Baked red bean bread is a Chinese bakery classic. The bread is light, fluffy and slightly sweet. It is filled with creamy sweet red bean paste that pairs so well with a cup of tea for your breakfast or afternoon snack. Making red bean bread is super easy. I want to share my easy milk bread dough. You can use a mixer to easily make the dough. This recipe shows you how to make beautiful swirl bread just like a professional bakery. But you can totally make the easier roll-style version with the red bean paste sealed inside.
Red bean bread ingredients
Red bean paste
You can either use homemade red bean paste (I have a recipe here) or store bought red bean paste. I always prefer the homemade type because I can control the sweetness. But the store bought type would easily work as well. When you purchase red bean paste, make sure the ingredients do not include maltose. The type that contains maltose is for making mooncakes. It is quite sticky and it is hard to work with when making red bean bread.
Mise en place
Here are the ingredients you need for making red bean bread:
All-purpose flour Red bean paste Whole milk Condensed milk Sugar Salt Active dry yeast Egg
How to make red bean bread
Prepare the dough
Assemble the red bean bread
This process might look a bit confusing at the beginning. But once you try it, it’s surprisingly straightforward.
Bake the red bean bread
Shape the buns with a different method
The swirl-style red bean bread is beautiful and delicious. I really like the way that the red bean paste get toasted when it’s exposed. However, this shaping method does take extra time. If you want a simpler approach, you can wrap the red bean paste inside of the bread. In this case, the measurement of the dough pieces and the red bean paste should be the same in the recipe below. For the assembly part, you can refer to my baked char siu bread recipe (there are step-by-step pictures showing the shaping method).
How to store and reheat red bean bread
I love freshly baked red bean bread that is still warm. But these buns stay really well in the fridge and freezer, so you can store them and reheat them anytime. If you plan to eat them within a day or two, you can store them in a ziplock bag in the fridge. Otherwise, I highly recommend storing them in the freezer to retain their moist and fluffy texture. Once refrigerated or frozen, it’s always best to warm the bread at a low temperature in the oven, to bring back their texture. This red bean bread is such a treat and they pair well with milk or a cup of hot tea. I hope you enjoy this one and happy baking!
