Step 1

Place milk and the bread flour in a small saucepan. Whisk until there is no more lumps. Cook this mixture over medium heat until it is thickened, about 5 minutes or less. Remove from the heat and let it cools down completely

Step 2

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients and the tang zhong you made earlier. Use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 2-3 minutes for this to happen. Don't be tempted to add any liquid. You may need to stop halfway and scrap the dough off the hook and the sides of the bowl and knead again several times

Step 3

Once it comes into a dough, stop the machine. The dough will not be smooth, don't worry.Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. This is an important rest that bakers refer to as an autolyse (though in our case it's a short one. Read my post above for detail)

Step 4

After the rest, turn on and knead the dough again and knead for 1-2 minutes until it is a bit smoother. Then add the salt and sugar into the dough. Continue to knead until the dough is relatively smooth. You need to stop and scrape the dough off the hook and the bowl several times during this process. I promise it's worth the effort!

Step 5

Once you have a smooth dough, turn the machine back on again to knead and gradually add in the softened butter a bit by a bit. The dough will turn into a REAL sticky mess again because of the butter, just keep kneading and stop halfway and scrape the dough off the hook and bowl again and continue to knead until the butter is absorbed by the dough. IT WILL HAPPEN, don't worry! DO NOTbe tempted to add any extra flour. You will get a shiny smooth dough that is very elastic. I promise!

Step 6

Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place for about 1 hour. It may not double in size, but it will puff up some for sure.

Step 7

Punch the dough down, divide into 8 large balls

Step 8

Pull and tuck the dough to form a smooth round ball or slightly oval (it's up to you) with the seams tucked underneath. Place the seam side down on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover with a plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel

Step 9

Let the doughs proof again for another 30-40 minutes or until they puff up again to about 50% or more of their original size. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash

Step 10

Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C) and pop it into the oven (3rd rack from the top) and let them bake for the next 20-30 minutes depending on the oven, mine took 20 minutes. It will be golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let it cool down in the pan for about 5 minutes and then let them cool completely on a cooling rack

Step 11

Mix kewpie mayo and condensed milk in a bowl. Stir to mix. Yes, that's all you need to do. On another bowl, combine the pork floss, sesame seeds, and roasted seaweed strips

Step 12

Once the buns have cooled down, brush the top of the bun with the mayo sauce mixture you make above. If you plan to serve 5 buns, then dress 5 of them. Don't dress all of them ahead of time and keep for the next day or so as things will get soggy

Step 13

Gently press the bun (the side with the mayo sauce) into the floss mixture. Repeat with the next buns and serve