Helen Goh’s secret to making soft and fluffy finger buns

October 11, 2025
12:23 am

In her first solo cookbook, the quiet force behind Yotam Ottolenghi explores how the mindful act of cooking allows us to create meaning in our lives.

Helen Goh, known for her impeccable technique as the quiet force behind Yotam Ottolenghi, steps into the spotlight with her first solo book, Baking and the Meaning of Life.

The book is a full-circle moment for the Australian-raised pastry chef, who trained as a clinical psychologist before her culinary career took off. In it, the popular Good Weekend recipe contributor explores how the mindful act of cooking allows us to create meaning in our lives.

Organised thematically, the chapters delve into baking’s role in life’s important moments, including giving, receiving and sharing; nurturing; ritual and tradition; and community and belonging. As Goh explains in the introduction: “Each of these moments of connection is a building block of meaning that is strengthened and enriched through baking.”

Make a tray of her pink-iced vanilla cake for a bake sale, and you’ve created a powerful community bond. Allow a child to make chocolate chip cookies, and you’re not just sharing a skill, you might learn something yourself – as Goh did when she discovered that her favourite recipe could be made entirely plant-based.

If you’re ready for some mindful baking, here’s a taste of what’s inside Goh’s latest cookbook.

– Roslyn Grundy, Good Food recipe editor

Asian-style milk bread provides a tender base for these strawberry iced finger buns.Laura Edwards

Strawberry iced finger buns

I sometimes buy finger buns from the supermarket, ostensibly for the kids, but the truth is I love them as much as they do. For the minute or two it takes to eat them, I’m a child again. But while it’s joyous sinking your teeth into those pillowy soft buns on day one, there’s something slightly disturbing when they remain ever soft on days three or four. What is even in them? So I thought I’d have a go at making my own.

I use an Asian-style milk bread that’s soft and slightly sweetened, its rich flavour coming from egg, milk powder and a little butter. The strip of strawberry icing at the end gives it just the right amount of sweetness. So easy to eat!

INGREDIENTS

Milk bread

150ml full-cream milk
2 tsp active dried yeast
30g caster sugar
375g plain flour
75ml water, boiling hot
15g milk powder
¾ tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
50g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm pieces, then left to soften
vegetable oil, for greasing

Icing

60g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
300g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
20g liquid glucose (optional)

METHOD

To make the bread, put the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Set aside to cool to 38C – cool enough to touch – then whisk in the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Let it stand to allow the yeast to activate and froth, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place 75g of the flour in a small heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water over and mix with a spoon to form a stiff, shaggy paste. Cover the bowl and set aside to cool.
Put the remaining 300g of flour, the milk powder, salt and the remaining 20g of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and stir with a whisk to combine. Add the flour and water paste, the yeast/milk mixture and the egg and mix with the dough hook on a low speed for about 2 minutes, until a scraggly dough forms.
Add the butter, a little at a time, until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 3 minutes, until smooth. Scrape the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead gently for a couple of minutes, then shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, around 1-2 hours, depending on the temperature of the room.
Meanwhile, prepare a baking tin (about 35cm × 25cm measured across the base) by lining it with baking paper.
When the dough has doubled in size, knock it down with your fist and turn it out onto a clean work surface. Cut it into 12 equal pieces, roughly 60g each. Taking one piece at a time, press the dough into a rough square about 10cm. Starting from the side closest to you, roll up into a small log, pinching and smoothing the ends and seam to seal, creating a little sausage. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, and place them 2cm apart on the lined baking tray.
Cover the tray loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until doubled in size.
When the buns are well risen, preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced (190C conventional).
Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the icing, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz together until smooth. Drizzle over the tops of the cooled buns, and allow the icing to set before eating.

Makes 12

Tips

Asking you to boil the milk and then let it cool might seem a bit crazy, but there’s method in the madness. The process of boiling the milk breaks down the proteins and results in a softer, more tender bread. It also makes the milk more effective in hydrating the flour, improving the texture of the dough. But make sure to cool the milk before mixing in the yeast – that’s essential to get the rise.
The method of mixing flour with boiling water is an Asian bread-making technique used to create soft, fluffy bread. It involves pre-cooking a portion of the flour and water to gelatinise the starches, which helps to retain moisture in the bread.

One Penny Cake.Laura Edwards

One Penny cake

Some of my British friends talk nostalgically about “school dinner cake”: shallow squares of cake from their school days that they loved because they got icing with every mouthful. I’d heard it was also called Tottenham cake, and decided to do some research.

It turns out this cake was a tray bake invented by Quakers in Tottenham, North London. The cakes were economical to make, embodying the Quaker values of simplicity and equality, right down to the distinctive pink icing, which was made from mulberries picked in the grounds of the Quaker’s Meeting House. First made in 1901, the cakes sold for a penny a slice.

I love this story (and the cake!), and have made it many times for bake sales at the boys’ school. The cake doesn’t need any fancy ingredients and can be made quickly and easily in a large quantity. I bake a couple of trays and cut them up into squares. The slices are small enough for children to hold as they walk, and they still have an appetite for something else at the sale.

INGREDIENTS

6 large eggs
400g caster sugar
240ml full-cream milk
150g unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
2½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp fine sea salt
sprinkles

Icing

400g icing sugar
80g mulberries (or strawberries), halved (see tip)
25g liquid glucose (optional)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional), and line the base and sides of a 20cm × 30cm baking tin with baking paper.
Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed for 8-10 minutes, until thick and the mixture holds a trail.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the milk and butter over medium heat until the butter has melted, then remove from the heat. Add the vanilla, then set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the egg mixture and fold them in with a large whisk until combined. Add the hot milk mixture and fold it through gently until incorporated, then pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Place the tin on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing, place all the ingredients in a food processor and process to a smooth and slightly runny icing.
Spread the icing over the top of the cake and scatter the sprinkles on top before it sets. Using a large serrated knife, trim the edges of the sponge and cut into 15 equal pieces (about 6cm × 6cm).

Makes 15 slices

Tips

I buy mulberries frozen from an Iranian grocer, but strawberries make a good substitute if you can’t find mulberries.
This cake is also great for a birthday picnic: ice the cake directly in the tin once it has cooled, adding sprinkles before the icing sets, then take the whole tin to the picnic and divide the cake into portions once the candles are out.

These crisp and chewy chocolate chip cookies are suitable for vegans.Laura Edwards

Crisp and chewy chocolate chip cookies

One day in the school holidays, as I was madly baking while also looking after the kids, my younger son, Jude, and his friend decided to join in the baking. (Just what I needed!) They lighted upon the chocolate chip cookie recipe in Sweet and began weighing up the ingredients. But when it came to cracking the eggs (Jude’s favourite part), we realised there were none left in the house.

Fortuitously, the cause of this minor disaster also provided its solution. I had been testing recipes and found myself with quite a quantity of egg whites left over. I told the boys that it was perfectly normal, of course, to skip the yellow part of the egg when making cookies, and to my shock, they turned out perfectly!

Riding my luck, the next day I made another batch of cookies, this time using aquafaba in place of the egg whites. Again, it worked beautifully. So here is an entirely plant-based version of my favourite chocolate chip cookies.

INGREDIENTS

300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ tsp fine sea salt
220g plant-based butter
160g soft light-brown sugar
120g caster sugar
120g aquafaba (liquid from canned chickpeas or beans)
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g roasted pecan nuts, roughly chopped
250g dark chocolate (60-70 per cent cocoa), either chocolate chips or roughly chopped, plus 50g extra to top the cookies
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

METHOD

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and dribble the aquafaba down the side of the bowl. When it has all been added, stop the machine to scrape the bottom and side of the bowl. The batter can look a little curdled or split at this point, depending on the type of plant-based butter you use; don’t worry, it will come back together.
Add the vanilla and beat on medium-low for a few seconds to combine, then add the dry ingredients in three batches, beating on low speed for a few seconds between each addition. When almost incorporated, add the pecans and chocolate and mix for a few seconds just to combine. Finish folding the batter with a flexible spatula, then scrape it into a container. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 3 days.
When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional), and line two large baking trays with baking paper.
Pinch off and roll golf-ball-sized pieces of the dough (about 45g) and place on the lined trays, about 6cm apart to allow space for them to spread. Press some of the extra chopped chocolate lightly on top of each cookie, then sprinkle with a little pinch of flaky sea salt. Bake for about 12 minutes – they will brown at the edges and remain slightly paler in the centre when done. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the trays (they are fragile when warm) before serving.

Makes 24

Tips

If the dough is very soft, use an ice-cream scoop with a latch-release mechanism to form the cookie balls. Release the dough balls directly onto the baking tray to avoid handling them too much.
For perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to shape the hot cookies when they come out of the oven: place the cutter ring over each cookie and move the cutter quickly in a circular pattern so that the edges of the cookies are neatened.

Lao Gan Ma (Old Godmother’s) chilli crisp adds kick to these cheese biscuits.Laura Edwards

Lao Gan Ma cheese biscuits

My friend Sherry and I have known each other since we worked together in Australia 30 years ago. My move to London, and hers back to her native Canada, have put paid to our regular long walks, but Sherry often comes to stay with us. Not being fond of plane food, she always packs herself a picnic for her flight, and when I send her off, I pack one for the flight back – and never without these biscuits. They go well with champagne, she tells me!

The idea came when I had a jar of Lao Gan Ma (Old Godmother’s) chilli crisp in the fridge (as I usually do). With its complex, savoury flavours, it can be used in so many ways – as a condiment, a marinade, a dipping sauce … I began to wonder, what about in cheese biscuits, to add some texture and a nice kick of heat? I tried it out, and the trusty Godmother provided just the punch I was looking for. Serve these with drinks and watch them disappear.

INGREDIENTS

20g black and/or white sesame seeds
150g plain flour
70g finely grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp caster sugar
¾ tsp fine sea salt
80g unsalted butter, cold and diced
25g chilli crisp (see tip)
1 egg yolk
1½ tsp lemon juice
40g (about 4 stalks) spring onion, thinly sliced

METHOD

Place the sesame seeds on a baking tray and set aside.
Place the flour, parmesan, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture is crumbly, then add the chilli crisp, egg yolk and lemon juice. Pulse until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand, then tip it into a large bowl and add the spring onion. Stir to incorporate, then knead gently to form a ball.
On a clean work surface, roll the dough into a log about 25cm long and 4cm in diameter. Place the log on the tray with the sesame seeds, then roll the log until it is covered in the seeds. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Don’t worry if the dough is slightly soft and misshapen for now; it will firm up in the fridge.
Remove the log from the fridge and, without removing the plastic wrap, roll it into a more even shape, then refrigerate until firm – up to 3 days.
When ready to bake, line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional).
Slice the cheese log into coins that are just under 1cm thick and place them a few centimetres apart on the lined baking tray. If they break, just smoosh them back together. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. The base of the biscuits will be a deeper reddish-brown from the chilli oil as well as the direct contact with the heat of the tray – this is as it should be.
The biscuits are soft when warm, but will crisp up when they cool down.

Makes about 25

Tips

Use your favourite brand of chilli crisp, or your own home-made version. I use Lao Gan Ma brand, but they will all work. Too much oil will make the dough soft and waxy, so leave as much of the oil in the jar as possible.
The biscuits can be eaten on the day they are baked, but are at their best a day or two after, when they’ve dried out a little and the flavours have had time to meld together. They will keep, loosely wrapped in foil, for up to 5 days.