When I was younger, afternoon tea was pretty much a daily routine. Mummy would drive out (practically every place in Kuala Terengganu was only a 5 minutes’ drive away) and buy cakes or snacks for our afternoon tea, such as banana fritters, traditional Malay kuih, and occasionally, freshly baked roti paung. A favorite place for us to buy roti paung was a stall at a specific Shell station on the road towards Chendering from Batu Burok. I can’t remember the exact address now.
Nowadays I very rarely return to my hometown, and sadly, I never see roti paung anywhere here. So, I decided to try making my own. I’ve experimented with several recipes, and finally came up with my own version here. Soft and fluffy, I finally get to savor a taste of home. Enjoy!
Variations
Although this may not be in keeping with tradition, you can make variations of this roti paung by using different fillings other than butter. I’ve used Kiri cream cheese squares (each cut into 4 equal sized cubes) which turned out lovely, and my best combination so far was Kiri cream cheese plus an equal amount of Lotus Biscoff biscuit spread, which is my nod to Llaollao’s delicious frozen yoghurt and their amazing caramelized biscuit sauce. I’ve also modified this recipe for making pandan coconut rolls. Other fillings I’ve seen are red bean paste and kaya (coconut jam). Keep experimenting!
Step by Step
Making the dough
In your stand mixer bowl, add the egg, milk, and sugar, and whisk to combine.
Add the melted butter. Make sure the temperature of the melted butter does not exceed 55 degrees C, or it will kill the yeast.
Add the bread flour, yeast and salt, and mix using the dough hook attachment of your electric mixer, until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 15 to 18 minutes.
Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap or a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place, until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When I used my Kenwood BM450 breadmaker, the Dough cycle took 1 1/2 hours.
After the dough has risen, punch down to let out the air. Grease two 8-inch round pans or a 12-inch round pan with margarine or butter.
Shaping and Filling
Divide the dough into 32 equal-sized pieces (about 30 to 32 grams each).
Working with one piece at a time, flatten the dough on the palm of your hand, and dot with a small piece of margarine or salted butter. Wrap the dough around the filling and seal, rolling the dough into the shape of a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Arrange the rolls in the baking tin. If using two 8-inch pans, for each pan, start with 1 in the middle, 5 around the center, and 10 on the outer layer for a total of 16 rolls. If using one 12-inch round pan, start with 1 in the middle, 6 around the center, 12 around it, and 13 on the outer layer.
Cover the baking tin tightly with cling wrap (I use a shower cap) or kitchen towels, and let rest in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. One way to know if the rolls are done rising is to gently poke one of them. If the dent from the poke does not spring back, the rolls are ready for baking.
Baking
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees fan). Place the rack on the bottom rung of the oven.
When the oven is ready, glaze the rolls with melted margarine or butter.
Bake in the oven until rolls are lightly browned, or an instant-read thermometer pricked into the center of the bread reads 88 degrees C, 20 minutes.
When the rolls are ready, glaze them one more time with melted margarine or butter.
Serve warm.
Roti Paung
Equipment
- Stand mixer OR bread maker
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 230 ml full cream milk OR 1/4 cup milk powder and 230 ml water
- 100 grams margarine OR unsalted butter
- 100 grams castor sugar add 20g more for sweeter rolls
- 500 grams all-purpose flour MFM's Cap Ros recommended
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- Salted butter for dotting and glazing OR more margarine
Instructions
- In your stand mixer bowl, add the egg, milk, and sugar, and whisk to combine.
- Add the melted butter. Make sure the temperature of the melted butter does not exceed 55 degrees C, or it will kill the yeast.
- Add the bread flour, yeast and salt, and mix using the dough hook attachment of your electric mixer, until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 15 to 18 minutes.
- Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap or a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place, until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- After the dough has risen, punch down to let out the air. Grease two 8-inch round pans or a 12-inch round pan with margarine or butter.
- Divide the dough into 32 equal-sized pieces (about 30 to 32 grams each).
- Working with one piece at a time, flatten the dough on the palm of your hand, and dot with a small piece of margarine or salted butter.
- Wrap the dough around the filling and seal, rolling the dough into the shape of a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Arrange the rolls in the baking tin. If using two 8-inch pans, for each pan, start with 1 in the middle, 5 around the center, and 10 on the outer layer for a total of 16 rolls. If using one 12-inch round pan, start with 1 in the middle, 6 around the center, 12 around it, and 13 on the outer layer.
- Cover the baking tin tightly with cling wrap (I use a shower cap) or kitchen towels, and let rest in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. One way to know if the rolls are done rising is to gently poke one of them. If the dent from the poke does not spring back, the rolls are ready for baking.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees fan). Place the rack on the bottom rung of the oven.
- When the oven is ready, glaze the rolls with melted margarine or butter.
- Bake in the oven until rolls are lightly browned, or an instant-read thermometer pricked into the center of the bread reads 88 degrees C, 20 minutes.
- When the rolls are ready, glaze them one more time with melted margarine or butter.
- Serve warm.
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