Are you a big fan of Japanese pastries and baked goods? If so, you’ll enjoy Anpan, a classic Japanese pastry with sweet red bean paste inside soft bread. This homemade recipe comes with my step-by-step tutorial to guide you through the bread-making process.
Anpan (あんパン), or sweet red bean bun, is my favorite Japanese bread growing up. It’s no secret that I absolutely love anko (red bean paste), and I love this Japanese bun that has a hint of sweetness, wrapped in a soft delicious bun.
My mom is a self-proclaimed bread connoisseur, and she loves exploring new bakeries and trying their bread in Japan. Unlike the US, there are many bakeries in most Japanese neighborhood and stations and many of them are outstanding. She would buy different types of bread from each store, and among them is always, my favorite anpan.
My favorite one is from Pompadour, one of my favorite bakeries in Japan. Yokohama-born Pompadour bakes European-style bread and their baguettes are incredibly delicious. Their anpan is quite unique because unlike Japanese style soft bread, their buns are French-style and it’s more crusty (but not quite as hard as baguette).
When my mom visited me in the U.S. in the past, she used to “smuggle” them in for me! She knew how much I would love this anpan.
This is just one of my nostalgic moments with the Japanese red bean bread, and I truly enjoyed testing this recipe, daydreaming about all the delicious anpan I enjoy back in Japan…
Invention & History of Anpan
So you may wonder, who came up with the idea to put anko (red bean paste) in a roll? It piqued my curiosity as well when I decided to test my anpan recipe, so I looked up its history.
Wiki explains well here, but basically it was first made in 1875 by a samurai named Mr. Kimura. He lost his job due to the dissolution of the samurai as a social class back in Meiji period. During that time, Japan was becoming more westernized and bakeries started to appear. His new job was a baker.
Soon after Mr. Kimura founded the now well-known bakery Kimuraya, he created a bread that was more to Japanese tastes. He replaced the traditional Japanese red bean mochi with western bread instead of mochi, and this bread stuffed with red bean paste was a brilliant one.
Making Anpan あんぱん
If you plan to make anko (red bean paste) from scratch, I recommend making anko ahead of time to save time on bread making day. I love making Pressure Cooker Anko recipe with my favorite Instant Pot (recipe here). Of course, to save time, you can always buy pre-made red bean paste from an Asian grocery store.
Anpan is one of the easiest Japanese bread to make at home, if you want to try making bread for the first time. Trying to make homemade bread could be intimidating, but the more you try, the easier it becomes. And this homemade anpan recipe is relatively easy, so I hope my video and step-by-step pictures will help you go through this journey.
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Anpan
Video
Ingredients
- 225 g bread flour (2 cups minus 2 Tbsp; plus more for dusting; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 3½ Tbsp cake flour (you can make Homemade Cake Flour)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast (to use active dry yeast, see Notes)
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- 50 ml whole milk (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp; keep at 86ºF/30ºC; I highly recommend using whole milk instead of reduced-fat milk)
- 50 ml water (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp; keep at 86ºF/30ºC, see Notes)
- 2½ Tbsp unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)
For the Filling
- 10 oz sweet red bean paste (anko) (I use tsubuan, a coarse red bean paste, but you can use koshian, a fine paste; you can make my Pressure Cooker Anko or Stovetop Anko)
For the Toppings
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 tsp toasted black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Before You Start: Gather all the ingredients. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
To Mix the Dough
- In a large bowl, combine 225 g bread flour (2 cups minus 2 Tbsp), 3½ Tbsp cake flour, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and 1 tsp instant yeast.
- Beat 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) in a small bowl and add to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Add 50 ml whole milk (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp) and 50 ml water (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp), both of which you‘ve kept at 86ºF (30ºC).
- Using your fingertips or a wooden spoon, gently mix the ingredients together until combined. In the beginning, the dough is very sticky and wet, but keep mixing until it forms a loose, sticky ball. Also, use the dough to pick up the flour on the sides of the mixing bowl. This step should take about 2 minutes.
To Knead the Dough
- Dust a clean work surface with bread flour and transfer the dough from the bowl. Press the heels of your hands into the dough, pushing forward slightly. Fold the top half of the dough in half back toward you. Rock forward on the lower part of your palm to press it flat. Turn the dough slightly (to clockwise), fold it in half, and rock into it again with the lower part of your palm. This process is called “punching“ the dough and the goal is to lengthen and stretch the gluten strands. Repeat for 5 minutes or so. Tip: If the dough doesn‘t seem to be losing its stickiness, sprinkle more flour over the top and work it into the dough. You can lightly dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from sticking too much.
- After “punching” for 5 minutes, the dough will become more elastic. Press and stretch the dough until it measures 10 inches (25 cm). Then, put small cubes of 2½ Tbsp unsalted butter on top of the dough. Roll up the dough, tucking in the butter, and then continue the kneading process.
- Your hands, dough, and the working surface will get oily and messy in the beginning. I recommend using a metal/silicone dough scraper to collect the dough stuck on the working surface.
- As you knead, the dough will absorb the butter and it will eventually become smoother and easier to work with.
- When the dough becomes smooth, start banging the dough onto the counter and fold it over away from you. This helps develop the gluten (elasticity). Bang the dough, turn it 90 degrees, and “punch” it, using the lower part of your palm. Continue this process for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth, supple, and silky. Tip: Don’t let go of the dough when you are banging onto the counter. Don’t let it rest for too long between turns.
- Now, it’s time for the windowpane test. Either pull on a part of the dough or tear off a small piece. Hold the dough in both hands and gently pull it into a square with your fingers. It should be very elastic, smooth, and shiny. If it‘s strong enough to stretch to a super-thin membrane without tearing and light can pass through the center, your dough passes the test. If it doesn’t stretch or it tears too easily, knead it again for another 2 minutes and test again.
The First Rise (Bulk Fermentation)
- Shape the dough into a ball by pulling all sides of the ball to the bottom and pinching them together.
- Place the dough in a bowl, seam side down, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1–2 hours. I use the Proof setting (100ºF/38ºC) in my oven.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, use the finger test. Dust your index finger (or the top of the dough) with flour and use your index finger to poke the middle of the dough. If the hole does not close up, it’s ready for the next step. If the dough closes up immediately, proof the dough a little longer and test again.
To Divide the Dough
- Press the dough with your hands to release the gas and deflate the dough.
- Fold both sides of the dough toward the center.
- Then fold it in thirds toward the middle. Flip, keeping the seam side on the bottom.
- Shape the dough into a ball, rotating (clockwise) with both hands while the seam line is touching the work surface.
- Using a dough scraper, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. If you need to adjust the size of dough, pinch off the center of the big dough and add to the center of the small dough and knead to combine well.
- Shape each dough piece into a nice round ball, pulling from all sides and tuck into the bottom. Place the dough on your left (right) palm, and rotate it with your right (left) hand, keeping the seam side on the bottom.
- Put the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying. Rest the dough for 15 minutes at room temperature.
To Form the Anpan
- After resting, flatten the dough balls with your hand, fold in thirds twice (just like you did earlier), and shape into balls again.
- For each dough ball, press it so it stretches to a 3 inch (8 cm) diameter. From the 10 oz sweet red bean paste (anko), scoop 35 g and place in the middle of the dough. Then pull all sides of the dough around and wrap the red bean paste tightly to seal.
- Pinch the seam very well and put the seam on the bottom. Place the dough on your left (right) palm, and rotate it with your right (left) hand a few times, keeping the seam side on the bottom. Put the dough back into the baking sheet, seam side on the bottom. Continue forming the rest of the anpan.
The Final Rise (Proofing) and Oven Preheat
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying. Let the dough rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 30 minutes (I used the Proof setting (100ºF/38ºC) in my oven). When the dough has risen halfway, preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Note: If you are using the oven to proof, you have to transfer the dough to a warmer place so you can preheat the oven.
- In a small bowl, add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and 2 Tbsp water and whisk very well. Using a pastry brush, brush all sides of the dough with an egg wash.
- Put 2 tsp toasted black sesame seeds in a small bowl. Dip the flat round side of a rolling pin (about ¾ inch (1.9 cm) diameter) first in the egg wash, then into the black sesame seeds, and finally into the top of the dough to stamp it with the seeds. Alternatively, you can simply sprinkle the black sesame seeds on top.
To Bake
- Bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for 13–15 minutes. Toward the end of baking if you see the bread rolls are not browning equally, rotate the baking sheet once so that the anpan brown evenly.
- Once the bread is baked, transfer to a wire rack and let it cool. Serve warm or at room temperature immediately. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the bread in an airtight container after it’s been cooled and store at a cool place for 2–3 days or in the freezer for a month.
Hi Nami, thank you for the recipe and video! I followed your recipe almost exactly (used a stand mixer for the bulk of the kneading, and used all milk instead of a mix with water), and also your recipe for the filling using my instant pot. They came out absolutely delicious!! The only issue I saw was that there was a big air pocket above the filling when I cut into them, and the top of the bread was very thin, no rise. Do you have any ideas what could cause that? I did notice that the dough didn’t seem to rise as much throughout (except when they went into the oven). Thanks so much for all the details, it was super helpful and so fun to make (and delicious to eat). I will definitely try many other things on your website!!
Hi Irene, Thank you very much for following Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
The big air pocket above the filling is from the moisture build-up from the filling. During the baking, the steam from the sweet bean paste pushing up the dough and creates a hollow. To avoid it, you can try cooling the sweet bean paste in the refrigerator before using it or reducing the moister a little more when you cook the bean paste. We hope this helps and your next try will be successful! Happy Baking!
Could you make a gluten-free version?
Hi Megan, Thank you very much for your request. We haven’t tested GF flour to try this or rice flour, but we think it’ll come out with different textures. We’ll make sure to add it to the requested recipe list. In the meantime, if you try with GF flour, please let us know how it goes! 🙂
Delicious! Just made these with my preschooler, so they’re definitely not as pretty as yours, but he had a lot of fun. He loves Anpanman so we made some into Anpanman’s face, and they’re a big hit.
Thanks for always providing descriptive and easy-to-follow recipes that show how Japanese cooking can be done even here in the US.
Hi Mandy! Aww… We are so happy to hear your preschooler made the Anpanman Anpan! The story brings back the memory of our kids who did the same things years ago. Kids still remember the time and often talk about it.😄 Yes! We had a lot of fun too.
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.🥰 Happy Baking!
Hi Naomi,
I’m going to freeze my leftovers. What’s your recommended way for reheating? The breads already getting dry so I don’t want them to be even dryer and inedible after freezing
Hi Danielle, Thank you very much for trying this recipe! We recommend placing the frozen Anpan in the Microwave for about 10 seconds and then baked it in the toaster oven for about 2 minutes. We hope this helps, and you can enjoy the leftover too!😊
Probably a stupid question; why can I just use all purpose flour instead of mixing bread flour and cake flour which sort of become all purpose flour at least in terms of protein content. Just curious.
By the way, I’ve made these last week and they were excellent!! I also made anko and white bean paste following your recipes. I thank you for your thorough instructions and patience..
I’d appreciate if you also had a side instructions for those people with mixers. Wasn’t sure how many minutes to knead the dough so I had to incorporate other recipes. Thanks so much again!!
Hi Monica, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! Nami used both flours because all-purpose we don’t know the exact percentage, but with cake flour and bread flour, you can change the ratio to the right amount for the texture you like. You can make up bread or cake flour depends on the texture you like.
Please refer to “Stand Mixer Method” in the Melon Pan recipe for the instruction with the mixer. https://www.justonecookbook.com/melon-pan/
We hope this is helpful.☺️
Hello! I’m excited to try this recipe. Can I substitute heavy cream for the whole milk? if so, what modification do I need to make?
Hi Shirley, Whole milk is about 3.5% fat, and heavy cream is about 36-40% fat. You can dilute it with a little water, but we have never tried it before for this recipe. Sorry.
Hi Nami,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. My husband and I loved the first batch so much, I’m now trying to make it for the second time!
Hi Shannon, Aww… we are so happy to hear you love this Anpan! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
I made this yesterday as a surprise for my Kumamoto-born mother (Issei). It came out better than I could have imagined. One of the anpan exploded from the bottom during baking (I didn’t pinch it closed enough) so that was my taster. Delicious. My mom was very impressed. The bread was soft and flavorful — a perfect counterbalance to the sweet anko. Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Dianne,
Aww. We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you and your family!
Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.💞
Hi Nami, I followed the recipe except I used 25g of sugar instead of 50g. I didn’t quite get the rolling technique right so my filling ended up towards the top when I cut it open but otherwise, it looked fine. I need to find a video that shows how to make the seam smooth. The egg wash ended up being very pale and not that even (although not too bad). I normally don’t add water to my egg wash. Are there any tips you can provide on this? Thanks in advance!
Hi Pam! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Hope the dough was moist enough with the 25 g of sugar. 🙂
The filling is toward the top – this implies that you pulled a bit too much to seal the dough, so the big chunk of dough ended up on the bottom. Next time pull the edges of the dough just slightly OR roll out the dough slightly bigger circle and pull less dough to encase the filling. To seal, all you need to do is to pinch the two edges with two fingers. If you add too much flour, it will prevent sticking/sealing. So don’t use too much. You just need to dust your finger a bit of flour, just enough that dough won’t stick like crazy… Hope I’m making sense?
As for egg wash, you want thin coat of egg wash on the bread not thick, which is why we add water. See my step 27? It’s pretty pale, not even yellow egg color? Or are you talking about the final color of the bread being pale? If so, maybe your bread is not golden brown yet. You can adjust the heat/oven temperature or baking time. Also uneven color is due to oven’s hot spot. You can rotate the baking sheet to prevent that happens. 🙂
Hi Nami, I just watched your video on Facebook. I think I rolled the dough too thin with a rolling pin, and then I rolled it using a cupped hand, as if I were making normal buns which inadvertently pushed the filling up. (I went to culinary school so I know how to make bread and not filled buns). I saw another video where the person did the cupped hand method but will try your method next time. BTW, do you have a recipe for taro buns?
Yes, I did see that your egg wash was pale too, so I probably should have left them in the oven longer to attain the darker colour. However, the bottom was already dark so that’s why I pulled them out. They looked ok, just not like yours so you are right, I should probably rotate the tray and may need to do a double-tray if the bottom was browning faster. My rack is in the middle of the oven.
I cut the sugar in the dough since the paste is already very sweet. It came out fine but perhaps more sugar would extend the shelf life. If baking for my friends, I will not cut the sugar. Thanks again!
Hi Pam! Thank you for your response! Ohh I thought you had a problem with rolling the dough to extend. Sorry, my bad. I didn’t know it was the opposite! I see now, so you rolled out too thin (= too big) so all the extra dough will be at the bottom of the filling. It made sense now.
No, I don’t know how to make the taro filling. We don’t eat taro (purple one?) or taro flavors in Japan, so I’m not sure how to make it but I assume you boil, mash, and sweeten with sugar? It should be similar to red bean paste method…
Is your baking sheet dark color? Dark ones make the bottom of food (cookies, bread) darker too. Thank you again for trying this recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami, I tried it again with purple yam and it turned out great! I didn’t roll it too thin and the filling stayed in the centre. My baking sheet is not a dark colour. I double-trayed it and also rotated it halfway. The colour came out even and nice like yours this time. Thanks again!
Hi Pam! Awww! I’m super happy to hear this! Thank you so much for updating me! I now want to eat purple yam version… 🤤
Hi,
During the pandemic I’ve been trying to keep my children mentally active. So this recipe helped me understand more of the science behind bread. And of course this was THE BEST bread recipe I’ve used. I’d like to know if I can put something else inside besides Anko?
Hi Rachel! Aww thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m so glad you thought it was the best. Thank you for your kind feedback.
Sure! Add custard cream, jam, chocolate, nutella… anything that you want to fill up the bun with. 🙂
A really good friend is moving back to Japan after 20 years in the US. I will miss her so much. Before she goes, we will be meeting up to make Anpan bread. So excited to try your recipe, experience this with her, hear her stories of Japan and her hopes for the future. Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!
Hi Krysia! Wow after 20 years! I hope you two will get to mee in Japan! Hope you two have a great time making Anpan. 🙂
Hello! I’m so happy I found this blog! I’m Japanese, but live in the U.S. and I love anpans!! And, am always looking for other asian recipes. Anyways, I’ve tried a different anpan recipe in the past, but this was one is much better. Turned out so good!
Oh, and also I have a question — why do you have to fold it in thirds after making the individual balls? Is it to knead it a little more before finally baking them? Just curious.
Hi Mihane! It’s important to create a “smooth” surface when you prepare the dough. By folding, the dough extends and creates a smooth surface. You also need to release the gas in the dough too. It’s very common way to make it into a small ball (shape) by folding into thirds.
Want to try your anpan recipe but is it possible to use arrowroot flour and oat flour instead?
Hi Jo! I really wish I know the answer but I’ve never used them so I can’t tell if you can use them. Sorry!
Hi Nami
May I know the reason for 30 deg water and milk?
Hi Cecilia! It’s for the yeast to activate better and for the bread dough to have the right temperature before proofing. 🙂
Hello! For this recipe, I do not have cake flour and am struggling a little with the conversion to All-purpose flower. Could you help? Also, is there anyway to find the nutritional information on this?? Thank you!
Hi Storm! So you have bread flour and all-purpose flour? You have cornstarch to make homemade cake flour? Please follow this method shared in this post:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/cake-flour/
Also, I’m sorry. I do not have the nutritional information at this time, but it’s in our plan… we just don’t have the capacity right now to work on 700+ recipes to add this information.