Roti Boy

Before coming to San Jose, in addition to my sister's request for cakes, I also wanted to make something for my bff, Nana. She first said that she wanted to cocopandan chiffon cake, but after seeing pictures of the cream cheese buns, she changed her mind. :p

So I decided to make her 2 types of bread (just to be fair, since I brought my sis 2 cakes): the cream cheese buns and coffee buns, also known as roti boy among the Indonesian people. I have to admit that ever since I made those cream cheese buns, I've been in the mood for bread baking lately. This is still true despite the fact that my very first cream cheese buns tasted much better than the second and third ones that I made. I have yet to figure out why my dough have a tendency to crust during the proofing stage even though I've coated it lightly with butter. If anyone knows the answer, please... please... save me from my misery.


Anyways, on to the buns. I really liked how these turned out. The round shape and crust was just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived in San Jose the appearance of the bread was destroyed. I had put them in Ziploc bags and apparently the bread sweat. The buns looked awfully wet and rather unappealing. I couldn't bring myself to even take a picture of the sweaty buns to show you all because it's really unsightly. Nonetheless, I think the taste is not that bad. :p

Once again, I used the same Japanese sweet bun dough recipe as the cream cheese buns but I didn't put any fillings on the bread and piped swirls of the coffee crust on top of the buns.

Here's the recipe for the coffee topping, adapted from Resep Dekap:

100 gr unsalted butter, at room temperature
70 gr powdered sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
15 gr powdered milk
100 gr bread flour
½ tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and airy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Mix in the milk and flour to the butter mixture using a whisk just until well combined and then add in the vanilla extract. Pipe this topping batter on top of the buns after the second proofing before baking.

One thing I also found out from my dear friend Ella is that the original Roti Boy has butter as a filling. And it is best when eaten warm, because the butter just melts in your mouth. :)

I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time I made another round of Roti boy.