Milk Bread

Recently I bought another bread book on a whim! I had some vouchers to use at Popular bookstore and after buying some story books for my grandsons, I still had a ten-dollar voucher left to spend. After browsing, I chanced upon this bread book by Alan Ooi and immediately I was attracted to the pictures. I love cookery and baking books with lots of illustrations as they allow me to see the end result of the recipes.
This is the first recipe that I have tried from the book. I have no regrets so far as it turned out very good -  a milky and soft, moist bread!


Ingredients: ( Yields about 966g dough)

A
350g bread flour
150g plain flour
30g milk powder (I used Anlene. It's the only type I have)
40g caster sugar
7g instant yeast
8g salt

B
250ml cold fresh milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
60g unsalted butter, soften
Evaporated milk for glazing

1. Place ingredients A in a miximg bowl and give it a couple of swirls with a hand whisk to mix.

2. Add milk and egg and mix with a dough hook until it forms a dough.

3. Add butter and continue mixing till all the butter is thoroughly blended in and the dough is smooth and elastic.

4. Remove dough and shape into a ball and place it in the mixing bowl, cover with a damp tea cloth or clingwrap. Rest the dough till it doubles in size.

5. Remove dough and hand knead for 1 minute.

6. Cut the amount required. I divided the dough into 2 portions.

7. Flatten the dough into a rectangular shape and roll like a swiss roll taking care to seal the joints.

8. I placed one portion in a loaf tin and the other on a baking tray. Rest until it doubles in size.

9. Make slits on the top of dough, glaze with evaporated milk.

10. Bake in preheated oven 195deg C for 20 minutes.

11. Remove bread to cool on a rack.

Wholemeal Bread

I have been baking bread very often these days, but haven't found time to post on the blog. Perhaps it's not due to time constraint but more likely distracted from unnecessary things to do!

Anyway this bread is easy to do and requires only two proofing.

Ingredients:

260g Bread flour
60g Wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon Milk powder (I use Anlene)
2 tablespoons caster sugar or granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast ( I use Saf-instant)

170ml lukewarm water
14g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon fine salt


1. Place both flour, sugar, milk powder and yeast in a mixing bowl and use a hand whisk to mix.

2. Use a dough hook at low speed, add water gradually to mix.

3. When the mixture is about to come together, add butter and salt.

4. Once a dough is formed, it should be slightly sticky to touch.

5. Knead for about 20 minutes.

6. Remove and on a lightly floured top, form a smooth ball and place it in a bowl to proof.

7. Cover bowl with damp teacloth or clingwrap and rst for 30 minutes. Dough should be almost double the size.

8. Remove dough from bowl and punch out the air.

9. Knead lightly and do a book fold and roll from the narrow end tightly to form a swiss roll to fit the loaf tin 23cm x 14cm.

10. Seal the sides and place the dough into the tin. Cover and proof for 1 hour or until it doubles it size.

11. Bake in preheated oven 200deg C for 20 minutes.

12. Remove bread from tin and cool on rack.

Classic Country Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe caught my attention when I browsing one of my bake books. Although I have baked cinnamon rolls many times before, the pictures in this book are so attractive and inviting that I couldn't resist trying out this recipe.

I should have either halved the recipe or used a bigger baking pan and greased and lined it. The rolls were all squeezed in the pan. The filling got stuck to the bottom of the pan after baking! And I was testing my new oven! Grrrrr......
Nevertheless it tasted good!


Ingredients: (I used three-quarters of this recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

780g plain flour
4 teaspoons active dry yeast (about 3 and 1/5 teaspoons instant yeast)
90g granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

250ml hot milk

90g unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 large eggs, at room temperature

Canola oil for greasing

90g raisins / cranberries soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained
60g pecans, chopped

1 and 1/2 tablespoons milk for glazing

Streusel filling:

Combine 220g light brown sugar, 60g plain flour, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon in a bowl. Work 125g cold butter with finger tips into the mixture until it resembles bread crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until needed.


1. Mix all dry ingredients and yeast in a mixer.

2. Add in hot milk and beat on medium speed for a minute using a paddle.

3.  Switch to dough hook and mix in butter and eggs and knead for 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Shape dough into a ball and lightly grease with canola oil and let it proof in a deep bowl covered with cling wrap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until it doubles its size.

5. Turn dough on a lightly floured top and roll out into a 35 x 25-cm rectangle.

6. Spread out the streusel filling evenly and then sprinkle the raisins and nuts. Press them to the dough to adhere .

7. Roll up like a swiss roll and seal by pinching the edges. Cut the roll about 4 cm thick.

8. Arrange in a 33 x 23 cm well greased and lined pan.

9. Cover and proof for an hour or until puffy.

10. Glaze with milk and baked in preheated oven 190 deg C for 20 to 25 minutes.

What a tight squeeze and uneven tan! 

Should have used top and bottom heat instead of the fan!

 I ate these up fresh from the oven!

Monkey Bubble Bread

I came across this interesting bread recipe in one of the books I bought online last year. In fact it was the name, "Monkey Bubble Bread"  that intrigued me. I googled to find out about the origin of the term but there wasn't any . It is also known by a string of names - sticky bread, African Coffee cake(there's no coffee used), golden crown, pinch-me-cake, bubble loaf and monkey brains! This bread is sticky, gooey and sweet and is eaten in the United States for breakfast. In fact one does not eat it in slices but pinch off from the whole loaf, hence one of the terms - 'pinch-me-cake'.

Ingredients (Adapted from Baked Explorations)

For bread dough:

1 1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons instant yeast

4 cups plain flour
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
70g unsalted butter, melted

For the Cinnamon sugar coating:

1  cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
125g unsalted butter, melted


1. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan. Set aside.

2. Warm milk to slightly room temperature and add yeast and whisk to mix well.

3. Place flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and use a paddle to mix well.

4. At low speed, mix in beaten egg till combined.

5. Slowly stream in milk and mix till combined. Then add melted butter.

6. Replace paddle with dough hook and continue to mix on medium speed for about ten minutes. if dough is too wet, add a little flour. If it's too dry, add a little water.

7. Remove dough, roll into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap. Let it prove for an hour or till dough double its size.

8. Prepare sugar coating by mixing cinnamon powder and sugar in a bowl. Melt butter and let it cool.

9. After proving, remove dough and punch out air. Pinch or cut with scissors the dough to roll into  4cm diameter balls. Balls need not be perfectly round. There should be about 50 to 60 dough balls depending on the size.

10. Dip each dough ball into the melted butter, drain excess butter and roll into the sugar mixture.
Place balls in the bundt pan in the manner of building a wall.

11.Cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap and prove for one hour or till dough balls have doubled in size.

12. Bake in preheated oven 180 deg C for about 30 minutes.

13. Cool bread for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a serving platter and serve warm.

Cinnamon sugar

Proving in progress in the bundt!

Out of the oven!

What a crown??

Pinch me now!

Mixed Fruit Bread Roll

Besides steaming cakes, I've been on a bread-making spree.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #5 Fruity March hosted by Bakericious .

This is a healthy yet delicious bread which can be eaten on its own. My hubby prefers to eat it with a slab of butter. Hmmm... not so healthy to me!

The Recipe:

270g Bread flour

30g Cake flour

70g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons low fat milk powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1 egg yolk

170g warm water

50 ml olive oil

80g raisins

80g cranberries

40g chopped walnuts

1. Sift both flour into mixing bowl.

2. Add in sugar, salt, milk powder, spices and yeast. Use a whisk to mix the ingredients well.

3. Mix egg yolk with 170g warm water.

4. Attach dough hook to mixer at low speed, gradually pour in egg and water mixture and mix till well combined.

5. Pour in olive oil, bit by bit, making sure it is incorporated into the dough.

6. Machine-knead for 20 minutes.

7. Remove dough onto lightly floured board and roll into a big ball.

8. Place dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap and let it proof for 50 minutes or more (depending on the weather) till it doubles in size.

9. Remove the dough and punch it flat. Roll out into a rectangle about 1 1/2 cm thick. Sprinkle fruit and nut mixture evenly and then roll up like a swiss roll.

10. Place on a baking tray, covered with a damp cloth to proof for 30 to 40 minutes or till it doubles in size.

11. Bake at preheated oven 200 deg C for 15 to 20 minutes.

My oven has been acting up lately

and the browning is becoming more and more uneven!

I couldn't wait for the bread to cool

and had these two slices!

Raisin and Butterscotch Bread

Yesterday afternoon was dreary - it was raining heavily for hours. We braved the rain and went out for lunch at 3, a rather late lunch. When I returned from lunch around 4 plus, I had the urge to bake bread. I don't know why, but rainy days seem to make me want to bake. Maybe I like the warmth of the kitchen on rainy days.

In the past, I baked bread without using the 'tangzhong'. I read so many reviews about using it and how it really helps to improve the bread in terms of texture. The recent raisin bread was done with tangzhong and I found that it did wonders. The bread remained soft and moist even on the third day.

I ventured again with another of my bread recipes (all my previous bread recipes do not use tangzhong) and just went with my gut feeling as to the amount of tangzhong to add.

Not wanting to waste the tangzhong, I made a smaller portion which just about suffice for my bread recipe.

The recipe for about 120g tangzhong :

30g bread flour

150ml water

Mix flour and water till smooth. Sieve the mixture to remove tiny lumps.

Over medium heat, cook the mixture, stirring all the time till it thickens and reaches a temperature of about 65 deg C. Remove and cover with cling-wrap touching the mixture and let it cool. It can be placed in the fridge.

The recipe for the bread:

A

300g bread flour

60g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons milk powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast

B

160 ml water or milk

1 egg yolk

100g tangzhong (take it out from fridge and let it be at room temperature before use)

40g butter

100g raisins

100g butterscotch chips

1. Place all dry ingredients in A and whisk it to mix.

2. Mix egg yolk, tangzhong and milk till smooth. Add in slowly into mixer working with the dough hook at medium slow speed.

3. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated with the liquid, add in the butter and mix till it forms a ball. Check to see if dough is too wet, then add a tablespoon flour.

4. Knead dough for 20 minutes. It should not be very sticky.

5. Remove dough and make it into a big ball. Place it in a big bowl and cover with a damp cloth or cling-wrap. Prove it for 50 minutes or till it doubles in size. Proving time depends on weather conditions. My dough took 1 hour because it was rainy.

6. After proving, remove dough and deflate it by pressing or punching it.

7. Roll out dough on a lightly-floured surface to a rectangle. Sprinkle raisins and butterscotch chips. Roll up dough like a swiss roll and place in a loaf tin, the sealed side downwards. I used 2 loaf tins 22cm x 12 cm x 8cm. Brush with egg if preferred.

8. Bake in preheated oven 200 deg C for 12 to 15 minutes. Once done, brush some butter on the top. Remove and cool on wire rack.

If stored in an air-tight container, the bread will remain soft and moist up to 3 days.

The two loaves didn't turn out to be twins as expected because I was doing a hurried job. Didn't want to miss my TV programme and guess what I was watching?......Shrek 3! I must be in my second childhood. Anyway I enjoy all the Shrek series, a twist to the usual fairy tales!

The Better Twin

Not very well distributed, the centre is plain!

Raisin Buns

I have not baked bread for a long time ever since my breadmaker decided to go away for good! I've had two breadmakers and both had enough of me working on them like a slave. So they ran away to some dump!

After reading so many posts on bread and buns, my fingers began to itch.

How could I possibly not bake bread for my food blog!

Today, I depended on my trusted major, Kenwood to do the job. He whined and groaned throughout the process. Oh dear! Am I such a mean taskmaster...errr..... mistress?

Thankfully all was well and I know that there will be breakfast tomorrow!

12 minutes and they were done!

I was seduced by the aroma of the bread baking in the oven. I just couldn't wait to pounce on one when they were done!