I haven’t had much time to play around in the kitchen recently, especially when it doesn’t concern work. So after a stressful week and with a quiet weekend ahead of me I was in the mood for a cooking project. And I had a specific project in mind. I was craving fried chicken sandwiches. That seemed like a perfect way to spend a quiet day at home to me.

The chicken element is pretty classic, a spiced buttermilk brine and a spiced flour coating. I add in some cornflour as the starch helps to create a light crisp coating. The buns are the extra special element in this recipe, they’ll be the fluffiest buns you will ever make and that is down to the tangzhong method. This is a method by which a small amount of flour and milk are cooked together to make a thick paste. This gelatinises the starches and enables the dough to hold onto more water. This allows the buns to get better oven spring and will make for the absolute fluffiest buns you’ll ever make.

If you’re not already following me over on TikTok (yes I’m one of those people who is way too old to be on tiktok but I’m really enjoying it) I am posting videos of the buns and the chicken.

Fried Chicken
Serves 4

200g plain flour
50g cornflour
4 chicken breasts
750ml buttermilk
60ml hot sauce
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cayenne powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp mustard powder
1/2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp fine sea salt

Milk Bread Burger Buns
makes 8 large buns

385g strong white bread flour
240ml whole milk
1 tsp fine sea salt
7g fast action dried yeast
3 tbsp caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs

The day before you want to make these sandwiches we are going to prep the chicken. Into a bowl add the flour and cornflour (this starch helps make a super crisp batter) and mix together. In a small bowl add all of the seasonings and mix together. Add half of this seasoning mix to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Cover this and set aside for the moment.  In a large bowl pour in the buttermilk and hot sauce and mix in the remaining spice mixture.

Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of clingfilm and use a rolling pin to bash so that each piece is evenly thick, about 2cm thick. Place the chicken into the buttermilk, cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. You can do this for less time of you want but I prefer to let this go at least 8 hours. This buttermilk mixture is a lot so you can add more chicken to it if you want to serve a few more people, just make sure the chicken is fully coated. If using more than 4 breasts a good way to do this is to add everything to a large ziplock bag so everything can be coated more easily than in a bowl. 

For the bread place 4 tbsp of the flour and about 80ml of the milk into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes a thick gluey paste. Immediately scrape this into a small bowl and set aside for the moment. If you don’t immediately make the bread dough you’ll want to cover this so the paste doesn’t form a skin.

Place all of the bread dough ingredients, including the paste, into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, and knead on low/medium speed for about 10-15 minutes or until the dough is clearing the sides of the bowl and is smooth and elastic. The dough should also pass the window pane test at this stage. Place the dough into a bowl and cover, setting aside until doubled in size, about an hour.

Knock back the dough and divide into 8 equal sized pieces, forming each into a neat ball of dough. Place the buns onto two parchment lined baking trays and lightly cover, setting aside until almost doubled in size, about an hour. To test the buns are ready to bake you can poke one of the buns with a floured finger. If the dough springs back slowly and not all the way it is ready. If the dough springs back quickly and completely the dough needs longer, if the dough doesn’t spring back at all it is likely over-proofed. 

20 minutes or so before the buns are ready to bake preheat to oven to 210ºC (190ºC fan).

Brush the risen buns with a beaten egg and then bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a deep golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool. As the buns cool you’ll notice they wrinkle a little and become little soft squidgy pillows. This is an effect of the tangzhong method and is an indication you’ve made incredibly fluffy buns. 

For the fried chicken we need to fill a saucepan 1/2-2/3 full of vegetable oil and heat over medium heat until it reaches 170ºC. If you have a deep fryer you can of course use this instead. Whilst coming to temperature we can finish the prep for the chicken. 

Tip the flour into a wide shallow container (a rimmed baking sheet or roasting dish works well). Spoon a little of the buttermilk mixture into the flour and stir to combine. These add little extra crunchy bits of batter to your fried chicken. Using tongs lift the chicken breasts from the buttermilk, letting any excess drain back into the bowl, and lay in the flour mixture, turning so that both sides are well covered. 

Carefully lower the chicken into the hot oil and cook for about 7-8 minutes or until golden brown. If the chicken is browned much before this you may want to check the internal temperature to make sure the chicken is fully cooked through (this would be 75ºC). Remove the chicken from the oil and set on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

To serve slice a bun in half and serve with with spicy mayo, pickles, shredded lettuce and whatever other toppings you prefer.