soft. I had quite a bit of milk that needed to be used so I made a double batch after trying out the first one (3 batches of the recipe all together) so I could share with my family and friends. I brought them to 6 households and everyone was absolutely thrilled. So happy to share such a delicious treat with some of my loved ones. Thank you for sharing with the world!!!
Hi Ellise!
I am so happy that you loved them. Thanks a lot!!!
I LOVE this recipe! It’s actually really easy to make but instead of dusting on the milk powder/sugar, I dust powdered sugar on the buns. My little siblings love eating these, they’re so cute and fluffy and delicious! I’m not a decent baker but these are super easy to make, just rolling the little balls is a little time consuming haha but it’s worth it!
I am so happy you loved it, Rina!
Hii Sanna
Can I just the roll the dough bigger instead of 1½ inches?
Yes, you can
I want to cry. I’m a good baker, but it had been a while since I baked my family anything since with quarantine and being broke and all that. I haven’t been able to afford to. I wanted to do something special so I bought the extra stuff I needed and started this recipe. I can’t believe how much food I had to throw away, my kitchen is covered in sugary powdered milk. The milk/sugar mix DOES NOT soak into the buns at all even if you cover it after cooking. I cooked it for 45 minutes and the dough is raw, even though I made the 55 peices. As far as I’m concerned this should be removed before any other struggling families get tricked. The amount of ads on here makes it almost impossible to even find the recipe. Nothing wrong with making a quick buck, but not at the expense of other people’s families.
I am so sorry that you had trouble with this. The recipe has been tested and I can’t tell for sure what went wrong.
I am really sorry. It is not my intent to put all your efforts to waste.
I also want say that blogging is not a quick buck. It took me literally blood, sweat and tears to get to this point so I totally understand you. I apologize for the troublr, but I did not meant to bring it to you. Stay safe.
Hi Sanna,
I started this recipe because I’ve been doing a lot of baking during quarantine, and I didn’t bother to check if I had regular milk or not. I do have chocolate milk and almost milk, do either of those work?
Hi Jamie! Just use the white milk. Chocolate milk may not work so well for this recipe 🙂
Hi! Can I use instant yeast for this recipe? Do I still need to mix it with water?
Hi Jacq. Yes you can use instant yeast and still use it as the instruction says for active dry yeast 🙂
Hi Sanna,
Can I refrigerate this dough overnight?
Also can I make ensaymada out of this recipe?
Can’t wait to try this.
Hello Bing! Yes you can refigerate the dougj overnight (either during the first or second rise) then continue withh the recipe the next morning. Also, you can use this dough to make ensaymada 🙂
How come I still see some yeast in my dough after I kneaded my dough? Btw, I used instant dry yeast and mixed it to my dry ingredients
Hello Amor! Sometimes that happens with instant yeast but usually those yeast will somehow be not visible after baking.
Hi Sanna, quick question. Is the sugar that goes on top of the buns supposed to be powdered sugar, or granulated sugar? Also, if I only have skim milk powder is there some way I should adapt the recipe? Thanks!
Hello Emily! It is plain granulated sugar. However, if you have only skim milk, then I suggest substituting powdered sugar for half the granulated sugar. So you will use half granulated and half powdered 🙂 Good Luck!
Hi Sanna, quick question. Should the sugar to sprinkle on top be powdered sugar or just plain granulated sugar? Also, if I only have skim milk powder is there a way I can adapt the recipe? Thanks!
THANK you. It came out excellent
Question. I’ve tried yeast breads before and I just am not a bread maker, unless its with a bread machine. I’ve not
tried making a yeast bread in 20 years. So your recipe looked yummy and I decided to give it another try.
Complete fail for me. I came to work and shared my experience with a co worker and she looked at the recipe, she makes several yeast breads and asked about the recipe showing mixing water and yeast. She thought it should have some sugar in the yeast mixture to activate it. I was curious. What are your thoughts.
Hello, Melissa! Thank you for reaching out! I understand that a bit of sugar makes yeast activation faster. In fact, I do that in some of my recipes. This bread dough recipe does not do that, but you still can add a teaspoon or so in the water if you want. The difference is that the yeast will be foamier and will be in a short period of time. With that being said, this dough recipe is one of my favorite and has been used as a base for many bread recipes on the blog. I hope you try it again.:)