Eggless Papparoti / Rotiboy Coffee Buns are absolutely delicious buttery soft buns with a crisp coffee flavoured crust. When I first heard about papparoti or rotiboy, I thought it was the name of the buns, but they are the International Coffee shop chains and they are famous for the coffee buns. I even read in a blog that both say that they started the coffee buns and they are different. But to look they are very similar. But as I haven’t tasted them personally, I really can’t say much about them.
What makes Papparoti / Rotiboy different from other buns?
The crust is what makes all the difference. When you bite into it, you clearly bite through the crispy crunchy coffee crust and then reach the soft crumb of the bun. It is really amazing. I have already made two batches and they are all gone. Yes, these buns are quite addictive. But make sure that you serve them fresh, on the day of baking. The next day, the topping becomes very soft.

I also made a reel in instagram about how to pipe the topping and also sliced the buns for the inside crumb shot. Hope this gives you a better idea when you make them at home. Also if you haven’t yet followed me on insta, please do it as I share my experiments and day to day activities along with recipes over there.
Another specialty of coffee buns is that, they are stuffed with a small block of butter, which melts while baking and crates an absolutely buttery base. I tried it with my first coffee buns, and it was too heavy for my taste. As I also have been on restricted calories for years, my body doesn’t take it really well. So I didn’t add the butter block in this recipe. But if you like it, then add five gm of frozen butter in each bun. Add it inside and shape the buns. It will be amazing.
Tangzong is one of my favourtie ways of making bread. I have also tried Yudane method, but I like the result of tangzong much better than yudane. Tangzong is making a custard by cooking milk and flour whereas yudane is just mixing hot water to flour. I have heard people saying that yudane is the best, but I beg to differ. For me tangzong is the only method that gives super soft and light bread. These buns also turned out extremely light and soft. So if you haven’t tried tangzong, this would be a better time to try. And I promise, you will never go back to other recipes. Check out my tangzong pav recipe, it is a super hit among readers.

The recipes across blogs are made with eggs in both the buns and the crust. As I wanted to make them egg free, I made up my own recipe. But the problem with coming up with a new recipe is that it is not tried and tested and you really don’t know how it will end up. My first attempt, I used sourdough bun for the base and made an egg free coffee mix. That day, I was also recording for my sourdough class and I let the dough over prove. Then the crust mix was too thick and the buns came out nothing like papparoti/rotiboy. But they were still good to taste and we enjoyed them.

You can see from the image above, my crust mix was too thick. Though it looks beautiful, it didn’t met in heat and form an even crust. It stayed as it is. And the bun was also flat. Check the photo below. They are the final buns and no way resemble the original buns.
I like to use instant yeast in my recipes, but if you have dry yeast, you can use the same quantity as suggested in the recipe. But you need to prove the yeast before adding to the flour. Use some water from the recipe itself to prove the yeast before adding. If using fresh yeast, add 3 tsp of fresh yeast, dissolve it in some water from the recipe and use. I use Weismill Instant yeast. It is easily available from Amazon in small quantities.

Update on flour to be used
After I posted the recipe, I got so many queries about the bread flour I use. I will add the link to the bread flour here. You can purchase it from their website. Please check Chef’s Call to buy ( click on the name). They also have whole wheat bread flour which is also amazing. This is by far the most inexpensive bread flour I have seen in India. If you know any other brands, please let me know in comments.

Eggless Papparoti / Rotiboy Coffee Buns Recipe
Ingredients
- Tangzong:
- 12 gm Maida
- 50 ml Milk
- For The Buns:
- 200 gm Bread Flour
- 50 gm Sugar
- 1 tbs Milk Powder
- 1 tsp Instant Yeast
- 25 gm Butter
- Water as needed
- For The Coffee Topping:
- 30 gm Butter
- 30 gm Icing Sugar
- 30 ml Milk
- 35 gm Maida
- 2 tsp Coffee Powder
- Vanilla
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine milk and maida and mix until there are no lumps.
- Heat on medium flame and cook the mixture until it becomes thick and leaves the sides of the pan.
- Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film. Make sure that the cling film touches the tangzong, so that it doesn’t form skin while cooling.
- Allow it to cool completely and come to room temperature.
- IN the bowl of a stand mixer, combine bread flour, sugar, the cooled down tangzong, butter, instant yeast, milk powder.
- Combine all ingredients on speed 1.
- Add water little by little until everything comes together to slightly sticky dough.
- Knead the dough for seven minutes in stand mixer or ten minutes by hand until it is soft, elastic and smooth.
- Apply oil on the dough, place it in a clean bowl and cover with cling film.
- Allow it to double in volume.
- Now take it back to counter, slightly degas it and divide into six equal portions.
- Roll each into a tight ball with all the creases to the bottom.
- Arrange them on a baking tray 2” apart.
- Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
- At the same time, preheat your oven to 200C.
- When the buns are proving, prepare the topping.
- Dissolve coffee powder in milk and set aside.
- IN a bowl, cream together butter and icing sugar.
- Add vanilla and milk coffee mix.
- The mixture will look curdled but it is fine.
- Finally add the flour and mix to form a thick batter which easily falls off the spoon.
- Transfer this to a piping bag and snip the edge of the bag to make a tiny hole.
- Using this mixture, pipe the topping on the buns. Go round in circles to top the buns.
- Once all the toppings are piped, bake the buns for 25 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Remove from oven and let them cool on wire rack. Serve it warm.
I am huge fan of your recipes and can’t wait to try this one! I have some doubts though-
1. How is bread flour different from Wheat four and all purpose flour?
2. Can yo please tell us the conversion of weight to cups.
Thanks a lot
Thank you. Bread flour is high protein flour and also high in gluten. All purpose has lesser gluten compared to bread flour, but you can use it in this recipe. Whole wheat is very low in gluten so you won’t get lighter buns. As for cup measures, there are various cup measures available in market, so it has become extremely confusing. That is the reason I am posting in weight measures.
How much gluten should be added to the maida
3-5 gm per 100 gm of maida
Hello Gayathri,
Thank you for this recipe.
How much water did you use for this recipe approximately?
Thanks in advance.
Looking forward to making these buns this weekend.
Every flour absorbs water differently. I just use as much as needed to bring the dough together.
Thank you for the response.
I have one more query –
These buns are amazing. Thank you for this recipe.
Iv noticed that after baking when I store the buns in an air tight container, and use the next day- the coffee shell becomes soggy. How can I can prevent this Gayathri?
Thanks in advance .
The crust stays crisp only when they are fresh. Next day it softens up. I don’t think we can do anything to preserve the crispness. This happens with any bread recipe.
Good morning
Which company gluten can be used, as was thinking of using maida
Also without gluten can the texture be same as wht you have got?
Regards
Gluten is optional when you use maida. But still it gives good strength to the dough and improves the final texture. I use vital wheat gluten from Urban Platter.
Absolutely loved this eggless recipe for Papparoti Rotiboy Coffee Buns! The texture looks amazing, and I can’t wait to try it out. Thank you, Gayathri, for sharing such a delightful treat!