Today’s recipe is cream-ppang custard cream filled bread, one of my favorite pastries at any Korean bakery. Since as long as I can remember it’s been one of the most popular items in Korean bakeries, along with a sweet red bean-filled bread called danpat-ppang. When I was a kid I used to eat both of these all the time, and even though so many trends have come and go, they are still among the top sellers!
I developed this recipe because it’s hard to go out during this pandemic, and I really felt like some sweet cream-ppang. But the result was so good that I think they taste better than the ones at a Korean bakery, because the bread is so much fluffier, filling, and more nutritious. One bun and a glass of milk make a good snack or breakfast.
The custard cream in this recipe is fast to make and really creamy and delicious. You could use it in other dessert recipes, too. I used 4 egg yolks to make it a rich yellow color, but you could just use 2 whole eggs instead. You need a whisk to make it creamy, a spoon is not enough. I knead the bread for 12 minutes (longer than in my roll-ppang recipe) because I want to develop the stretchy gluten to make the bread elastic enough to handle being filled with custard cream and not fall apart.
Enjoy the recipe, I hope you make some delicious cream-ppang for you and your family!
Ingredients
Makes 5 cream-ppang
for custard cream:
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- a pinch of kosher salt
- 4 egg yolks, beaten and strained (or 2 eggs, beaten)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
for bread:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast (1 pkg)
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose wheat flour
for egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons water
Directions
Make custard cream:
- Place the flour, sugar, milk, and salt in a medium-sized pan. Whisk until there are no lumps.
- Heat over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 to 4 minutes until bubbles start to pop up.
- Reduce the heat to low or medium-low. Stir in the strained egg yolks a little by little, over 20 to 30 seconds.
- Remove from the heat. Add the butter and vanilla extract and mix well. Let it cool and refrigerate until ready to use. You can refrigerate it for 1 or 2 days.
Make dough:
- Melt the butter in a large, heavy pot.
- Remove from the heat. Add the milk and sugar. Mix well until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the egg and mix it together. Then add the yeast and let it sit for a couple of minutes until the edges of the yeast are foamy.
- Stir in the salt, add the flour, and mix all together with a wooden spoon until it turns into 1 lump.
- Take it out and knead the dough by hand for 12 to 15 minutes until it turns smooth and elastic.
- Put the dough back into the pot and cover. Allow the dough to rise for about 1 to 1½ hours, until it doubles in size.
Make egg wash:
- Whisk the egg and water in a small bowl until evenly mixed.
- Strain it into a small bowl and remove the small bubbles with a spoon. Set aside.
Shape and bake:
- Deflate the dough and knead it for a few minutes. Divide the dough into 5 pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball.
- Put the balls back into the pot, cover, and let sit for another 10 minutes.
- Put one ball on a large cutting board and cover the rest so they don’t dry out.
- Roll the ball out to an oval shape a little more than 6 inches long and 3½ to 4 inches wide. Use some flour to dust your hands and board if you need it.
- Put it to the side of the cutting board when it’s rolled out. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
- Put one of the oval dough discs on the cutting board in front of you. Spoon about ⅕ of the cream just a little off the center of the dough, a bit towards you. Lift the back of the dough over the cream to make a pocket. Pinch the edges together and make 3 or 4 slits into the pocket, just ½ to 1 inch deep. Put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Repeat with the rest of dough. Be careful not to crowd them on the baking sheet as they will expand when baked and we don’t want them to touch each other.
- Gently brush some egg water on each uncooked bread pocket.
- Let them rise for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the bread on the middle rack for 12 minutes.
- Check out your bread. If you want them browner, cook for another minute or so.
- Turn off the oven, take them out, let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and serve.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
Hi Maangchi!
I have been cooking with your recipes since the beginning of the pandemic and they have always come out delicious and brought me and others much joy – thank you!
Is this recipe in one of your cookbooks that I can buy?
Oh my goodness I love this recipe sooooo much!! Your step by step instructions worked out perfectly and the cream Ppang came out INCREDIBLE!! So glad I gave this a try!! Absolutely delicious!!
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They looked amazing and were so~ delicious! I doubled the amount of the bread dough and they turned out great. For the rest of the buns I used red bean filling. My whole family enjoyed them so much. thanks you!
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I decided to make these as I love bread baking, and these were delicious. I could have cooked them a bit longer but but I love bread slightly undercooked. I’ll have to make these for my family one day.
크림빵은 맛있었어요!! 고맙습니다!
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Congratulations! Next time bake it just for a few more minutes!
Just did this recipe, first try a bit burnt but still taste delicious!
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Yum!
So it took me two attempts to make this because yeast is not my friend. But I’m glad I tried again because it turned out just as I hoped. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
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Congratulations!
Made it tonight. The buns were not ready till 22:30. Perfect late night snack – even my dog couldn’t take her eyes of them. Haha. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! Very delicious!!!
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Awesome! : )
Hi Maangchi! I made this recipe last night and it turned out so nicely. I can’t wait to bring one to my halmoni! Thank you so much for sharing!
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I’m sure your grandmother (halmeoni in Korean) loved your creamppang!
Hi Maangchi -I made everything but the cream never firmed up for me. Do I have to refrigerate it for two days to get it to be solid like yours? The taste is exactly like the kind you get at a Korean bakery, though.
Was the cream too thin? Then add a little more flour. Good luck!
Hi Maanchi!! They were de-licious!! As I was shaping the bread, I realized there would be huge so I made 2 jumbos and 6 halves. It turned out they weren’t too big because they are so soft, fluffy and so yummy! I had to have two halves straight away after baking anyway! Hehe thank you for the great recipe Maangchi
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2 jumbos and 6 halves but all they look plump and shiny! : ) Delicious!
I made these and they were so yummy! Well… 1 was… I thought they’d be ok to eat the day after for breakfast with a cup of tea, but the custard tastes fermented and alcoholic so I’ve had to throw them away!! How can we store Cream-ppang to eat the day after?
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You can freeze it. Custard cream is easily going bad.
I am not a baker! But I made this and it was so delicious that my boyfriend and I ate all 5 in less than 24 hours! This stuff is so fluffy and the cream is so perfectly sweet and delicious, I could eat it all day. They’re not as pretty, but I am so thrilled and cant wait to make this again! Thank you Maangchi!!!
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I feel you will keep making this bread for your and your bf! Cool cool! : )
Thank your for the recipe!!
My husband LOVE it!!!
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Great! I should make this bread soon!
Hi Maanchi! I just made this delicious bread and they turned out just great. I didn’t have butter so I used olive oil, and they are perfect. I hope to enjoy this delicious treat in South Korea someday. Greetings from Spain!
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Oh some people have asked me if they can use cooking oil or olive oil instead of butter. Now I can tell them it works! The bread looks perfect!
I just made these today and they turned out great. I used 2 whole eggs instead of the 4 egg yolks given as an option, and they tasted amazing, my family really enjoyed them!
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This recipe is great! I used bread flour instead of whole wheat since that was all we had, plus 2 whole eggs instead of 4 yolks. My family loved it! The bread was really soft, and the sweetness of the cream was just right. Thank you for sharing this recipe, Maangchi!
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Both of your creamppang look so mouthwatering! Happy to hear that your family loved your creamppang!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have severe asthma and can’t risk going out or eating food made by others right now. This is my favorite thing to get at the Korean bakery and my husband I used to go once a week before all this. I have really been missing a lot of things, and making and eating these gave me a little taste of normalcy again. I appreciate your recipes so much for so many reasons (I basically learned all of my Korean cooking from your recipes and have thus been able to give my Korean husband all his childhood favorites for 8 years now thanks to you), but especially during this time, it’s nice to be able to have an old favorite again!
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I saw this photo a while ago but I have never had chance to leave a message. The bread looks so fluffy with sweet soft cream! “… to give my Korean husband all his childhood favorites for 8 years now…” You are awesome! Cheers!