A crisp bun itself with a thin coffee flavored exterior and a buttery melty center, these Pappa Roti buns are a delight to eat!
My love for these buns comes from Karachi trips which always involve multiple trips to Dolmen Mall. For the longest time Pappa Roti was on the main floor of the mall and a regular Jafri hangout. It was one of the things everyone liked to eat and I have spent many hours sitting at those wicker tables and chairs hanging out with the people I love most.
I was SHOCKED at the number of rounds it took to get these buns just right. Sometimes the coffee wasn't flavorful enough or crispy enough, other times the butter seeped out immediately. However, persistence pays off so here we are.
Coffee fan? This cake and this whipped coffee are both amazing!
Shortcut Confessions
Here are some things I did with this recipe to make it easier for me.
- I wrap the cold butter in dough before that dough has risen. Otherwise I had to add another 30 minutes to my bake time and it didn't seem worth it.
- Speaking of butter, I like some but not a lot in my buns. Here a stick of butter is 8 tbsp so I put 3 in the dough and the remaining 5 in the bun
- Window pane - the perfect bun texture requires getting to a windowpane dough. That means when you stretch it it becomes so so thin you can see through it like a windowpane. I stop just before in order to avoid the risk of over kneading it
- Vanilla Extract in the topping. This isn't traditional, but it does awesome things for the flavour so we shall keep it ok?
How do you make this Pappa Roti Recipe?
Step One: Knead dough until it becomes pliable and elastic - 8 minutes on medium high speed. Rest the dough for an hour.
Step Two: Before resting though take out a piece of the dough and wrap it around six pieces of butter, then freeze. I cannot repeat this enough - unless the butter is rock hard it will melt through IMMEDIATELY.
Step Three: Make the topping
Step Four: Divide the risen dough into six pieces and form buns, placing a pat of frozen butter inside each
Step Five: Let them rise covered for 45 minutes
Step Six: Pipe on the topping and bake!
Other Tasty Bakes!
Pappa Roti Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (ideal, but you can knead by hand too)
Ingredients
Buns
- 2 ¼ tsp yeast (I used instant/quick rise)
- ½ cup warm milk
- 2 cups flour
- 4 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp butter
Buttery Centre
- 5 tbsp butter cut into equal pieces, freeze after cutting
- dough from above recipe
Coffee Topping
- ⅓ cup Icing Sugar
- 4 tbsp Butter (room temperature)
- 2 tsp coffee dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup flour
Instructions
- Combine the dough ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer, and use the dough hook to stir on low till combined then turn the speed up to 6 and knead for 5 minutes.
- If the dough feels sticky add another tbsp of flour and knead for another 3-4 minutes at which point if you pick up a piece of dough and stretch it it will be nice and elastic and not break (see video)
- Break a small piece off this dough, about golf ball sized, and wrap it around the frozen butter pieces and put them back in the freezer. The dough should stretch in a very thin film around the butter - a too thick dough won't bake through or give you a doughy center.
- Leave the remaining dough to rise for an hour in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a kitchen towel inside a draft free space (I put it inside my oven with the oven off).
- After an hour give your rise dough a quick turn by hand and divide it into six equal pieces. Flatten each piece out into a circular shape, place the pat of frozen butter inside and form a circle making sure the bottom is well sealed.
- Leave them to rise on a lined baking tray for 45 minutes. Gently cover the top with a kitchen towel or a piece of plastic wrap. The dough balls will expand some but this step is important for the texture of the buns!
Coffee Topping
- Beat the icing sugar and butter together, first on low for the icing sugar to incorporate then on higher speed. Best to do this with a hand mixer or a whisk
- Now add the egg and whip then the vanilla and coffee. The mix may look curdled and that's fine.
- Mix in the flour until just combined then put your coffee topping in an icing bag or use a ziploc instead of one.
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Snip a 1 cm piece off the end of the icing bag and pipe the coffee topping on in swirls over the coffee buns, making sure to cover the surface
- Bake for 17 minutes - the coffee buns should be a medium brown and well domed. Dig in!
M says
Absolutely loved these papparoti coffee buns, Sarah! The coffee crust was so flavourful and the inside of the buns was light and fluffy. Made these for my mum’s birthday because she loves coffee 🙂
Sarah Mir says
Happy belated birthday to your mum!!! I am SO touched these buns were a part of the birthday celebrations - thanks for sharing that and making my day!!!