Matcha-Azuki Christmas Tree Bread

Christmas Tree Matcha bread with Red bean filling! Sharing a yummy idea for Christmas. What are you baking for Christmas?

Matcha-Azuki Christmas Tree Bread Recipe
240g bread flour (2 cups)
36g superfine sugar (3 tbsp)
150g milk/soy milk (2/3 cups)
1 ¼ tsp instant dry yeast (4g)
1/4 tsp salt (2g)
25g oil/ butter (dairy-free)

8g @Suncorefoods green matcha powder *dissolved in 2 tsp water
Pinch of yellow safflower and cocoa powder

Filling - 0.4 cup azuki sweetened bean paste (95g)

1. In a stand mixer, add all bread ingredients except for salt and oil/butter. Using a dough hook, mix on medium-low speed for 10 min, then add in salt and oil/butter. Knead for another 6-8 min till the dough is smooth. Check that the dough can stretch into a thin membrane without breaking (window pane test).

2. Pinch out two 15g dough for the yellow and brown dough and knead in yellow safflower and cocoa powder till combined (optional – you can use all green dough). To the rest of the dough, knead in matcha powder till even. Further divide each dough into 2 and shape into balls (you will need two pieces of dough to sandwich the filling). Cover and let them proof for 1 hr or until doubled in size.

3. Punch down the green matcha dough and roll out the dough into a large triangular Christmas tree shape on a piece of baking sheet. Do the same for the other matcha dough. Spread azuki red bean paste over one large triangle and cover with the second triangle. Use a knife to trim the edges.

4. Flatten the yellow and brown dough and sandwich azuki bean paste. Place onto the top and bottom of the large green triangle.

5. Cut 1-inch wide strips on each side of the triangular tree shape, leaving around a 1-inch wide column in the middle of the tree uncut. Starting at the bottom, take a strip of dough and twist, forming a spiral and pinch down the end. Repeat with all of the strips of dough.

6. Use a star cutter to cut a star shape from the yellow dough and a knife to trim the sides of the brown dough to form a tree trunk.

7. Allow the Christmas tree to proof till doubled in size (around 45 mins). Preheat oven to 180C. Reduce the temperature to 140C just before placing the tree bread into the oven. Bake for 20 min or until the buns are firm and sound hollow when tapped. Enjoy! =)

With love,

Susaanne

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Brioche Wool Roll Bread

 

I was really curious about this trending Wool Roll bread I saw everywhere on social media, first inspired from Apron (youtube). I used a different recipe from the original video as recently I love the rich buttery Brioche bread. I do think the wool roll adds a nice touch to the normal loaf and is quite pretty =). Do check out the original video for the shaping technique. Here is my modified recipe using Brioche dough. I am sharing this as there was quite a number of queries on the recipe after my Instagram post. I really love the rich buttery flavour and soft texture =).

Brioche Wool Roll Bread
105g Bread Flour
1.5g salt
6g castor sugar
1 cold egg (52g)
2g instant yeast
19g cold milk
32g unsalted butter, cold cut into cubes

1. Combine all ingredients except butter and salt in a mixing bowl. Using the dough hook, mix at low speed for 3 mins, then 6 mins at medium speed. Check for window pane by stretching a small piece of dough. Increase by intervals of 1 min until the window pane stage is reached. You can also knead by hand.

2. Add in salt and butter and mix for another 3-5 mins till well-combined and dough is smooth.

3. Give the dough a few folds and round into a ball. Cover lightly with clingwrap or damp cloth and allow to ferment for 1 hr (bulk fermentation).

4. Divide the dough into 3, round each piece into a ball and allow to rest for 10 min (bench time).

5. Use a rolling pin to roll each ball into an oval/rectangle, then use a knife or scraper to cut half of the dough into strips. Roll up the dough starting from the side with no strips. Place the first piece of rolled dough into a lightly greased 8x4-inch loaf pan, then repeat for the other two dough pieces.

6. Proof lightly covered at room temperature for 30 mins or until dough doubles in size and fills up the loaf pan.

7. Lightly egg wash and sprinkle with sugar (optional).  

8. Bake at 210^oC for 14 mins till golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Hope you will enjoy this delicious loaf!

With love,

Susanne

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Light Rye Sourdough Bread

Wasn't intending to post about this, but I had some friends interested in the recipe, so will just share =). In my experience, adding the dough conditioner/improver makes the bread so much more elastic and softer, but some may prefer not to add as it may not be as healthy. Also, this version is not so sour as my family is not into the real sourdough. If you prefer a sour version, you can proof overnight in the fridge to bring our the sourness of the levain. I didn't have a dutch oven, nor a steam oven, but I use a spray to create steam when the bread goes in to develop the crusty crust. This is the simpler homemade version of healthy bread. Hope it helps =)

Light Rye Sourdough (Bulk Fermentation)
80g Bread Flour
20g Rye Flour (can replace with bread flour)
0.3g Malt flour or dough conditioner (optional)
2g Salt
2g Castor Sugar
2g Milk Powder
2g Oil
20g Starter (Levain)
0.5g yeast (1/6 tsp, optional but helps proof faster)
58g water (use cold water as due to heat from mixer)

1. Add all ingredients except water, salt and oil in mixing bowl.

2. Using a dough hook, mix the ingredients at low speed and add in water gradually. Continue kneading for 2 min at low speed.

3. Increase the speed to medium high and knead for another 5 min. After 5 min, check for window pane. If window pane is not reached, increase in intervals of 1 min and check again.

4. Add in salt and oil, and mix for another 1-2 min till dough is uniformly mixed.

5. Cover in cling wrap or towel and allow to proof for 1 hr (or double in size). If not using yeast, proofing time is 3 hrs.

6. Divide the dough into 3, lightly shape into balls. Allow to rest for 10min (bench time) before shaping into batard or boule.

7. Proof for another 45 min or when the loaves double in size.

8. Score by sifting over some flour and using a knife dipped in oil.

9. Bake at 210 for 20 min or until bread is golden brown. Spray steam into the oven once in. After 10 min, open the oven and rotate the tray.


To grow the Starter
Day 1: 50g bread flour + 50g water
Day 2-Day 14: Everyday use 50g starter from previous day + 50g bread flour + 50g water

Day of using starter, remove 10g of starter, add 10g of bread flour + 10g water. Wait 4 hrs till bubbly and active before using.

With love, 
Susanne 

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'National Day' Heart-shaped Bread Loaf (naturally colored)

Just for fun, made a National day-themed heart-shaped loaf bread for the kids, since all of them are singing National day songs from school! The red color is naturally colored using PME red colour. I love their natural range, they have both liquid and powder and very concentrated. The extra kneading affected the structure slightly, but still tastes very nice! I tried a different recipe this time which uses shortening instead of butter, shared by my wonderful friend. I really like it =). I used cheese to cut out the moon and stars. Hope you like this simple bake! We are all looking forward to the long holiday weekend! Happy National day to all too!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Japanese Milk Bun Bears with Kaya Filling

School has just reopened, so I made these simple Japanese Milk Bread Buns with kaya filling for my kids' snack break. It's an easy bake, using a similar recipe to the previous Chocolate Bear-in-a-cone, but without cocoa powder.

Milk Bun Bears (With Kaya filling)
(A)
100g Prima bread flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp instant dry yeast
130g warm milk (~37°C, I microwaved for 20 secs)

(B)
100g Prima bread flour
20g unsalted butter
1/3 tsp salt

Black/pink food marker for decoration

1. In the stand mixer bowl, add all the dry ingredients in (A). Then add in the warm milk and mix vigorously using the dough hook for a few minutes. This helps to activate the yeast. Stop when you see little tiny bubbles popping when you stop stirring.

2. Add in the rest of (B) ingredients into the bowl. and mix using the dough hook until window pane stage (around 20 min, using speed 3). *Check for window pane after kneading for 20 min

3. Cover with cling wrap. Let it proof for 40 min for 1st fermentation. The dough will increase in size to about 1.5-2 times.

4. Do the finger test for the bread dough (leave an indent). Once the 1st fermentation is ok, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and degas the dough.

5. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Shape into balls and cover for 10mins (bench time).

6. After 10 min, flatten the dough and section out 2 small parts for the bear’s ears, and 2 smaller parts for bear's hands.

7. Flatten the larger dough into a circle. Place a 2 tsp ball of kaya (or whatever filling desired) in the center. Pinch to seal and roll into a round ball. Place the ball with pinched ends facing down on the prepared baking tray.

8. Repeat for the rest of the bread dough. Attach the ears and hands onto the bread. I used pasta sticks to prevent ears from dropping after proofing. I didn't need to use for the hands as they were small.

9. Cover gently with cling wrap. Let it rest for 30 min for 2nd fermentation.

10. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the buns into the oven then lower to 150°C. Bake at 150°C for 30 min.

11. Cool the buns completely on a wire rack.

12. Draw on features using food marker.

Hope you like the simple, easy and cute bread buns!

With lots of love,

Susanne

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'Hug-a-sausage' & 'Hug-a-hamroll' Cute Bear Buns

I have a request for some cute bear buns hugging sausage or ham rolls and wearing different expressions. I thought it would be a challenge to make many cute buns in Singapore's hot weather due to fast proofing rates but I am so happy I am able to overcome this difficulty. Let me share with you how to make sure all buns proof at roughly the same rate and how to split the work over two days so you don't end up having to work under time pressure for one long day, making the dough, shaping, proofing, baking, decorating and packing.

I make the work more manageable by preparing the dough the day before baking. Although the bun recipe is adapted from Victoria's killer toast recipe (which I have been using for all my cute buns for birthday parties), I reduced the amount of yeast used to slow down the rate of proofing. I did a trial bake before this actual bake so I will provide the recipe portion for 14-15 buns and 20-21 buns. This recipe produces bread that stays soft for a few days so it's perfect for parties when you have to bake a day before the event.

Recipe for sausage and hamroll bear buns in 35x44mm cupcake cases
Ingredients:
(For 14-15 buns)
260g bread flour
3/4 tsp instant yeast
1tsp (2g) salt
20g caster sugar
180g one egg plus fresh milk
30g unsalted butter
Mini sausages and ham (cut ham in appropriate size)

(For 20-21 buns)
340g bread flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1 and 1/3tsp salt
30g caster sugar
230g one egg plus fresh milk
40g unsalted butter
Mini sausages and ham (cut ham in appropriate size)

Note: feel free to reduce the amount of yeast further if you want the luxury of taking your time to shape the buns. Simply allow longer time to proof the buns before baking.

Steps:
1. Whisk together flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg and milk and mix with a spatula until a rough dough forms. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. This is optional but helps the flour to absorb moisture more. Transfer dough to nonstick mat and knead until it passes windowpane test, adding in the butter after the first 8-10 minutes of kneading. Alternatively, you may use a bread maker or stand mixer with dough hook attachment to knead.

2. Place the dough in a greased airtight container that has room for the dough to expand at least twice is original volune. Refrigerate the container. You may prepare the dough any time of the day the day before baking. Just degas the dough every several hours and return it to the fridge. I used a measuring jug lined with cling wrap to contain the dough, and placed the jug in a jumbo Ziploc bag. This way I can monitor the bulk fermentation of the dough although it is not absolutely necessary. Letting the dough have a longer fermentation time helps the bread to develop a deeper flavour too.

3. On the day of baking, first portion out dough for the bear arms as we are baking it separately from the head. Weight of dough should be 3-4g x number of buns you are making. Prepare a tray lined with baking sheet. Place it on top of a freezer pack if you happen to have. If not, just work as fast as you can as the yeast activity will start to pick up at Singapore's hot room temperature. Degas the portion of dough by kneading it a few times to deflate any trapped air bubbles in the dough. Portion out the dough and shape the arms, lightly dusting the work surface with some flour if it gets sticky. Each arm is about 1.5-2g. Place the whole tray in a jumbo Ziploc bag and refrigerate.

4. Portion out the dough for the main body --- 26g x number of buns. The remainder of the dough is for the ears. At any given time, work with about 6 portions of dough. The rest should be in the fridge. Portion the dough for main body, leaving most of it on a tray or airtight container to be refrigerated. If using tray, place it in a jumbo Ziploc bag. Lightly flour the work surface. Shape 26g of dough into a ball and place inside a cupcake case. Carefully insert a mini sausage or hamroll next to the ball of dough. Pinch two small balls of dough for the ears. Attach the ears firmly onto the head using a toothpick. Please refer to this post on how to do this. Place assembled buns in an airtight container in the fridge.

5. When you have a few buns left to assemble, take the tray of bear arms out of fridge and let it proof at room temperature for about 1h to 1h 30min or double its size. When all the bear buns have been assembled, take all the buns out from the fridge and proof until double its size at room temperature with the lid of the container covering the top but not necessarily airtight.

Freshly assembled buns. Note that the rate of proofing is about the same.

After about an hour of proofing and ready to be baked.

6. Towards end of proofing time, set oven rack to second highest rack and preheat to 170℃ with the fan off. Bake the tray of arms for 8-10 min or until browned. Move the oven rack to second lowest position. Bake the bear main body for 7-8 min before placing another tray on the upper rack to block the upper heating element of the oven. Alternatively, use aluminum foil to tent the tray of buns. Bake for another 13 minutes or until baked through and browned. Cool completely in a place without strong draft.

Freshly baked!

Decoration
Ingredients and tools:
30g White compound chocolate
5g vegetable shortening (optional)
Small round chocolate sprinkles (optional, for the nose)
Black edible marker
Charcoal powder
Uncooked spaghetti or toothpicks
Tweezer

Steps:
1. Melt white chocolate and shortening using microwave or double boiler. Vegetable shortening helps to prevent the white chocolate from firming up too fast while working so it is optional to use it. Transfer into piping bag. Pipe on the bear snout. Use a tweezer to carefully attach a chocolate sprinkle for the nose. If you don't have the sprinkle, you may skip this step.

2. Use black edible marker to draw the eyes.

3. Place some of the melted white chocolate in a small microwaveable bowl. Add a pinch of charcoal powder. Mix well to make black paint. Microwave the mixture again if it firms up too much. Use a toothpick to paint on the mouth. If you don't have chocolate sprinkle, you may add on the nose using this black paint as well.

All decorated with expressive faces!

4. Attach the arms using pasta sticks or toothpicks. I tried pasta sticks at first but find that they break a little easily. Perhaps it's because I only have angel hair pasta at home, which is rather thin. If using spaghetti, bake at 120℃ for 8 min before using. I used toothpick instead as it is a lot sturdier.

And you are done :). Pack them all to be ready for the party!

Thank God that the buns were very well received! This is a savoury alternative to cupcakes for birthday celebrations that you may want to try as buns are gaining popularity as a healthier alternative to butter and sugar laden birthday treats.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Chocolate Bear Bread-in-a-Cone

Children's day is coming and every year the mummies are asked to contribute to their class parties. So this is an early trial for the kids =). I came across cute bread in cones from the talented Little Miss Bento's blog. And my kids love anything looking like ice cream! For those who knew me years back, I actually tried baking chiffon cakes in cone cups 4 years back for the same reason! The chiffon cake-in-cone tasted great out of the oven, but unfortunately cones become soggy after 2 hrs. This bread-in-a-cone is great! Cones do not become soggy so they can be kept and can be made beforehand for parties =).

This is my version of the Bread-in-a-cone. I added little hands because I thought they would be so cute with little hands popping out! So here goes!

Chocolate Bear Bread-in-a-Cone (adapted from Little Miss Bento) (Makes 6) 
(A)
100g Prima bread flour
1 tsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp instant dry yeast
130g warm milk (~37°C, I microwaved for 20 secs)

(B)
100g Prima bread flour
20g unsalted butter
1/3 tsp salt

6 ice cream cone cups

Black food marker for decoration

*She recommended pudding cups or canele tins to support the cone cups. I didn't have so I used a muffin or heart pan to hold the cones in position. This is to prevent toppling as it is rather heavy on top as it bakes.

*I used Kenwood mixer instead of hand kneading.

1. In the stand mixer bowl, add all the dry ingredients in (A). Then add in the warm milk and mix vigorously using the dough hook for a few minutes. This helps to activate the yeast. Stop when you see little tiny bubbles popping when you stop stirring.

2. Add in the rest of (B) ingredients into the bowl. and mix using the dough hook until window pane stage (around 20 min, using speed 3). *Check for window pane

After kneading for 20 min

3. Cover with cling wrap. Let it proof for 40 min for 1st fermentation. The dough will increase in size to about 1.5-2 times.

4. Do the finger test for the bread dough (leave an indent). Once the 1st fermentation is ok, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and degas the dough.

5. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Shape into balls and cover for 10mins (bench time).

*In the meantime, insert the cone cups into the holder pan.

6. After 10 min, flatten the dough and section out 2 small parts for the bear’s ears, and 2 smaller parts for bear's hands. Shape the larger dough into a ball, and then cup on one end to shape one end into a pointed end (tear drop shape) to fit into the cone cups.

7. Repeat for the rest of the bread dough. Attach the ears and hands onto the bread. I used pasta sticks to prevent ears from dropping after proofing. I didn't need to use for the hands as they were small.

Last proof, I proofed it in the oven (not turned on) as it's a little warm

8. Cover gently with cling wrap. Let it rest for 30 min for 2nd fermentation. *Do not overproof it, as the cones may become a little soft.

9. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the cone buns into the oven then lower to 150°C. Bake at 150°C for 30 min.

10. Cool the cone buns completely.

11. Draw on features using food marker.

Looking cute and fat after cooling!

My girl who loves bread finished two in a row!

With lots of love,
Susanne


*Some updates, preordered books for my new Deco Chiffon Cake Basics book came on 22nd and I have mailed all out on 23rd! I have recieved messages from some that they have received it. Hope that you have received yours soon!
Those who missed it, no worries, it will hit the bookstores in mid-October in Singapore. For neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, it will be in bookstores in 2 months =). Thank you!

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Pull-Apart Cute Hotdog Buns

Sometimes inspiration comes from nowhere and gets me all excited thinking about it. This is one of those ;)

I am sure you have seen cute hotdog buns whereby the sausage is in the doggie's mouth. I was really excited when I envisioned making mini hotdog buns with the doggies hugging the sausage and appear a little like they are chewing on one end of the sausage! So even though my schedule was full and I had extra personal stuff to handle at home, I just had to try this out. This was an optional bake for a cute doggie's birthday party as I was really busy and not too familiar with pull-apart buns at the moment. But I am really glad that it turned out fairly well although there's room for improvement. Keep a lookout for more bakes for this lucky canine!

The recipe for pull-apart buns is adapted from Victoria's killer toast recipe. I have used it for my first pull-apart buns for sale that were very well received and I am told, still stayed yummy despite some of them being frozen for a few weeks and steamed before consuming.

Recipe for cute mini hotdog pull-apart buns
Ingredients (makes 12 buns in 7" or 8" square tray):
Dough
260g bread flour
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast
1tsp (2g) salt
20g caster sugar (more if you prefer sweeter bun)
180g one egg plus top up the rest with milk
30g unsalted butter
12 mini sausages, rinsed and pat dry with paper towel

Decoration
20g White compound chocolate
5g Vegetable shortening or butter
1/8 tsp Charcoal powder

Steps:
1. Combine all ingredients for the dough together except butter. Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and let the mixture rest for 10 minutes. This is to help the flour absorb more moisture but it is optional. Knead until the dough is smooth. About 5-8 minutes. Add butter and knead until the dough passes the windowpane test (another 15 minutes or so).

2. Place the kneaded dough in a bowl loosely covered with cling wrap. Let the dough proof for about 25 minutes at room temperature (27-28℃ in hot Singapore).

3. Punch down the dough to release trapped air bubbles. Divide the dough into 33g portions for the body of the dogs and plain hotdog bun designs. You will have extra dough which is used for forming the ears and limbs of the dogs.

4. Form an oval shape for each ball of dough that is slightly larger than the sausage. Use a pair of scissors to make a vertical slit to insert the sausage into the dough. For the dogs, make the slit nearer the lower portion of the dough as you want to leave some space for dogs' face. For plain buns, make the slit in the middle. Place the buns with sausages into the baking tray lined with baking paper.

5. Form the ears and limbs using the extra dough. Use a toothpick to help to attach the parts firmly to the body. I apologise for not taking photos of this step as I was in a hurry to complete assembly. You may refer to this post on how to use toothpick to secure the parts.

6. Loosely cover the assembled buns with cling wrap and proof until double in size, about 45min to 1.5h depending on temperature conditions.

Assembled buns!

7. Towards end of proofing time, set oven rack to second lowest position and preheat at 170℃. Bake the buns for 30-35 min or until they sound hollow when tapped. Cool in the tray for 5 min before taking the buns out and cool on cooling rack.

8. Melt compound white chocolate with shortening using double boiling method or microwave oven. Be careful not to overheat. Pipe on the snout of the dogs. Add charcoal to the white chocolate and pipe the eyes and nose. If you would like to toast or steam the buns before eating, please remove the chocolate portions as they will melt and become runny...Unless you don't mind seeing a Halloween version of the doggies after reheating :p

If you happen to consume the buns within a few hours after decorating, you can consider using sliced cheese for the snout instead. Use an oval cookie cutter to cut out ovals for the snout and then add on the nose and eyes using cocoa powder or charcoal dissolved in a little water to make a paint. I was concerned about food safety so I used white chocolate instead.

These buns can stay soft for a few days. Enjoy!

With love,
Phay Shing

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Tiger and Bear Pull-Apart Buns with Cream Cheese Filling (Naturally coloured!)

I love new challenges and bakes that break away from the routine of what I am familiar with. Although that means trial bakes may be necessary, I welcome the challenge if it is not out of my reach. And that was why I accepted the request for making my first cute pull-apart buns for sale! The cute bee on top is made from shortbread cookie.

Bee on tiger and bear buns!

Shortbread bees! Requested as part of the deco. Refer to this post for the recipe.

I am very much in favour of making cute buns for birthday celebrations as they are healthier than cakes or macarons. I use absolutely no artificial colouring at all for the buns. Although using cocoa powder would have been the easiest to create brown colour, I was told not to use it due to allergy. I experimented with dark brown sugar with a little Earl Grey powder, vanilla bean paste and a pinch of charcoal. It worked perfectly :). The deep orange colour was created using pumpkin powder and a pinch of paprika. I adapted the recipe from Victoria Bakes' killer toast recipe which stays soft for 5 days (I tested it myself). I bought both pumpkin powder and Earl Grey tea powder from Kitchen Capers.

It would also be easier to knead one large batch of dough, divide it into two and colour it separately when the dough almost passes the windowpane test. But because the brown colour is primarily coloured using dark brown sugar, the orange and brown dough have to be prepared separately as sugar has to be added at the beginning of making the dough. I did a few trial bakes before finally coming up with a satisfactory version. Here is one of my earlier trial bake.

How do I knead two separate batches of dough at the same time? I spend about 5-8 minutes kneading each colour at a time. This also allows the dough to relax in between 3 kneading cycles for each coloured dough. Those of you who have followed my blog posts will know that I prefer to knead dough by hand as I can feel the change of structure through my fingers. You may save yourself the trouble and use cocoa powder instead to colour the dough brown. That way you can just knead one dough and divide it later. Having said that, the brown sugar vanilla bread tastes awesome on its own!

Recipe for pumpkin and dark brown sugar cream cheese bun
Ingredients (makes 9 pull-apart buns in 7" tin):
Dark brown sugar dough
130g bread flour
25g dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/8 tsp Earl Grey powder (optional)
1/16 tsp charcoal powder (optional)
1g (or 1/2 tsp)  sea salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
85g half an egg and top up the rest with milk
15g unsalted butter

Pumpkin dough
110g bread flour
10g caster sugar
1/2 tsp instant yeast
20g pumpkin powder
1/8 tsp paprika powder (optional)
1g (or 1/2 tsp) sea salt
90g half an egg and top up the rest with milk
15g unsalted butter

Filling
9 pieces of Laughing Cow cream cheese (about 16g each piece)

Decoration
White compound chocolate
Charcoal powder
Edible markers

Notes: You may use any pumpkin bread recipe that uses fresh pumpkin but I find it more convenient to use the powder form here. You may also use any brand of cream cheese or any filling of your choice.

Steps:
1. Shape each piece of cream cheese into a ball and freeze it. Add vanilla bean paste into the egg and milk mixture for brown dough. Line a 7x7" tray with baking sheet.

2. Combine all ingredients for the dough together except butter. Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and let the mixture rest for 10 minutes. This is to help the flour absorb more moisture but it is optional. Knead until the dough is smooth. About 5-8 minutes. Add butter and knead until the dough passes the windowpane test (another 15 minutes or so). Place the resting dough in a bowl loosely covered with cling wrap to prevent it from drying out if you are kneading two separate balls of dough at the same time like me.

3. Place the kneaded dough in a bowl loosely covered with cling wrap. Let the dough proof for about 25 minutes at room temperature (27-28℃ in hot Singapore).

4. Punch down the dough to release trapped air bubbles. Divide the dough into 44-45g portions for the head and 3g for a pair of ears. You will end up having extra dough for one colour.

5. Lightly flour the work surface with bread flour. Flatten a ball of dough for the head and wrap a ball of cream cheese filling. Pinch seal the dough and place in baking tray seam side down. Repeat for all the heads.

6. Divide the 3g dough into two for the ears. Stick the dough on the head and use a toothpick to press down the edge of the ears as shown in the picture below. This is to prevent the ears from falling out during proofing and baking.

7. Cover baking tray loosely with cling wrap and proof until the buns double in size. This can take anywhere from 45min to 1.5h depending on proofing conditions.

Assembled buns before proofing

After doubling in size

8. Towards end of proofing time, preheat oven to 180℃ (fan off) and set the rack to lowest position. Bake for 10 minutes. Carefully tent a foil over the tray and bake for another 20 minutes at 150℃ or until done.

9. Let the buns cool in the tray for 10 minutes before letting them cool completely on a cooling rack.

10. Prepare some melted compound white chocolate to decorate the snout and ears. Colour the white chocolate with charcoal powder for the eyes and nose. Use edible marker to add the markings on the tiger and rosy cheeks.

All packed and ready to go!

Thank God these were very well received! The birthday boy gobbled up the bun before mummy could take a picture :p.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Brown Sugar Killer Toast Pull-Apart Buns (Gospel message included!)

I have a request for pull-apart buns later part of June but since I haven't baked bread for ages due to the many requests for macarons, cakes and cookies, I decided to do some practice bakes. I have always marvelled at the softness of the killer-toast recipe recommended by Victoria Bakes and decided to give it a try. Do check out Victoria's blog post for the original recipe! The buns really are able to stay soft for a few days!

With Good Friday and Easter coming up, I thought it would be good to reflect on what the Gospel message (good news about Jesus) mean. Here's my simple drawing taken from Matthiasmedia's "Two ways to live", with its simple illustration to show God's salvation plan and the choice all of us have to make, and some "hot cross buns". In summary, God the loving ruler of the world didn't let us rebel forever because separation from God leads to death. God in His love for us provided Jesus to take our punishment for our rebellion by dying in our place and brought forgiveness (that's why we celebrate Good Friday). Jesus was raised to life (therefore we celebrate Easter) and now gives new life to those who believe in Him.

The buns here are slightly underbaked as I was still trying to optimize the baking conditions when I adapted her recipe from loaf to pull-apart buns. Do follow Victoria's recommendations for loaves. The proofing time and baking conditions I wrote in the recipe here is recommended by Kerry Tan, an experienced artisan bread baker. I seeked her advise after I baked these buns so do follow her advise as I blogged here.

Close-up view

Ingredients (makes 9 pull-apart buns in 7x7"baking tray):
260g bread flour
180g 1 egg + full fat milk
30g dark brown sugar (I will increase to 40g in the future)
3g instant dry yeast
3g fine sea salt
30g unsalted butter

Steps:
1. Mix all ingredients together (except butter). Let the mixture sit for 10-15minutes with cling wrap covering the bowl. This step of letting the dough rest is optional but allows time for the flour to absorb more moisture.

2. Knead until smooth then gradually knead in the butter. Continue kneading until the dough passes the windowpane test. I prefer hand-kneading to machine kneading as I like to have a feel of the dough. It takes about 20-25 minutes to knead by hand.

3. Victoria recommends skipping bulk fermentation of the whole batch of freshly kneaded dough but I went on to let it proof anyway but not really double in size. Kerry recommends doing this step as it will improve the structure of the bread. Proof for about 20 minutes in Singapore's hot kitchen of 28℃ cling wrap loosely covering the top of the proofing bowl.

4. Gently knead the dough to expel trapped gas. Divide the dough into 9 equal balls (about 50g each).

5. Line the baking tray with baking paper. Place the balls of dough into the baking tray and cover loosely with cling wrap. Proof for about 40 minutes or until about 2x in size.

6. While proofing, preheat oven to 180℃ and set the rack to lowest position.

7. Place the baking tray into the oven. Bake for about 40 minutes or until done. Tent the buns with aluminum foil at about 15 minutes into baking time to prevent browning. If you would like the buns to brown normally, omit the tenting. The buns are done when it makes a hollow sound when tapped lightly.

8. Let the buns cool in the tray for 5 minutes before carefully lifting them out from the tray onto a cooling rack to cool. I was careless in the transfer and damaged the buns a little =.=

Freshly baked buns!

I dissolved some Dutch processed cocoa powder in water to make a paste and piped out the drawings on the cooled buns. You may use melted compound chocolate to draw too.

Do give the recipe a try and I guarantee you will be enjoying good homebaked super soft buns for a few days!

With lots of love,
Phay Shing

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Apple Custard Buns

Imagine eating a soft bun almost bursting with apple pie filling and a crunchy crust on top :).

This bake came about because hubby loves cooked apples/ apple pie/ apple sauce and I still had some applesauce left. I thought that a tart apple filling combined with sweet pastry cream would be lovely wrapped with soft milk bread. And to maximize the amount of filling,  I decided to leave the tops of the buns open but with a lattice of cookie to keep the apple goodness in.

I used to be a firm believer in using the sponge dough method to make soft and fluffy bread. This method is undoubtedly the best if you want soft and fluffy bread but I think I have found the perfect straight dough recipe (simpler) that does not rely on huge amount of fat or condensed milk to make it soft. It contains little sugar and butter too. The best part is it remains soft even after 2 days! Quite a feat for homemade bread that satisfies all the above requirements. This recipe is an adaptation of the famous Wu Pao-Chun champion loaf recipe.

Ingredients (makes 16 mini buns):
Filling
160g applesauce** (refer to my previous post for the recipe)
160g custard** (refer to my old post for the recipe)

** You may wish to change the ratio of applesauce:custard depending on whether you prefer stronger apple flavour or custard flavor.

Cookie dough
25g icing sugar
50g butter
75g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Bread dough
225g bread flour
55g cake flour*
20g wheat gluten*
20g rolled oats (optional)
1 tsp instant yeast
10g sugar
240g fresh milk
15g butter
3g salt

*You may replace with plain or bread flour. The cake flour (low protein flour) adds softness to the bread and wheat gluten provides better structure to the bread and added nutrition. The dough passes windowpane test faster too with the addition of wheat gluten.

Steps:
1. Prepare the applesauce and custard before hand. They can be kept refrigerated. You may wish to use apple chunks instead of apple puree for more bite. Mix the two together thoroughly. Wrap into balls of 20g each with cling wrap and freeze the balls.

2. Prepare the cookie dough. This is actually a recipe for shortbread cookies. Mix everything together until a dough forms. Roll the dough to 2mm in thickness. Cut small strips of dough (about 4mm in width) to wrap around a frozen ball of apple custard,  latticed style as shown in the 2nd picture. Keep the assembly wrapped in cling wrap and frozen. You may prepare this up to a day or two ahead of time.

3. Prepare the bread dough. Mix all the dry ingredients except salt (first 6 ingredients) in a large bowl. Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a dough is formed. Pour out onto a non-stick mat and gradually knead in butter and salt. I didn't add the salt earlier to make sure that as little yeast is killed as possible. Knead for 15 minutes or until the dough passes the windowpane test. Alternatively, you may use a standmixer or breadmaker but I prefer a workout :).

4. Let the dough proof for 45 minutes or until double in size in a large greased bowl covered with cling wrap. Punch down the dough and knead a few times to expel any trapped gas. Divide the dough into 16 pieces of about 36g each. Rest for 10 minutes loosely covered in cling wrap.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball of dough into a circle and place a frozen ball of filling in the middle. Use a bench scraper or knife to make 4 cuts as shown in the picture below (3rd picture in collage). Fold two opposite flaps up and pinch together (4th picture). Fold the remaining 2 flaps up and pinch seal (5th picture).  Place the bun in paper liner in a jumbo muffin pan. Brush the tops of the cookie dough with cinnamon powder (optional) (6th picture). Proof for 1 hour. Milk wash the buns (or egg wash if you prefer).

6. Bake in preheated oven at 170-180°C for 15 minutes or until the buns are lightly browned.

Best to consume it fresh but if you are not, do toast it before consuming the next day :).

It may seem like a lot of work to make these. But spreading the work over a few days make the actual baking really easy. I didn't make all 16 apple custard buns with this batch of dough but made other buns too :). There's corn custard,  tuna and cheese, ham rose and fruit n nut buns (not in picture) too :). We are all happy to have homemade buns for weekend breakfast at last !

This post is linked to Little Thumbs Up event organized by Bake For Happy Kids with My Little Favourite DIY & hosted this month by  I-Lost in Austen.

Baked with lots of love,
Phay Shing

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Horse Japanese Sweet Bean Buns (using Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast Recipe)

It's really fun that my children are starting to be involved in my bakes. They have started to request for all kinds of animals for snacks and I have become their "zoo master" who whips up all sorts of animals ^_^". So this week's request was a horse and this is my valiant attempt at a horse (phew!). Yee haw! :p

Anyway, my family cannot get enough of the sweet Japanese red beans! I chanced upon another type of sweet red bean in Daiso called "Japanese sweet bean jam with whole azuki beans". Oh, it's so good you can eat it on its own! This time I tried using the famous Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast recipe for making the bun dough. I have been wanting to try this straight dough method that yields really soft bread recommended by Phay Shing, and I was further piqued the recipe is so similar to the Panda Japanese milk buns that were so soft. For the un-inclined, Wu Pao Chun is a world champion bread bakery in Taiwan. Their Red Wine Longan bread has won numerous medals in top class world bread making competitions and long queues often form at their entrance for their limited award-winning breads.

Recipe for the bun dough using Wu Pao Chun Champion Toast is adapted from Aunty Young. I have used the recipe used the dough function on my breadmaker to prepare the dough, but you can also knead it by hand and let it proof.

Ingredients (makes 8 buns)
Bread flour 300g
Castor sugar 24g
Salt 4g
Butter 15 g
Fresh milk 198 g
Yeast 3g

Method
1. Put the ingredients into the breadmaker pan according to the sequence below:
- Add the wet ingredients first: milk.
- Add the dry ingredients next: bread flour, sugar at the side, yeast in the middle (dig a small hole).
- Select dough function on bm. When the mixture is being combined around 2-5 min later, add in the salt and the softened butter.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the Japanese sweet bean jam with azuki beans into 30g balls each.

3. After the breadmaker is finished with the dough function, transfer the dough out onto a lightly floured table and punch it down (top left pic).

4. Divide the dough into eight 60g balls for the horses. Divide the rest of the dough into sixteen 2g balls for each ear. Let the dough rest for 10 min under cling wrap.

5. Flatten each 60g ball into an oval disc (top row, middle pic) and place an azuki bean ball on top (top row, right pic). Roll the dough over on the long side, pinch tight and place them with its pinched sides facing down on the baking paper.

6. Stick the ears onto the top of the buns and pinch the edges to make them pointed (see bottom row, left pic). Cover with cling wrap and let the dough rise for 60 min (bottom row, left pic). *Meanwhile, preheat the oven meanwhile to 190°C.

7. Prepare 1 tsp cocoa powder with 1 egg yolk for painting on the brown mouth patch, eyes and hair. Brush them on with a fine brush after proofing before going in to the oven (bottom row, middle pic).

8. Lower the temperature to 140°C before placing the buns at the lowest rack. Bake for 22-25 min or till the bread sounds hollow when you tap on it (bottom row, right pic).

I painted the nostrils with charcoal powder mixed with water. Just use a fine brush to paint it on. I gave the horses some sweet rosy cheeks using food markers just for fun :).

Homemade buns are always over packed with fillings! :D Check out the yummy sweet red beans spilling out! I found the bread really fine, soft and fluffy though it was a straight dough method! The caption says it all :D.

With love,
Susanne

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Lions & Tigers & Bears! Oh My!... Sweet Potato Milk Buns

I had been toying with the idea of creating lions, tigers and bears steamed buns colored orange naturally with orange sweet potato. Then I saw Susanne's post for panda Japanese milk buns and I was inspired to try doing a baked version instead. Here's a bunch of animals that definitely won't scare Dorothy, the tin man and the scarecrow :p.

Too cute to be scary!

Check out the soft soft bun!

I love the natural colors with charcoal powder and cocoa powder as coloring, along with orange sweet potato.

I steamed some orange sweet potatoes, mashed, sieved and portioned into 25g portions for future use. I reserved 150g of puree for this bake.

I got hold of some wheat gluten as recommended by Priscilla Poh in my Wu Pao Chun bake. I adapted the sweet potato bun recipe from here. In order to create the white features, I prepared another small batch of plain milk bun dough.

I happen to stumble across the assembly instructions for a lion bun with beautiful braided mane. I followed it closely to create the lion here.

Ingredients (makes about 12 buns):
Plain milk bun
45g bread flour
11g cake flour
4g wheat gluten
3/8 tsp instant yeast
2g caster sugar
48g fresh milk
2g unsalted butter
Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp charcoal powder

Orange sweet potato milk bun
190g bread flour
44g cake flour
16g wheat gluten (you may replace it with bread flour)
150g orange sweet potato puree
30g sugar
3/4 tsp instant yeast
140g milk
20g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Steps:
1. Prepare the plain milk bun dough.**(you may skip this step if you just want to use orange sweet potato dough). Combine all ingredients together in a bowl except salt and butter. Mix with a wooden spoon until a rough dough forms.

2. Pour the dough onto a non-stick mat and knead in butter and salt. Continue kneading by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic and passes the windowpane test. About 10-15 minutes.

3. Divide the dough into two portions and color one of them black with 1/2 tsp of charcoal powder. Cling wrap the dough and refrigerate.

4. Prepare the sweet potato dough in a similar way. Combine all ingredients except salt and butter and knead until a dough forms. Gradually knead in butter and salt. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. About 20 minutes.  Alternatively, you may use a breadmaker or standmixer with a dough hook attachment to knead the dough. You may add some bread flour if you find the dough too sticky to work with.

5. Add cocoa powder to about 60g of dough.

6. Take the white and black dough out of the fridge. Proof all 4 colored dough for about 50 minutes or double in size.

7. Punch down the dough and divide accordingly to form the various animals or plain buns:
Lion: 30g brown dough + 38g orange dough + bits of orange, black & white dough
Tiger/ bear: 55g orange dough + bits of orange, black & white dough
Let the dough rest for 10 minutes loosely covered with cling wrap before shaping. Place any dough you are not working with in the fridge to avoid overproofing.

8. Follow the pictures below for shaping the lion:

Begin by rolling a brown ball into an oval shape. Fold both sides towards the center. Roll to form rectangle about 13cm in length. Use a bench scraper to cut into 4 strips but not all the way through.  Twist 2 adjacent strips together. Straighten out the twisted pieces to form a long strip (6th picture). Wrap the long strip around a ball of 38g orange dough on a small piece of baking sheet and pinch the ends together. Affix the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. I just pinched bits of dough and stuck them on the face. A toothpick is helpful in pressing down tiny bits of dough.

Place the assembled bun in the fridge lightly covered with cling wrap until the whole batch is assembled and ready to proof for the second time.

Just assembled!

I only assembled 2 of each animal and left the rest plain.

9. Proof assembled buns at room temperature (about 27-30 degrees Celsius in the kitchen in Singapore) for about 40-50minutes. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius 20 minutes before end of proofing time.

10. Place the buns in the oven at the lowest rack and immediately reduce the temperature to 140 degrees Celsius. Bake for 15-16 minutes or until the bun sounds hollow when you tap on it.

11. Brush some melted butter to give the buns a bit of shine but this is optional. Cool completely on a cooling rack before storing.

Just baked!

I had leftover white and black dough so I played with it :p.

Soft and fluffy too!

My kids had much fun eating the animal buns, especially the littlest member of the family. He kept asking for more :).

With love,
Phay Shing

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