strawberry iced finger buns
25 May 2026
I do love a bun and you will find many bun recipes in the archives. My all time favourite bun is an old fashioned finger bun topped with pink icing and slathered with butter.
When my copy of Helen Goh's book Baking and the Meaning of Life arrived, I looked through it and bookmarked many recipes. When I discovered there was a recipe for strawberry iced finger buns it was placed on the top of my 'to-bake' list.
Notes from Helen
Meanwhile, place 40g of the flour in a small heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water over and mix with a spoon to form a stiff, shaggy paste. Cover the bowl and set aside to cool.
Put the remaining 160g of flour, the milk powder, salt and remaining 10g of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and stir with a whisk to combine. Add the flour and water paste, the yeast/milk mixture and the egg and mix with the dough hook on a low speed for about 2 minutes, until it forms a shaggy dough.
Add the butter, a little at a time, until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 3 minutes, until smooth. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl. The dough will be very sticky and you will need a spatula to scrape the dough into the bowl.
When the buns are well risen, preheat the oven to 170˚C fan-forced/190˚C conventional. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Strawberry icing
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz together until smooth. If a little too thick add a little hot water to the mixture to loosen. Drizzle over the tops of the cooled buns. Allow the icing to set before eating.
As my household is a small one, I halved the recipe to make 6 buns and as I like an overnight rise, I changed the technique a little. Here's the recipe for you adapted from here. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.
Asking you to boil the milk and then let it cool might seem a bit crazy, but there’s method in the madness. The process of boiling the milk breaks down the proteins and results in a softer, more tender bread. It also makes the milk more effective in hydrating the flour, improving the texture of the dough. But make sure to cool the milk before mixing in the yeast – that’s essential to get the rise. The method of mixing flour with boiling water is an Asian bread-making technique used to create soft, fluffy bread. It involves pre-cooking a portion of the flour and water to gelatinise the starches, which helps to retain moisture in the bread.
Strawberry iced finger buns - makes 6
Milk bread
85ml full-cream milk
¾-tsp active dried yeast
15g caster sugar
200g plain flour
40ml water, boiling hot
7g milk powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
25g unsalted butter, cut into 1-cm pieces, then left to soften
vegetable oil, for greasing
Milk bread
85ml full-cream milk
¾-tsp active dried yeast
15g caster sugar
200g plain flour
40ml water, boiling hot
7g milk powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
25g unsalted butter, cut into 1-cm pieces, then left to soften
vegetable oil, for greasing
Icing
30g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
150g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp liquid glucose (optional)
30g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
150g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp liquid glucose (optional)
Milk bread
Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Set aside to cool to 38˚C – cool enough to touch – then whisk in the yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar. Let it stand to allow the yeast to activate and froth, about 5 minutes.
Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Set aside to cool to 38˚C – cool enough to touch – then whisk in the yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar. Let it stand to allow the yeast to activate and froth, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place 40g of the flour in a small heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water over and mix with a spoon to form a stiff, shaggy paste. Cover the bowl and set aside to cool.
Put the remaining 160g of flour, the milk powder, salt and remaining 10g of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and stir with a whisk to combine. Add the flour and water paste, the yeast/milk mixture and the egg and mix with the dough hook on a low speed for about 2 minutes, until it forms a shaggy dough.
Add the butter, a little at a time, until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 3 minutes, until smooth. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl. The dough will be very sticky and you will need a spatula to scrape the dough into the bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the bowl and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the bowl with plastic and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 2 more times, for a rise time of 1½ hours and a total of 3 foldings. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.
The next day, prepare a baking tin (approximately 10 x 7 inches measured across the base) by lining it with baking paper.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, as the dough will be a little sticky, and knead a few times to activate the gluten. Cut it into 6 equal pieces, roughly 60g each. Taking one piece at a time, press the dough into a rough square approximately 10 cm. Starting from the side closest to you, roll up into a small log, pinching and smoothing the ends and seam to seal, creating a little sausage. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, and place them 2 cm apart on the lined baking tray. Cover the tray loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in size. It took 1½ hours in my cool kitchen.
When the buns are well risen, preheat the oven to 170˚C fan-forced/190˚C conventional. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Strawberry icing
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz together until smooth. If a little too thick add a little hot water to the mixture to loosen. Drizzle over the tops of the cooled buns. Allow the icing to set before eating.
I halved the bun, slathered it with butter and I was immediately transported back to my childhood. Next time I make the buns, and there will be a next time, I will make them larger because the fingers buns of my youth were huge!
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
