Vegan Korean Red Bean Buns (단팥빵)

Growing up, the Korean bakery down the block always had an abundance of sweet Korean red bean buns (단팥빵). The pillowy soft bread pulls apart easily to a sweetened red bean paste in the middle. Many will be wondering how these buns are different from Anpan, the Japanese equivalent of these sweet red bean buns, while many will find eating sweetened red beans a bit… experimental.

But trust me when I say this: red beans, or adzuki beans, are naturally sweeter and softer. As the beans are cooked, the texture softens like cooked sweet potatoes. If you’re not ready to try these sweetened Korean red bean buns yet, many Asian bakeries offer other sweet buns with different fillings, such as sesame seeds or chestnuts.

The red bean paste is made from adzuki beans, which are prevalent in Asian confectionaries. I grew up eating them in all different types of treats, like in Vegan Hotteok (Korean pancakes) or Vegan Bingsu (Korean shaved ice). Very similar to my Hotteok recipe, I sweetened the adzuki beans with dates, which adds the perfect amount of sweetness without being overbearingly sweet. 

For the soft buns, I used my popular Japanese Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe – with a few tweaks. When I first experimented with these buns, I used way too much yeast. The bread rose way too fast and way too much, pushing the filling to the top of the buns. After playing around with the amount of yeast, I was finally able to get the filling perfectly centered each time!

The combination between the soft and fluffy Japanese bread with the sweetened adzuki beans creates an inviting dessert or snack that is neither too heavy nor too sweet!

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quick notes

• Skip soaking the medjool dates in hot water if they haven’t been sitting in the refrigerator and are already sticky.
• If red bean filling is not sweet enough, feel free to add more dates.
• Leftover red bean filling can be used as a filling in my Korean Rice Cakes or Korean Hotteoks. Substitute the black sesame date filling with this red bean filling.
• Aquafaba is used as a natural egg substitute for this recipe. Aquafaba, the liquid your beans and legumes have been soaking and cooking in, absorbs different starches, proteins and other plant properties from the beans, giving it “egg-like” properties, such as binding, emulsifying, and thickening. It’s ability to traps air, gives baked goods a fluffy lift while keeping a moist structure. Typically, 3 tablespoons of aquafaba is used to substitute 1 egg in vegan baking.
• Most common way to source aquafaba is from a can of chickpeas.
• Lastly, make sure active dry yeast has not expired.

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KOREAN RED BEAN BUNS

makes 6 buns

Red Bean Filling 

• ½ cup canned adzuki beans
• 4-5 medjool dates

Soaks dates in hot water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out extra moisture and discard liquid. Transfer to a food processor with adzuki beans. Pulse until combined. Set aside.

Japanese Milk Bread

Tangzhong roux

• 2½ tbsp (20g) all purpose flour
• ½ cup (100g) water

In a pot, combine flour and water and whisk until flour is incorporated into the water.

Turn on heat to medium low and continuously stir until the mixture starts to thicken to a paste. Once line steaks began to form at the bottom of the pan from stirring, the paste is done. This should take only a few minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Scoop 50g of the paste and set aside. Store the remainder in the fridge for other purposes.

Yeast mixture

• ½ tsp active dry yeast
• ½ tsp coconut sugar
• ¼ cup soy milk or non-dairy milk, lukewarm (preferably 110-115 F)

Combine active dry yeast and coconut sugar to a warm glass of soy milk (preferably 110-115 degrees) and set aside for 10 minutes. The mixture should start foaming and increase in size. If it doesn’t, try again with a new packet of yeast.

Dry ingredients

• 1¼-1½ cup (163g) all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• ½ tsp salt

In the meantime, combine all purpose flour and add coconut sugar and salt to a bowl. Set aside.

Assembling the dough – 1st stage

• 1½ tbsp aquafaba 

Once the yeast mixture has increased and tangzhong has cooled to room temperature, combine the two together with the aquafaba in a large bowl. In ½ cup increments, start adding your dry ingredients to the wet mixture until a shaggy dough forms.

If using a stand mixer, continue to knead for about 15-20 minutes adding tablespoons of flour if needed until dough becomes elastic.

If kneading by hand, transfer the dough to a floured surface and begin to knead for 20-25 minutes, adding tablespoons of flour (if needed) until dough becomes elastic.

Assembling the dough – 2nd stage

• ½ tbsp neutral tasting oil (I used grape seed oil)

If using a stand mixer, drizzle in oil and continue to knead for additional 8-10 minutes until oil is incorporated.

If kneading by hand, add ½ tbsp of oil and continue to knead until dough has soaked up oil. (The dough may seem too wet but keep kneading as the dough will eventually soak up the oil.) Total kneading should take 13-15 minutes.

Transfer the dough into a well greased bowl and proof for 1-2 hour or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled, punch the middle of the dough. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces and cover them with saran wrap.

Grab 1 piece and gently flatten the dough with your palms. Scoop 1-2 tbsp of red bean paste into the middle of the dough. Grab and pinch the sides to seal the ends and place under saran wrap with it’s seam side is down.

Repeat with remaining pieces.

Cover the buns with saran wrap and let it proof for 1 hour or until the pieces have doubled in size. Ideally, the dough should expand.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, 40 minutes into proofing your dough.

Egg wash

• 1-2 tbsp soy milk
• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup

Mix the soy milk and maple syrup to create a “egg wash.” Once the dough has doubled, brush the “egg wash” on the top of the dough and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before eating. Enjoy!

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p.s. If you like this recipe, click the icons below to share and leave a comment below! Make sure to tag me @girlmeetsradish & #girlmeetsradish so I can see what you are making!