Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Buns

Method

1. Mix flour, yeast, dough sugar and dough salt in a bowl. Add lukewarm milk and the dough egg and mix into a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes, incorporate the softened dough butter, then knead another 7–10 minutes until elastic and smooth. Cover in a lightly oiled bowl and rise for 60–90 minutes until roughly doubled.
2. Divide into six equal pieces, about 92 g each, and shape into tight smooth balls. Place well apart on a lined tray, cover and prove for 35–50 minutes until puffy. Heat the oven to 180°C conventional or 165°C fan, then bake for 18–22 minutes until lightly golden and baked through. Cool fully on a rack, at least 45 minutes.
3. Beat cream cheese briefly with filling icing sugar and the separate 15 ml milk until pipeable. Keep chilled if the kitchen is warm. Do not add all the custard milk to the filling by mistake; the quantities belong to different components.
4. Cut each cooled roll into six wedges with three intersecting cuts, leaving the bottom 1 cm intact so the bun stays connected. Pipe or spoon filling into the gaps, dividing it between all six buns rather than overfilling the first few.
5. Whisk cooled melted custard butter with garlic, the second egg, custard milk, condensed milk, parsley and custard salt. The butter must not be hot enough to scramble the egg. Brush generously over the bun tops and into the gaps, dividing the mixture evenly; keep the filling in place rather than turning each bun upside down.
6. Place buns back on the tray and bake at 170°C conventional or 155°C fan for 15–22 minutes until golden and the garlic-egg mixture is fully set. Check a centre gap reaches 74°C. Cover loosely if the tops darken before the filling and egg coating are thoroughly hot.
7. Rest for 5 minutes before serving. The cheese is hot inside even if the bread surface is comfortable to touch. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and reheat to 74°C; do not display cream-cheese-and-egg-filled buns at room temperature all day.