Japanese Soft Bread - Almond Cream w Fruits

Bread aren't just to be eaten as bread alone. There're far more to it . Here is one such- roll the bread dough to fit small tart baking tins and drop a dollop of almond cream before topping it with fruit. Hundreds of calories lesser, guarantee !

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

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Japanese Soft Bread : Xmas Mistletoe

Treat yourself to a slice of  this maple flavoured mistletoe on Xmas morning with a cup of English Breakfast and let the sweetness salut to another year of blessings . The texture is pillowy soft with a gentle chew and buttery smooth.

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

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Japanese Soft Bread: Nutella Twist

rustic golden top

Even when an early bird wakes up before dawn light to knead dough with a cake mixer, and serves freshly baked bread on the breakfast table by 7am, she'll still be loathed by household members. You'd say "of course lah" . 

Earlier on before bedtime, I read of a dough glaze from Savour magazine which is a mixture of egg white and almond flour. With immediate, I prepared a simple preferment for the next morning final mixing of the dough. By 4am , my eyes were wide opened and wasted no time to test out the new glaze. 300g flours would fit in perfectly into two loaf pans. One loaf is leaving the house in exchange for a loonie fridge magnet from a friend who has returned from New Brunswick Canada.

Mix preferment and all the rest of ingredients into a dough and knead with a cake mixer for 12 mins. Proof till double. After proofing, degas the dough and cut into two. Roll each dough into a smooth ball and bench time 10 mins.

Flatten rested dough into a rectangle (length same as loaf pan) , spread with nutella and roll up slight tightly. Pinch the longer edge hard. Make a long cut in the middle of roll keeping the both ends intact. Twist it and place in baking pan. Mix the egg white and almond flour and spread it on the white part of the dough. 

almond glaze

Toss generously chopped almonds on the top. Leave them to proof till double. Bake in hot oven 180 degrees for 12 mins.

before the break of dawn

Recipe:

Dough Starter:

50g bread flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
60g water

Main Dough:

50g cake flour
190g bread flour
10g milk powder
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
30g sugar
45g water
1 egg plus a yolk
1 tsp rum
40g chilled butter 

1 egg white beaten
2 tsp almond flour

Nutella for spreading
Almonds for topping

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Japanese Bread - Crusty

Gorgeous Danish pastries baked in small pastry rings. A delicious pastry cream spooned over the top and decorated withs raspberries, blueberries or canned fruits. The danish dough can be cut into different shapes and filled with same cream and fruits.

danish pastries

tomato stick

soft pizza

olive dinner buns

olive sandwish loaf

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Japanese Bread - soft crust Series 1

chestnut crown

A remarkable creation from ABC cooking studio. The sweet dough is rolled into a long rectangle, sprinkled with cane sugar and candied chestnuts. Sliced rolled doughs are arranged vertically around in a circular baking tin and baked till perfection. Yum!!!

almond cream with strawberry wine jam

german sausage rolls

light crisp soft pizza

Baby Jesus sleeping under a blanket in a cradle during a snowy winter...stollen symbolic meaning

Corn bacon pizza cheeses

Sausage roll with mayo mustard ketchup topping

Two cheeses with pecan topping roll

Light crusted Olive Rock Salt Bun

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel : 65 64789746

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Hot Cross Buns

大家吃的开开心心

Bunny Buns

Hope you've enjoyed baking some bread with  straight method in the past weeks. You probably understand some of the limitations I've pointed out in the last post Butterscotch Brioche, or you may even discover some others on your own along the way. Once you've experienced handling a batch of straight method dough from the mixing stage, kneading, proofing, shaping and finally baking them, you'd be more agreeable to learn incorporating an amount of dough starter and see for yourselves how softer breads are made. 

sticky decadent buns

Asians love their breads soft, but not everyone shares the same taste, still many prefer softer bread than the western ones.  I opt for a chewy semi-firm softness for sausage buns. Hence, bakers experimented with different techniques to create the right textural softness for each kind of buns. The sponge starter method is one the basics and easier to apprehend than the others: hot water dough starter, cold water dough starter, water roux starter or a combination . An overnight yeast fermentation promises you a robust flavour and a stronger army of yeast cells to stretch the gluten. Asian bread bakers do not totally use bread flour, often mix with plain flour or cake flour to achieve their desired softness.

overnight sponge

10 mins rest time

Ingredients List

Overnight sponge starter:

100g bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

100g tap water

a pinch sugar

Main dough:

250g top flour

2 tsp instant yeast

50g castor sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 egg   55g size

50g coconut cream

60g chilled salted butter

1 cup liqueur-soaked dry fruits

Flour mixture for Cross:

Mix 50g flour with 4 tbsp water and pour into a disposable piping bag.

Glaze:

1/2 cup pancake syrup mixed with 1/4 cup orange juice plus a tablespoon rum.

Directions

• Prepare the dough starter first. Dissolve the yeast in the water and sugar. Add in the bread flour to form a sticky dough. Cover with cling wrap and leave on the table counter overnight 8 hours.
• Final dough: Place flour, sugar, salt, yeast in mixing bowl. 
• Place egg and coconut cream with the overnight sponge starter and give a stir to loosen the sides.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
• Mix slowly to form a shaggy dough.
• Throw in the chilled butter cubed.
• Set cake mixer with dough hook at lowest speed 
• Mix all till a slight rough dough is formed. Rest the dough for 5 mins.
• Set speed at Medium and knead the dough for 8 mins.
• Knead another 8 mins at High speed.
• Mix in the dried fruits by hand.
• Cover dough with cling wrap and proof till double, best slight more.
• Punch out the air after proofing (degas) and knead by hand till dough is smooth.
• Divide dough into 16 proportions and let them rest 10 mins.
• Knead each ball till smooth and placed on lined baking tray.
• Proof the small buns till double,  covered with greased plastic sheet.
• Brush with beaten egg.
• Pipe the cross on each bun with flour mixture.
• Bake in preheat oven 200 degrees for 5 mins, follow by 180 degrees for 10 mins or till golden color.
• Brush the top of hot buns with lots of orange syrup. Put the buns back to hot oven for 3 mins. Brush again with glaze.

2017 Easter Buns

some spelt flour and mashed potato added to the dough, with a filling of dark chocolate/ nutella doused with tequila and grand marnier

Bible Quote:  John 6 :35  Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

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Hotteok

一天到晚不停吃

不吃不眠 ???

If you've not taken a bite of these sweet breads, drop whatever you're doing now and head down to the nearest Korean store and treat yourself to one. Over here in Singapore, there are only the frozen ones in the supermarkets. Neither a pancake nor a bun, the texture is soft and chewy with sinfully sweet fillings. My first encounter of the recipe is at Vivian Pang blog and had marked it since last year. Using her recipe as a reference, I adjusted a little here and there for easier remembrance of the ingredients weight and also took out a third of the plain flour, water and yeast with a pinch of sugar to prepare the sponge. The sponge is left on the counter for two hours before the final mix.

Korean National Pride

process management

While many still use straight method to prepare dough, I still prefer a sponge starter in any bread making. The fermentation process strengthen the yeast cells for better performance. Straight method has always failed me even I wanted to gave it some faith and they have to be consumed within the same day of frying. The pancake becomes dry the next day with straight method.  The procedure of preparing hoddeok is almost that of buns making except less kneading and proofing which is a great joy to me and Ken (my cake mixer). Is a 90% hydration dough and so a slight sticky but manageable.

fermented yeast....military activation

whisper sweet nothings....every lady's delight

Last year Autumn Festival, I hoarded a few bags of yam lotus paste when many were rushing for them at the vendor store. A one and half kg bag is hybernating in the freezer and I shall use them here instead of the brown sugar and walnuts filling. The red bean paste is also leftover from the mooncakes making in September 2015.

geisha facial kit

I gathered the dry ingredients all in a mixing bowl and pour in the milk and few dashes of sesame oil. Out of personal taste, I pour in some coconut milk and less of fresh milk maintaining same liquid weight. Just knead the dough till well combined. The dough is so soft that you can skip the use of the cake mixer . This glass bowl is chosen for photographic purposes.

a puritan mind...unfilled space

Satan's knocking

entrapment

For easier handling of the dough, I placed it in a plastic bag (8" x 12")and fastened with a clipper at the top of the bag, leaving lots of space for the proofing. Placing the bag in a light warm oven speed up the proofing time to just around 15 mins...less agony of waiting than left on table counter. 

panic room

defeat of the oppositions in Singapore politics

Be sure to punch or squeeze out the air and gives a light knead after proofing or else big pockets of air creates big holes in the dough. 

I prefer a smaller hoddeok . 40g dough and 18g fillings is the perfect combination for the non-indulgent eaters. Smoothen each ball before wrapping the filling. I like to use the stretching from the top to the bottom method than rolling it around on the pastry board. It is more comforting to my rocking wrist ! 

Seal the edges well after placing the red bean paste in the centre and smoothen the ball again.

i miss my curvy bums

relaxation in between works

Let these little bums proof for five mins before frying in some oil over medium low fire. I actually almost burned the other side of the pancakes using medium fire. 

puffing.. puffing.. puffing

a day's work

Now you can get the frying pan heated up and drizzle some oil . You flatten them lightly before placing on the pan or on the pan itself.

personal space, pls !

who's the boss here?

Uniformity  kills creativity

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

Bible quote:  Matthew 7:9   Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste. PaulaCookingFingers

Asian pastries

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