Pandan Bubble Bread (Chigiri Pan) Holiday Tree Recipe by Kat Lieu

Pandan Bubble Bread Holiday Tree Image by Kat Lieu (modernasianbaking.com)

Note to self: Don’t try to create content for Instagram and bake the day after a Moderna booster shot while having a headache and fever. You’ll probably make wonky decisions like adding eyes to the bubbles and make frog-head-things that look more like little green monsters melted into the bread. When I was dreaming up this recipe, I imagined it to be cute as heck. The end result is a bit horrifying, admittedly (and according to my husband, looks like a monster in Nier Automata called Emil). I don’t recommend you add eyes when you make this cute holiday tree with no-knead bubble bread, but the kiddos in your life might find them cute! Decorate the “tree” to your heart’s desire. I added a few sprinkles here and there, and for the tree stump, I rolled out the dough and cut out a long triangular shape, and rolled into a croissant. You can use pandan extract, matcha, or green food coloring to make the bubble bread green. And to make the bread vegan, use vegan butter and plant-based milk instead of dairy butter and dairy milk.

Happy holidays, fam and friends! I would love to see your bubble bread holiday trees! Tag us #subtleasianbakes

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Yield

4 servings

Author

Kat Lieu

Prep time

35 Min

Cook time

18 Min

Inactive time

2 Hour

Total time

2 H & 53 M

Print

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Pandan Bubble Bread (Chigiri Pan) Holiday Tree Recipe by Kat Lieu

If you're looking for a fun no-knead bread recipe to make with the kiddos this holiday season, look no further! Make this kawaii (cute) no-knead bubble bread holiday tree with them and watch their eyes light up as they decorate their "tree." It's up to you whether you want to add some tiny eyes. In hindsight, a few frogs meshed with the rest of the bubble bread invokes a bit of horror. Use either matcha, green gel food coloring, or colored pandan extract to make this chigiri pan (chopped bread in Japanese) green. Brushed with melted butter or vegan butter post bake. Note that once you pop one of these in your mouth, you won't be able to stop!

Ingredients

For the chigiri pan

• About 170 g milk of choice (I used coconut milk)
• 2 to 3 g active dry yeast
• 230 to 235 g bread flour
• About 30 g granulated sugar
• A pinch of salt or 1/2 teaspoon red or white miso
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (vegan butter is OK)
• About 1 teaspoon green-colored pandan extract (you can make this a matcha version instead by adding about 1 to 2 tablespoons of matcha and taking out 1 to 2 tablespoons bread flour
• Milk of choice for washing and melted butter for coating the bread

Instructions

To make the pandan chigiri pan holiday tree

1. In a large microwave-safe bowl add the milk and a pinch of sugar. Microwave in 20-second bursts until the milk is about 110°F (warmer than a fever). Add the yeast and set aside for a few minutes. Once the mixture foams and bubbles, sift in the bread flour and sugar and mix. Add the salt or miso, butter, and pandan extract and mix everything until a tacky dough forms. This should be a wet, sticky dough, and there's no need to knead it. Just mix with a spatula or a pair of chopsticks. If you find the dough to be too shaggy and dry, add a little bit more milk, a teaspoon at a time. Form the dough into a ball and cover. I like to cover my bread dough with a damp lint-free towel, though plastic wrap will also do. Let rise at warm room temperature for about 60 to 70 minutes, until roughly doubled in size. You can also let the dough ferment overnight in the fridge. Just be sure to let it warm up a bit at room temperature before you shape the dough.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. After the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour your hands and a work surface, and turn the dough out. You can gently mix it and shape it into a smooth ball, then roll it out into a small flat rectangle. From here you can take a pastry cutter or scraper (or knife) and cut the dough into about 6 even strips, 1-inch wide each. Then cut the dough again, this time 4 to 5 perpendicular strips, so that you end up with about 24 to 30 dough rectangles.
4. Working one at a time, form each dough rectangle into a smooth ball. If you want to hide a sweet surprise in each bubble bread, you can add a mini marshmallow or white chocolate. The marshmallow will melt in the oven, but they will make the bread taste very good, especially for kids. Place each mini dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet, with little space in between each. You want to form a holiday tree shape on the baking sheet, and you want the mini bubble bread to puff into each other as they proof. (To make the holiday tree, start with one bubble bread, then two beneath that, then a row of three beneath the two, a row of four, row of five, then a roll of six. You can cut out a star shape for the top of the tree, and roll one of the rectangles to make a tree stump. Optionally brush the dough balls with melted butter and let proof for about an hour in warm room temperature.
5. About 25 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 325°F (or 160°C) with a rack in the center.
6. Feel free to wash the bubble buns with milk of choice before baking, to give them an extra wash of hydration. Alternatively, dust them with some bread flour. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, depending on if your oven runs hot or cold, until the tops are a bit golden-green.
7. Enjoy them warm and brush with melted butter again, optionally, Decorate your pandan bubble bread tree with sprinkles, edible gold, etc...

Notes:

To make this chigiri pan vegan, please use plant-based milk and vegan butter.

Recommended Products:

Modern Asian Baking at Home Cookbook

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About the Baker

Kat Lieu is the founder of Subtle Asian Baking and this website modernasianbaking.com, and she is the author of Modern Asian Baking at Home. Currently, Kat is a full-time author and recipe developer. Follow her on instagram and check out her blog Phil and Mama.