Milk breads are having a real moment right now in the US, and they’re a super consistent way to make soft, slightly sweet dough so are perfect for cinnamon rolls. The base is essentially a roux, the tangzhong, a cooked mixture of milk and flour that makes the bread easier to knead and gives it a longer shelf life. The technique originated in Japan, where it is called yukone or yu-dane, but in the rest of Asia it was popularized by Taiwanese cookbook author Yvonne Chen, and as a result when it started to appear in english language cookbooks the mandarin tangzhong was used. Epicurious has a great article by Genevieve Yam that explains some of the science behind milk breads.
The dough recipe is based on King Arthur’s Perfectly Pillowy Cinnamon Rolls, which actually uses a tangzhong that is a higher proportion of milk than the traditional 1:1 milk to flour ratio. To add ube to the rolls I used ube sweetened condensed milk in the tangzhong. I’m not 100% on the science but I think the starchiness of the ube is offset by the sugars in the condensed milk. I get my ube condensed milk at HMart, if you can’t find it in a grocery store near you you can order it online. It’s on amazon where it apparently comes with a spoon. For the icing the amount of sweetened condensed milk I used was just the amount I had left in the can from a different recipe so if you want more icing feel free to use the whole can. You can also throw in a little bit of the ube condensed milk to make it a light purple.
The filling tastes a bit like a sweet tahini but not as strong and if you don’t over blitz the seeds it adds a nice crunch to the roll which is sometimes missing from cinnamon rolls. Normally I would add a little bit of salt but because the miso in the icing brings salt and bit of funk you don’t need it in the filling. If you haven’t had tahini it’s essentially sesame peanut butter with no sugar. But this has sugar.
Ube Black Sesame Rolls with Miso Icing Recipe
Makes 9-12 Rolls
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- ½ cup (113 g) ube condensed milk
- 3 tablespoons (24 g) AP flour
Dough
- ⅔ cup (151 g) cold milk
- 2 ½ cups (200 g) AP flour
- 2 teaspoons (12 g) salt
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
Black Sesame Filling
- ½ cup (71 g) black sesame seeds
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Miso Icing
- 1-2 tablespoons white miso paste (depending on taste)
- ¾ cup (170 g) sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Tangzhong: Combine ube condensed milk and flour in a small saucepan. On your smallest burner cook over medium-low heat, whisking regularly until it forms a paste (similar to a roux).
- Immediately transfer into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the cold milk first to cool down the tangzhong (and warm up the milk). Add remaining ingredients.
- With the dough hook (or by hand) mix at low speed until dough starts to come together and there is no more loose flour. Bring the speed to medium (or knead by hand) until dough is smooth but still tacky-when it cleans and slaps the bowl in a stand mixer.
- Shape dough into a ball and let rise in a covered bowl 1-2 hours until puffy. Make the filling during the proof.
- Make the filling: In a food processor or a clean coffee grinder, blitz the sesame seeds until they are sandy. Mix with remaining filling ingredients and set aside.
- Lightly grease an 8×8″ baking pan.
- On a lightly greased work surface, press or roll dough into a 10×12″ rectangle.
- Sprinkle the filling over the dough, leaving ½” inch strip bare along a long side. Starting on the long side that is covered with filling, gently roll the dough into a log (it should be 12″ long).
- Cut the log into nine approximately equal pieces and place them in a 3×3 square in the pan or cut into twelve 1″ pieces and place in pan as best you can.
- Cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes until puffy and dough doesn’t bounce back immediately when poked with a finger. Towards end of rise preheat oven to 375℉.
- Bake for 18-24 minutes, until digital thermometer inserted into the middle roll measures 190℉. It’s very difficult to just by color because of the purple. Optional: While rolls are hot brush with 1 tablespoon melted butter.
- Make the icing while rolls are cooling: Simply whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and the miso. If too cold to combine, microwave for 30 seconds and continue whisking.
- When you are ready to serve, pour icing on rolls (you can reheat them in the microwave or 300℉ oven first) and sprinkle with additional black sesame seeds.
vtx kitchen 