I have baked these soft and mildly sweet custard bread rolls quite a number of times in the past few weeks. Every time I bake these rolls, it gets over so soon and I get more inspired to bake more and more. I am really enjoying the experience of baking home made breads and buns. Though it needs your time and patience, no store bought bun or bread can beat a good home baked one.

It was my search for custard buns that finally ended up in these custard bread rolls. They are a wonderful twist to the custard bun transformed in to a beautiful roll. Trust me these rolls are not that hard to make as they might appear. These soft and mildly sweet custard rolls are a wonderful tea time snack. They are not very sweet. So even if you are not a very sweet loving person, you can enjoy it. It has all the flavors of a good homemade bun and the creamy custard filling makes these rolls taste delicious.
The dough for these bread rolls is very similar to that of the soft dinner rolls that I shared some time back. These are our favorite dinner rolls, so I had no doubts in using it here. You can use a food processor/mixer with dough hook attachment to knead the dough that makes your work easier. If not knead it on a clean countertop with your hands for about 15 to 20 minutes.

I remember the first experience of making custard that was not a very happy ending. Thanks to my impatience:) I cooked it on high flame and got a curdled mess. Though it tasted not bad, the curdled custard was not very appealing to see . I learned it the hard way that custard should be cooked on a low flame for a good amount of time to get a smooth and creamy texture. The next attempt I took my time and made it and the outcome was well worth all that time and patience.
I encourage you to try these delicious bread rolls and do let me know your feedback:). You can make these as custard buns too. Check the Notes section for more tips and details.
Ingredients: (Yields 12 rolls)
For custard filling:
- Egg yolk 2
- Milk 1cup
- Corn starch 2 tbsp.
- Sugar 6 tbsp.
- Salt a pinch
- Unsalted butter softened to room temperature 2 tbsp. (28 gm)
- Vanilla extract 1 tsp.
For dough:
- All-purpose flour/Bread flour 2¼ cup loosely packed (130*2¼=292.5 gm)
- Warm milk ½ cup (125ml)
- Yeast 1 tsp.(I used active dry yeast. See Tip No:1)
- Unsalted butter softened 3 tbsp.(43 g)
- Sugar 2 tbsp.
- Egg at room temperature 1
- Salt 1/2 tsp.
- Egg wash
- Egg 1
- Milk 1 tsp.
Method:
For custard filling:
- Heat milk in a saucepan, stirring in between to avoid forming a film, just until it comes to a boil. Switch off flame.

- In a medium sized bowl, mix sugar, corn starch and salt.

- Add beaten egg to the sugar-corn starch mixture and mix well using a whisk until it is creamy and lightened in color.

- Gradually add 1/4 cup of hot milk to the egg-sugar-corn starch mixture stirring constantly to avoid cooking of eggs. Once it is mixed, add remaining milk to it and mix well.

- Transfer the mixture to the saucepan and cook it on low flame for about 15 to 20 minutes until the mixture thickens and have a pudding like consistency. Switch off flame.

- Add vanilla extract and softened butter and mix well.

- Transfer it to a bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap lightly touching the surface to avoid forming a skin on top. Once lightly cooled, refrigerate it for about 30 minutes or until ready to use.

For dough:
- Add yeast and sugar to warm milk. (Read tip no:1). Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until it is frothy to activate yeast(blooming).

- Next add egg and salt to the milk yeast mixture and mix well.

- Add the above wet mixture to all-purpose flour and mix well with a spatula to form a soft shaggy dough.

- Pour the dough to a clean surface/countertop and add softened butter to it and knead well for around 15 to 20 mins until the dough is soft . When the dough is well kneaded, it forms a transparent thin membrane when stretched with hands, with no tear. While kneading if the dough is very sticky, add 1tbsp. more flour. (Read tip no:2)


- Place the dough in a greased bowl covered with a clean kitchen towel/plastic wrap/aluminum foil in a warm environment. Let it double in size. This will take around 1 to 2 hrs.


- Now punch down the dough. Divide the dough in to 12 equal pieces.

- Roll each piece in to the shape of a round ball with a smooth top surface tucking the edges on the bottom.

- Roll the round ball in to an oval shape with a thickness of about 1/4 inch(about 5 to 6 inch long) using a rolling pin.

- Add 1tsp of custard cream filling on top portion not touching the edges.

- Now stretch the top edge and fold it over the filling and pinch it well to seal the edges so that filling does not leak out.

- Make thin strips on the lower side with a knife without disturbing the sealing on the top.

- Fold it downwards to form a roll and bend it to form a curve.


- Place it in a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover it with a plastic wrap, aluminum foil or a clean kitchen towel and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes.

- Preheat oven at 350-degree Fahrenheit/180 degree Celsius 10 minutes before baking.
- Prepare egg wash by beating an egg and 1 tsp of milk. Apply egg wash on top of the rolls using a brush or back of the spoon.


- Bake the rolls for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Notes:
- I used Red Star Active dry yeast. If you are using instant dry yeast, just mix it with warm milk and sugar and continue with step 2 without waiting it to bloom.
- Always use good quality fresh yeast for best results.
- While kneading the dough, the dough will be sticky in the beginning. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes of kneading to get the dough non sticky. If the dough is still very sticky, add 1 tbsp. more of flour.
- If your dough is very hard, you can add 1 tsp of milk.
- There was some leftover custard filling with the above measurement which we just enjoyed like a pudding.
- Cook custard filling on low flame to avoid curdling.
- After adding the custard filling, seal the edges properly to avoid leakage of custard.
- Do not add too much custard filling as it may leak out.
- You can refrigerate the leftover custard bread rolls. Reheat it before use.
- You can use the same dough to make custard buns too. In step 8, roll the round ball in to a circle of 4 to 5 inch diameter. Place about 2 tsp of the custard filling in the middle and tuck all the edges together. Now continue the steps from step 13.
Looks good ^^;
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