Pumpkin Custard Buns

Pumpkin custard

Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a mixing bowl until slightly pale and fluffy. Then, whisk in pumpkin puree and ground cinnamon until homogenous

Sift in cake flour and cornstarch and whisk until all dry flours disappear

In a saucepan, warm the milk until it just starts to smoke. When it is ready, slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture while whisking continuously

Pour the egg yolk-milk mixture back into the saucepan and continue whisking over medium heat. Once the mixture starts to thicken, reduce heat to low and continue whisking for another minute

Pour the mixture into a bowl for cooling. Place a piece of cling wrap directly on top of the custard, making sure that there are no large air bubbles between the cling wrap and the custard. Place it in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Pumpkin bread dough

In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, mix together all ingredients except unsalted butter until no dry flours are present

Return the bowl to the stand mixer. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for 10-15 minutes at speed 2. Then, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the dough while kneading the dough for another 10-20 minutes. The dough will be ready when it grabs onto the dough hook and does not stick to the side of the bowl. Alternatively, you can knead the dough by hand until it forms a smooth ball. Let the dough rest in a lightly oiled bowl for 1 hour.

While the dough is resting, soak 5 pieces of 100cm long kitchen twines in oil (any type of oil will do). Set aside until it is ready to use.

Divide the dough into 5 pieces (about 85g per piece). Shape each piece into a ball. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Roll each dough ball out until it is ¼” thick. Place 2-3 tablespoon of the pumpkin custard filling in the middle and wrap it. Seal the seam by placing the dough seam side down and rotating it on your work surface.

Wrapping dough balls with kitchen twine

Lay a piece of oiled kitchen twine flat on the work surface. Place the dough ball, seam side down, in the middle of the kitchen twine.

Grab the two ends and tie a knot in the middle of the dough (make sure not to tie the twine too tightly that it squeezes the dough).

Holding the two ends of the twine again, move them 90 degrees clockwise so that the twine now forms a “+” sign on the dough. Flip the dough so that the seam side is now facing you.

Cross the twine diagonally again and repeat flipping the dough until an asterisk sign is formed (see picture above).

Tie a knot at the middle of the seam and place the bun knot/seam side down on a tray.

Using a toothpick, poke a hole at the very top of the bun. Place a piece of pumpkin seed vertically in the hole, so that it resembles a pumpkin stem

Cover and let rest for another hour.

Baking the buns

Preheat the oven to 340degF. Brush the buns with milk and bake them for 16-18 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Once the buns are cooled, remove all kitchen twines before serving.