Red Beans Buns

Have been lazy blogging lately...

Managed to get hold of this book “孟老师的一百道面包”when my brother went to Taiwan a couple of weeks back.

Saw two very unique bread: "bamboo charcoal Cheese Toast"“竹炭乳酪土司” and "Garlic Squid Buns" ” “墨鱼香蒜面包” in her book. Bet you can't find in Singapore! The two bread are all in black! Real BLACK!!!

Anway, I decided to bake a simple "Red Beans bun" using my homemade red beans paste which I made a few weeks back.

This "Red Beans bun" recipe was taken from “孟老师的一百道面包". I was surprised and pleased that this recipe uses very little sugar and butter. One thing I like about this book is that the recipes all yield about 8 pieces (just nice for a family of four).

I made these buns on Thursday and it still remained soft on Saturday morning after I warm it in the oven! My little son commented that the bread was delicious than the fillings... !

Recipe as follows:
(Make 8 pieces)

Ingredients A:
Bread flour 200g
Cake flour 20g
Castor sugar 25g
Salt 1/4 tsp
Instant yeast 3g (1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp)
Milk powder 15g
Egg 25g
Water 115g

Ingredients B:
Unsalted butter 15g
Red beans paste 200g

Ingredient C:
White Sesame Seeds 20g


Method:

1. Using low speed of your mixer, mix all ingredients A till it forms a dough. Change it to medium speed and knead till dough becomes smooth.

2. Using low speed, add in the unsalted butter. Change to medium speed and knead dough till it becomes elastic.

3. Place the kneaded dough in a mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap. Let it ferments for about 60 minutes.

4. Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Round them up and immediately put the fillings inside. Shape the individual dough. Cover with cling wrap and let the shaped dough rest for 15 minutes. After the resting period, use your hand to slightly flatten the rounded dough.

5. Using a scissor, cut an inch at 8 sides of the flatten dough:
- First, cut the top & bottom, left & right. Follow by a cut on each portion.

6. Brush the doughs with egg wash. Wet the tip of a rolling pin and coat it with white sesame seeds. Imprint the rolling pin (with the sesame seeds) onto the dough.

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 deg C for about 15 minutes.


Recipe source: “孟老师的一百道面包"

Milo Chocolate chips & rice Muffins

Get "xian" eating bread everyday.... :(

I'm not a muffin lover. But I'm gradually liking it. They are so much easy and straight forward to bake than breads! Had tried store bought muffins but sad to say they are either too dry or too oily to me!!

Searched through my files and found this muffin recipe from Happy Home Baker. She has a wide collection of muffin recipes worth trying. :)

Decided to try her "Milo Double chocolate chips Muffins" as I needed to use up my chocolate chips. Since I didn't have any white chocolate chips on hand and my leftover dark chocolate chips were only about 70g, I topped up the remaining balance using chocolate rice. So total chocolate I used was about 160g! I used a fairly big paper cups and my muffins were quite huge! I couldn't finish one whole piece!

This milo muffins turned out very nice: soft and moist, very chocolaty (may be because of the chocolate rice, I think.) My family members like it very much. The three of them can't resist chocolate!

Thank you Happy Home Baker for all your wonderful bakes! :)

Oreo Butter Cake

Read with interest and enthusiasm that this cake received rave reviews from several bloggers: soft, light & moist. This is the kind of cake my family likes. (Original recipe from Angie-My Kitchen:My Laboratory)

Decided to make this since Oreo biscuit is one of my husband's favourite. My two kids love it too. As for me, I try to stay clear from biscuits and cookies because they are too "heaty" to me. :(




The wonderful aroma from this cake was simply delicious. My little son who was playing with his elder brother came running to me: "Mummy, what smells so good?"
While waiting for the cake to cool, he told his elder brother how he wished he could have 3 big cakes to himself!! :D
From the way my two kids ate the cake, I know they love the cake (or the biscuit?). Both of them finished the cake first and slowly enjoyed the biscuit topping!!!
It could be that my skill in beating the butter & sugar (to creamy stage), I felt that it wasn't that moist (though my husband thought otherwise). Its just soft & nice to me.

Cheese Potato Bread 乳酪洋芋香草面包

Made a batch of these bread buns for breakfast a few days ago.

Recipe as follows:

(Make 12 pieces)

Ingredients A:Bread Flour 300g
Castor Sugar 15g
Instant Yeast 6g
Water 165cc
Egg 30cc

Ingredients B:
Salt 5.4g
Milk powder 6g
小茴香 3g (I omitted this.)

Ingredient C:
Unsalted Butter 15g


Ingredient D:
Shredded Cheese 150g


Fillings:Mashed potato 200g
Bacon 60g
Onion 10g
Salt - some
Pepper - some
Parsley flakes - some


Others:Egg - for glazing
Shredded cheese - for topping


Method:

1. Use your basic kneading of dough: Add ingredients A,B,C & D to form a dough.

2. After the first fermentation, punch out the gas, weigh the dough and cut into 12 equal pieces.

3. Round each dough into balls with seams side down. Cover with a damp cloth and let it proof for 20 minutes.

4. For filling:
a) Sweat out the oil in the bacon in a frying pan till crispy. Chop into small pieces
b) Cut and chop onion into small pieces.
c) Fry the onion till fragrant. Add the bacon pieces till combined with onion. Dish up.
d) Add in the mashed potato. Stir till well combined with the onion bacon pieces.
e) Add salt, pepper and parsley till well combined. Set aside to cool.

5. After 20 minutes of proofing, take out one dough. Using your hand, flatten the sides of the dough. With the centre of the dough protruding up, lightly press out the gas.

6. Add in about 25g of the fillings, seal and wrap up into a ball.

7. With the sealed side down, put the shaped doughs onto a baking tray. Slightly press to flatten them a little. Final proofing: 20 to 30 minutes (with humidity: 85%)

8. After the final proofing, use a scissor to cut a small cross in the centre of the dough.

9. Glaze with egg wash and top them with some shredded cheese.

10. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 15 minutes.

These buns smell very nice when fresh from the oven. However, we found it a tad too salties.......:( But the next day, it wasn't that salties, strange! I passed a few of them to my sisters, niece and nephews. They tried and commented that they were very nice and not salties at all!! One of my nephew thought it was a store-bought one! :D If you're trying, may be you want to reduce the shredded cheese quantity which is incorporated in the dough.



Recipe source: <曾美子教你第一次做面包>

Homemade Chwee Kueh (水粿)

This is one of the many chinese snacks I like, Chwee Kueh. Made of rice flour and part of corn flour. The texture of this snack should be soft and "Q". Most important part of this snack is the topping: preserved raddish. The raddish must be crunchy! The soft & Q chwee kueh with the crunchiness of raddish make this snack taste heavenly.

Recipe is taken from Fenying's Blog. But I'm very puzzled why the recipe called for the preserved raddish (菜脯) to be cooked in 500g of water till tender!?

However, I did not follow her method of cooking the 菜脯. Being born as a hakka, I know how this 菜脯 should be cooked. Afterall, 菜脯 is one of our dish in 擂茶. :)

By the way, I bought the 菜脯 in strips and chopped them into small pieces before frying them. Find that those ready-minced type does not have the crunch and bites. If you intend to buy, choose those that are "sweet". I can assure you your 菜脯 will taste delicious. This 菜脯 can also fry with eggs and goes very well with your plain porridge.

Ham & Cheese Buns

Our breakfast this morning.

Original recipe yield 19 pcs. I half the quantity to suit my family.

Recipe as follows: (yield about 10 pcs)

Ingredients A:
Bread flour 250g
Castor sugar 50g
Salt 3g
Instant Yeast 5g
Butter 25g (I use corn oil)
Egg 25g
Water 125g

Ingredients B:
Ham (Shredded)
Cheese slice 5 pcs (cut into half: triangle)
Some almond slices (for decoration)
Some mayonnaise (for piping)
Egg (for glazing)

Method:

1. Use your basic kneading process.
2. Once dough double, punch out the gas, divide into 50g each.
3. Round them up to form a ball. Rest for 5 mins. (I let them rest for 10-15 mins)
4. Slightly flatten the dough and wrap some shredded ham.
5. Round them up again. Using a rolling pin, roll them into a round shape.
6. Send them for proofing. (About 45 mins)
7. After the proofing, glaze with egg wash, place a piece of cheese on top.
8. Piped some mayonnaise across. Sprinkle some almond slices on top.
9. Bake in a preheated oven @ 200 deg C for about 15 mins. (I think about 12 mins is enough.)
I think because of my oven temperature, my buns always turn out to be a little on the brown side. :( But anyway, these buns were very yummy! My little son wanted me to make again! :D


Recipe source <简易家庭面包制作> by 王志雄/游纯雄.

Minced Meat with Long Beans 长豆肉末

A simple dish that goes very well with plain porridge or multi-grain porridge (杂粮粥). A dish that my kids finish in no times! Even my little son who usually doesn't like to eat porridge finished his meal in record times. :D

Recipe as follows:

Ingredients:
Minced Meat 80g
Long Beans 300g
Garlic 2 pcs (minced)
Red chillies 1 pc (minced)

Seasonings A:
Corn starch 1/2 tsp,
Water 1 tbsp

Seasonings B:
Dark Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Sugar 1/4 tsp


Method:

1. Remove the head and tail of long beans before washing. Blanch the long beans in hot water for a while before dishing up. Cut into bite size.

2. Minced the garlic; Remove the stalk of the red chilli and chop into small pieces.

3. Standby Seasoning A: mix corn starch with water.

4. In a wok heat up 3 tbsp of oil, saute garlic, add minced meat and fry for a while.

5. Add in long beans, fry for a while. Add 2 tablespoon of water and braise for 3 minutes.

6. Add Seasoning B and red chilli and continue frying. Pour in Seasoning A to thicken. Dish up and serve.



Recipe source: 美味粥配小菜


You can omit the red chilli if you wish. But actually the red chilli add more "kick" to this dish.
Frankly speaking, the red chilli wasn't that hot as I'd removed most of the seeds.



One more delicious side dish anyone can cook: Szechuan vegetable fried with meat.