Sweet Potato Mantou

Made these in March 2012

I've bookmarked this recipe from Wendy's blog for the longest time but just couldn't find a chance to make it.  The body engine just refuse to ignite.  Along the way, this recipe was forgotten until I saw Wendy's Rose Mantou, so pretty!!

I tried my hands on rose shaping but see how they turned out, pathetic looking roses.  After the 2nd proof, the dough look nothing like roses, just a pile of mess :-(

Googled and found this easy to make rose method by Kristy. With some leftover lotus paste from last year's mooncake making, I used them as fillings here.

Though not perfect, these definitely look more like a flower (^_^)

Or should I just stay with croissant shaping?

Soft and fluffy inside, not too sweet too.  I like :-)

 

Sweet Potato Mantou Recipe

Ingredients

250g steamed sweet potato

150ml water (if using purple sweet potato, use 200ml water)

500g Pau/Hong Kong/Super Lite flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g sugar

50g shortening/Crisco (I used butter instead)

1/4 tsp salt

11g instant yeast (I used 3 tsp)

Method

1. Mash sweet potato, or blitz sweet potato with 120ml water to get a fine paste.
2. With balance of water, mix with yeast.
3. Combine everything except shortening and mix to form a dough.
4. Put in shortening and knead until dough is smooth. Add slightly more flour is dough is way too sticky to handle. If the dough is sticky but can retain its form, like not slacking down, just continue to knead, the gluten just hasn’t form, there’s no need to add extra flour.
5. Cover and let dough proof until double, about 45 mins.
6. Punch down dough and knead for 1-2 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 50gm portions and shape accordingly.
8. Cover and let the formed dough proof until doubled for another 45 minutes.
9. Steam on high heat for 12 minutes.  

Pain au lait (Milk Bread)

It had been a while since I last made bread. I can't remember when was the last time I used my bread machine but there was once I used it to knead my pizza dough, I heard strange noises. It sounded like something came loose. The dough was kneaded, nothing unordinary and we had pizza.

Several months back, I decided to try out this Pain au lait recipe that I've shortlisted in Pook's blog. After weighing out the ingredients, they went into the bread machine and I went on my usual routine. The bread machine started to knead and I heard the noise again, then the machine stopped. Took a peek and what I saw was the ingredients were in it's original state. Darn!  I didn't want to waste the ingredients so I hand-kneaded.  It was a mess pouring out the ingredients.

Actually, I enjoy hand-kneading as I find it very therapeutic.  A great workout and a good time to destress.  But due to time constraint, I am very dependant on my breadmachine.  Oh well, now that it's dead, do I think I'll make more bread?  I guess not.  I just can't spare the time.  If you've been reading my blog, you'll know I don't blog as much as I used to now.

(Sis E passed me her breadmachine upon knowing my machine died on me, but it had been on the shelf since Aug 2010 and I've not baked a single loaf of bread :P)

I like how these bread turned out, soft and fluffy.  And an additional note, buttery too!

Pain au lait (Milk Bread)
Ingredients
(A)
230g All purpose flour
60g Bread flour
38g Sugar
4g Instant yeast

(B)
125g Whole milk
1 Egg (approx 50g)

(C)
5g Salt
63g Unsalted butter
Some sugar, for sprinkle

Method

1. Mix (A) till well blended. Add (B) to form a dough. Add in (C) and knead until dough is elastic and smooth (the dough should not stick to your hand now).
2. Gather dough to form a ball and cover dough with cling wrap and let it rest for abt 50-60 mins or double in size.
3. Divide dough into 10 equal portions. Shape into balls and leave it to rest for 10 - 15 mins.  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle, about 8 cm. Fold the dough and roll into a small batard.
4. Let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
5. Before baking, brush the dough with egg wash and use a scissor to cut the top of the dough .  Sprinkle the pearl sugar (I used fine sugar) on top.
6. Bake dough in preheated oven of 210ºC for abt 10 - 12 mins, or until the bread is golden.

Pretzels

I was able to churn out nice warm breads on alternate days but not anymore now. Come to think of it, the last time I had piping hot loaves of bread from my oven was in November 2009. And that explains why kids are playing with dough made with expired flour so often now.

As I've mentioned earlier, my weighing scale died. I do have another weighing scale at home but it's for a 5kg load and each marker is for 25g measurement. It is so difficult to gauge if I need a 15g ingredient. With DH's intensive travelling schedule, I do not want to spend too much time in shopping malls as I'll rather bring the kids outdoor.

I remember I have a pretzel recipe in cup measurements and decided to make it again, for our afternoon tea.  I made 4 different flavours, parmesan cheese, salt, currants and cinnanon sugar.

These look more like pretzels but still, not too nicely shaped.

And the fat and ugly pretzels :P

When it's fresh from the oven, it tasted very much like Auntie Anne's pretzels.  I cannot remember where I got this recipe from so can't credit the originator.

Pretzels
Ingredients
2/3 cup water (use 1/2 cup first, add more if dough is too dry)
1/3 cup icing sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp corn oil
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 3/4 cups plain flour

Bath solution
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp baking soda
*mix together and stir till dissolved

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 45 - 60 mins or till double in size.
3. Preheat oven to 220C.
4. Divide the risen dough to 8-12 even portions.
5. Form it into pretzels.
6. Dip each pretzel into the bath solution and then let it dry on a tea towel to absorb the extra water.
7. Sprinkle salt on the unbaked pretzels for a salted pretzel. If you want sweet pretzels, don't salt it.
8. Bake the pretzels for 10 minutes or till golden brown.
9. Remove from oven, brush with melted butter (I was lazy so I skipped this step).

Oreo Cookie Bread

This was baked a long time ago and I totally forgotten about it. 

I've never thought of adding cookies into a bread recipe but when I saw this recipe in Irene's blog, I went to buy a pack of Oreo cookies just to bake this.

The bread was soft but I didn't think it was creamy enough.  Nevertheless, my children love this bread.

The recipe originally calls for margarine but I substituted with butter.  As usual, I doubled the recipe and kept 1/2 portion baked bread in my freezer for future consumption.

Oreo Cookie Bread
(adapted from myrecipe.org)
Ingredients
500g bread flour
340g fresh milk
1 egg
40g sugar
6g salt
110g oreo cookies (crushed)
20g butter
2tsp yeast

Method

1. Add fresh milk into your bread machine.
2. Add the crushed oreo cookies into your bread machine.
3. Add the remainings ingredients into your bread machine and set to Dough function.Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
4. Let it proof in machine for 1 hour or till double in size.
5. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
6. Divide dough into 5 equal portions and shape into balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
7. Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape, then roll up lengthwise, swiss roll style. Pinch to seal all sides.
8. Place dough (seam side down) in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Proof for another 1 hour or until dough is double in size.
9. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180C for 20 to 25mins.
10. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.
11. Slice and enjoy.

Proud Mother

Scenario 1
Date: Sunday, 8 Nov 2009
Venue: Victoria Theatre
DD1's ballet teacher organised a ballet concert for her students. I wasn't looking forward to it as I was literally home alone then and there were just too much chores to be done. Also, it was my first time to bun up her hair but I haven't got the time to scout around for the hair net and bobby pins. OMG! It was a mad rush. I finally bought the hair net on Friday night and did a trial hair do on Sat. It wasn't that difficult after all.

The hair net and the U bobby pins.

Her hair wasn't too long, barely touching her shoulders and the ends and sides kept falling. I didn't bother to gel her hair since it was just a trial and had no wish to spend too much time washing her hair. Relatively easy as I took less than 10 mins to complete the bun and used only 3 U bobby pins :)

All ready for the concert.

This was taken after her concert and her bun was intact after 12 long hours ^-^

The concert was great and I'm truly very proud of her. I didn't expect her earnest attitude towards ballet as I do understand my girl is always going around disturbing her friends during lessons or dreaming in her own world and the teacher feedback she needs to be very strict with DD1. Also, during the ballet open house, we only get to watch some exercises and not a full dance performance. But when she performed on stage that day, she was full of seriousness in expression and attitude. As far as I'm concern, she did a great job and it was a memorable night for us.

Scenario 2
Date: Wednesday, 11 Nov 2009
Venue: Home
DS2: Mummy, you are a good cooker.
Me: Huh? What is a good "cooker"?
DS2: You cook nice food for us, chicken rice, char siew, nice fish and yummy soup.
DS2: You are also a good homebaker.
Me: Why do you say that?
DS2: Because you bake nice bread, cakes, cookies, brownies and muffins for us.

I smiled and gave him a big kiss and hug. He is such a sweetie :) Now, who says I'm wasting my time in the kitchen and neglecting my young children?
Enough of my raving and now back to baking. Some time back, I saw this Cinnamon Sugar Bread in Irene's blog and it went into my To-Do list. I'm not exactly a fan of cinnamon but since the review was a good soft loaf, I decided to give it a try but reduced the ground cinnamon accordingly.

The dough was very sticky and I had to add in another 2 tablespoons of flour. I shaped them into 5 equal portions and baked in my loaf pan and baking tray.


Verdict: A very soft and light loaf :-)

The girls in the family enjoyed this loaf but unfortunately, my son doesn't like the taste of cinnamon and grimaced at his first bite. I thought the next time I bake this, I might just omit cinnamon altogether.


Cinnamon Sugar Loaf
(original recipe adapted from here)
Ingredients
240m milk
55g butter
1 egg
410g + 2 TBSP bread flour
100g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons yeast

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 1 hour or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Divide dough into 5 equal portions and shape into balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
5. Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape, then roll up lengthwise, swiss roll style. Pinch to seal all sides.
6. Place dough (seam side down) in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Proof for another 1 hour or until dough is double in size.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180C for 20 to 25mins.
8. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Sweet Potato Bread II

The baking bug was here to bite! I've been baking bread after bread despite doubling the recipe, and there was none left for freezing. For every bake, there were 2 loaves. 1 loaf was eaten up fresh from the oven by my 3 gluttons (and myself :P) and the other loaf for our breakfast the next morning.

Some time back, I've made this Sweet Potato Bread. At that point in time, I've got 2 recipes on hand but I decided to adapt Honey Bee Sweets' recipe first. Today, I decided to try out the other recipe from hidehide's blog. Again, it's a purple sweet potato recipe but I changed it using orange-coloured sweet potato instead.

Both recipes yielded soft loaves. Sister E tried a sweet potato bread recipe from her breadmachine's recipe book and gave good reviews too. I guess we can't go wrong with sweet potatoes ;-)

Made 3 small porcupines with this recipe, it was cute to look at but when shaped into small buns, the bread somehow lost it's texture, it became dry but my children love it to bits for it was just too cute for them (at least for the 2 elder ones).

While I was updating this blog, I just realised that both recipes are very similiar except that for this recipe, it uses less butter and sweet potato. For texture wise, both tasted great and stayed soft on 2nd day.

Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients
400g bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
40g sugar
2 tsp yeast
150ml warm water (I use tap water)
1 egg
40g butter
200g purple sweet potato, steamed and mashed

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 45 - 60 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Divide dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
5. Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape, then roll up lengthwise, swiss roll style to form a long rope. Pinch to seal all sides.
6. Place dough (seam side down) in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Proof for another 45-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170C - 180C for 25 to 30mins.
8. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Peanut Butter Bread

It had been a while since I last bake a loaf of bread. When I don't bake, I totally forgot about it but once I get started, I couldn't myself from baking :P

Attempted HHB's Peanut Butter Bread since my peanut butter had been sitting in my fridge for the longest time.

Originally a breadmachine recipe but I had it plaited and baked it in my oven instead. . And instead of using powdered milk since I don't have any at home, I replaced water with full-cream milk.

Baked it in my 9" x 5" loaf pan as I don't have a pullman loaf pan.

Here's another one plaited but slightly longer.

And it went into my 4" round pan.

The bread was soft and airy, BUT I thought the bread tasted rancid but kids love it. Again, another recipe that couldn't please everyone.

Peanut Butter Bread

Ingredients

300ml milk

3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

1 tablespoon oil

450g (3 cups) bread flour

1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons caster sugar

1 & 1/4 teaspoons instant or fast-acting dried yeast

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Divide dough into 2 portions (optional). Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 45-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
5. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180C for 30 to 35mins.
6. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Matcha Red Bean Loaf

Besides our pizza dinner, I made Matcha Red Bean Loaf using the trusted milk loaf recipe as I was trying to finish up my can of matcha before expiry.

I made 2 loaves, one with red bean paste, one plain loaf and 4 mini buns for the little hands.

Today, I added an extra teaspoon of matcha and the colour was a nice vibrant green and we could taste the matcha in this bread :)

Argh!! I forgot to take a picture of the loaf before slicing as I was in a hurry to pick up my cranky 20 months old. I'm happy with what I see inside :) Unfortunately, the kids and DH don't like the red bean paste and preferred the plain loaf.

Matcha Red Bean Milk Loaf
(Recipe adapted from Happy Homebaker)
250g fresh/UHT milk
1 egg
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
500g bread flour
2tsp Instant yeast
70g butter (unsalted)
4 tsp matcha (green tea powder)

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a big rectangle. The width of the dough should be slightly bigger than the length of your loaf tin/pan. Roll out the dough as long as you can manage. Spread the dough with a layer of red bean paste(or any filling of your choice). Roll up tightly (make as many rolls/turns as you can) swiss-roll style. Pinch the dough to seal the seam tightly.
5. Place dough (seam side down) in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough proof for the second time for about 45~60 mins.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180C for 30 to 35mins.
7. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Light Oat Bread

This is originally a breadmachine recipe. I've tried baking it a few times in the breadmachine but I always get a sunken top. After reducing the liquid, the top is flat, like a square-top but not domed. I tried baking in my oven instead and it's so much better so I stopped using my breadmachine to bake this.

I was trying to imitate those oat bread outside but looks like I still have a lot of room for improvement :P

My loaves of Light Oat Bread, simply delectable!

I added some raisins to this little bun.

Light Oat Bread

Ingredients
320 ml water
40 g butter
1/2 tsp salt
500 g all-purpose flour
50 g rolled oats
40 g brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 35 - 40 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Divide dough into required portions and shape into balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
5. Shape accordingly and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170C - 180C for 25 to 30mins.
7. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Egg in Toast

Ma-Li from M4M shared this and I've been making this for our breakfast.

It's pretty obvious which shape goes to who.

Note: Use a smaller size egg if the cut-out hole is too small, else will end up like me where the egg white covered the shape of the cut-out. I use 60g eggs with shell.

Egg in Toast

Ingredients

2 slices bread

1 slice cheddar cheese

1 egg

Method

1. Cut a slice of cheese into 4 strips. Place one at each side on a piece of bread, covering the edges (this is to prevent the egg from leaking).
2. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the centre of another piece of bread (or you may use a knife to cut a square) and place it to top of the one with cheese.
3. Crack an egg into the hole.
4. You may either toast it in an oven until bread is brown and egg is semi cooked or in a preheated oven of 180C and bake for about 10 - 12 mins (depending on your oven temperature).
   

Sweet Potato Bread

Sometime back, I bought some purple sweet potatoes as I wanted to make a purple sweet potato bread using the 17hour bread method. However, while waiting for the recipe, the sweet potatoes turned bad and I had to discard them :-(

My girlfriend, I, attempted a sweet potato bread and I thought of adapting her recipe. After surfing the net, I found another recipe using the same amount of flour but double the amount of sweet potato. Yes, I decide to use this instead as I prefer a more vibrant coloured bread :)

I divided the dough into 3 portions and had them plaited. I was hoping to get a tall bread but it was a mistake. I should have used up 3/4 portion for the loaf and the balance 1/4 separately as the bread deflated sightly when I was slicing it. Maybe it's time I get myself a pullman loaf pan? Oh, what a lame excuse :P

The texture of this bread is soft and fluffy. Bread stays soft on the 2nd day too :)

I kept 1/4 portion in the freezer and we had toast bread for our tea break, YUM!

I made a few changes to the recipe. Instead of using whipping cream, I replaced it with UHT milk. As the sweet potatoes were not cooked till very soft, I didn't mash but sent them to the food processor with 100ml milk and I reduced the sugar slightly.

Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients
400g bread flour
220g sweet potato, peeled, sliced, steamed and mashed
40g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant active yeast
160ml fresh milk
60g unsalted butter


Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 45 - 60 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Divide dough into 4 equal portions and shape into balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
5. Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape, then roll up lengthwise, swiss roll style to form a long rope. Pinch to seal all sides.
6. Plait the four long doughs. Pinch and seal the ends tightly. Tuck the ends down and place the plaited dough into a loaf pan (greased or lined). Proof for another 45-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170C - 180C for 25 to 30mins.
8. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Chocolate Swirl Bread

When I was working in Jurong, I used to frequent Provence for I love their Chocolate Wassant. When I saw Florence's recipe, my hands itched to make them. However, I wasn't confident then as it uses 65C tang zhong starter. Last week, I made my very first 65C tang zhong bread but I thought the texture was only alright, nothing really fantastic. I'm definitely not doubting her recipe but I do suspect I may not have cooked the roux starter correctly.

Feeling adventurous, I made the chocolate paste last night and kept it in the fridge overnight. It was still very soft this morning so I left the paste in the freezer to harden it up. I knew instantly I've undercooked the paste.

I used my milk loaf recipe to make this. When the bread dough has completed it's first proof, I was contemplating if I should still make the wassant as I was worried the paste will come oozing out when I roll the dough. I followed Florence's steps to fold the dough but baked it in a loaf instead.

I wasn't expecting a nice swirl as I used quite a big portion of bread dough for this, simply because I was worried of the paste oozing out :P

Though I've used my regular milk loaf recipe which is supposed to be soft, it didn't go well with the chocolate paste. Also, the bread didn't turn out soft like my previous attempts. Could I have under-kneaded the dough? The bread texture is chewy and sticky, nothing like what I've baked previously. Also, the chocolate paste doesn't taste right too. All in all, this bread tasted horrible (my kids won't eat them) and I wonder what could have gone wrong. Maybe the paste tasted weird because it's undercooked? I'm now in a dilemma if I should give the original recipe a go instead as I worry if the chocolate paste is still going to taste the same, I'll have to dump the whole loaf into the bin.

Disclaimer:I'm not saying the recipe is no good but I just couldn't get good results from it. Many bloggers/bakers have tried and gave thumbs up for this recipe. For those willing to give it a try, here's the recipe. Who knows, you may have better luck than me.

Chocolate Paste

Ingredients

20g cake flour

50g sugar

1 egg white

80ml milk

20g cocoa powder

10g butter

Method

1. Mix cake flour, sugar and egg white till smooth.
2. Heat the milk in a saucepan and stir in the cocoa powder.
3. Add in the egg white mixture stirring till thicken and dry.
4. Stir in the butter and mix till all butter is incorporated.
5. Leave to cool and measure out 300g of the chocolate paste. Put this chocolate paste into a freezer bag and roll it into a rectangular shape of size 22cm x 14cm.
6. Keep refrigerated for at least 2 hours before using.

Hotdog/Sausage bread

Using the 65°C tang zhong (湯種) bread that I've made yesterday, I bought some hotdogs/sausages and this was what the kids had for lunch today. Should have added more greens but I'm only left with tomatoes and didn't have time to go to the supermarket today.

65°C tang zhong (湯種) bread

I first saw this in Angie's Recipes and later in Florence's blog and many bloggers gave good reviews for the bread using this water roux starter/tang zhong starter. I've always wanted to give it a try after reading the positive reviews. What deters me was the cooking of the water roux starter as I do not have a cooking thermometer. After procrastinating for over a year, I finally made an effort and gave it a go today.

Here's my tang zhong/water roux starter, I'm not sure if I've obtained 65°C but the texture looks quite similar to what Florence has posted so I assume I'm almost there.

I doubled the recipe again and managed to get 100g x 9 buns.

At this point in time, how I wished I've got a pullman loaf pan or in French, a Pain de mie. Though the desire is great, I have no additional counter space for this unless I start clearing out my old pans.

I've initially wanted to add some black sesame seeds to make a loaf of sesame bread but I forgot to add it in at the last stage. These were already washed and drained, had to discard it since I do not know if they keep well. I just hate to waste ingredients or whatsoever food, it is just too sinful. Everytime I dumped leftovers into the bin, I always feel a great sense of guilt, thinking of the poor folks in developing countries dying of poverty. This leads me to recall Kevin Carter's Pulitzer Prize winning photograph, featuring a vulture waiting for a famine striken child to die. We should be constantly reminded never to waste food and not to take things for granted.

Alright, back to the bread, I'm not exactly satisfied with the texture of this bread. To me, the Matcha bread and the Anpan bread yield the same softness. Also, the bread is somewhat chewy and DH doesn't quite like it. I'm not sure if it's because I've replaced water and milk powder with milk (which I doubt) or I've not achieved the correct roux starter temperature. I'm sure I'll give this roux starter another try (not so soon though).

Water Roux/Tang Zhong starter
Ingredients
50 g Bread flour
250 ml Water

Method

1. Mix flour and water till it is smooth in a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat and stirring constantly with a hand whisk to prevent burning. You will see lots of small bubbles forming on the top. Keep stirring and when the bubbles disappear, you will see streaks in the mixture for every stir you make with your whisk. Stop at this stage and you will have the 65°C TangZhong.
3. Pour the hot TangZhong into a bowl and cover it with a piece of glad wrap with the wrap touching the surface of the mixture. This is to prevent a film from forming on the TangZhong.
4. Leave the 65°C TangZhong to cool till room temperature before using it. Leftover TangZhong can be kept refrigerated and should be used within 3 days. All chilled TangZhong must return to room temperature before using. If your chilled TangZhong has turned greyish in colour, you should discard it.

65°C tang zhong (湯種) bread
Ingredients
500g bread flour
160g TangZhong/Water Roux Starter
200ml milk
1/2 salt
50g sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
50g butter

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Roll out dough and shape into small balls. Let the dough rest for 15 mins.
5. Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 45-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170C - 180C for 25 to 30mins.
7. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.

Pork Floss Buns (Milk bread recipe)

When Breadtalk first started selling their signature pork floss buns, I never fail to get one of these. It was so popular then that many of the local bakeries try to introduce a simliar version.

Today, I decided to make some pork floss buns since I've got 2 packets of meat floss sitting in the fridge. Using the same milk loaf recipe , I shaped them into oblong buns. This recipe yields 9 buns and a small loaf.

Make a slit in the centre and spread with some mayonnaise.

This is my version of the pork floss bun, nothing like Breadtalk's but good enough for us :)

Pork Floss Buns

Ingredients

260g fresh/UHT milk
1 egg
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
500g bread flour
2tsp Instant yeast
70g butter (unsalted)

Mayonnaise (I use Japanese mayo)
Pork Floss

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Let the machine knead for 15mins, stop the cycle and re-start the machine and let the dough knead for another cycle.
2. Let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
4. Roll out dough and shape into small balls of 60g each. Let the doughs rest for 10 mins.
5. Shape the dough into oblong shape and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 45-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180C for 30 to 35mins.
7. Remove bread to cool on rack completely.
8. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on top of the buns and coat generously with pork floss.